Union Pacific Railroad

US railway company. Jointly with the Central Pacific Railroad, it received its charter in 1862 to complete the first transcontinental line in North America. The Union Pacific began from Nebraska, and the two railways met at Promontory, Utah on 10 May 1869.

During initial construction, the Union Pacific received large tracts of public land as well as federal loans based on miles of track completed. Despite this, financial speculation brought about its bankruptcy in 1893. Under new management, it was revived and grew into a major network serving 13 western states. In 1982, the company merged with the Western Pacific and Missouri Pacific systems. The unified corporation's acquisition of the Southern Pacific in 1996 made it the largest railway concern in the USA.

Commencing at Omaha, Nebraska, in December 1863, the Union Pacific's transcontinental line proceeded west for 1,620 km/1,000 mi before meeting the Central Pacific. The route passed through Fremont and North Platte, Nebraska; Julesburg, Colorado; Sidney, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Laramie, Green River, and Evanston, Wyoming; and Ogden, Utah. As it crossed the Great Plains, it encountered concerted resistance from American Indian peoples such as the Sioux, Pawnee, Crow and Blackfeet, who saw their livelihoods threatened by its arrival. Later in the 19th century, the Union Pacific built northwest from Granger, Wyoming, to Portland, Oregon, via Pocatello and Boise, Idaho, and also acquired a number of smaller western lines. It also embarked on a major reconstruction of the transcontinental line. This included the impressive engineering feat of building a system of embankments and bridges to carry the track straight across the 48 km/30 mi-wide Great Salt Lake, from Ogden to Lucin. This shortening of the track – the ‘Lucin Cut-Off’ – saved trains the arduous journey over the mountainous Promontory Point, and diverted the transcontinental line away from its original meeting point.