| Show I An American Railroad Maintains a Unique V Museum links the Present With the Historic Past of the Regions It Serves By fly D ELMO SCOTT WATSON by t W t l n 1 Newspaper t ITS IT'S TS T'S only a yellowing piece I of paper po per upon which is scrawled a single sentence yet theres there's a lot of American history past and present bound up in that brief mes- mes sage Visit the Union Pacific museum in Omaha Neb and there you can read for your your- yourself yourself yourself self this historic telegram You can make affidavit of completion of road to Promontory Promontory Promontory tory Summit The Tho date was May 9 1869 The writer was Grenville M M. Dodge who had been a gen gen- general oral eral in the Union army during the Civil war and who was now chief engineer of the Union Pacific railroad And when he penned that laconic message to President Oliver Ames of the U. U P. P he was writ writ- writing t- t ting ing IrIg a U new chapter in the his his- history history history tory of transportation also a anew anew anew new chapter in the annals of America For the first time these United States Stales from the tho Atlantic to the Pacific were bound together by twin bands of steel never to be broken No longer loner would the westward far ing log pioneer have to plod along afoot or on horseback or ride In swaying jolting stagecoach or prairie schoon schoon- schooner er ci In order to reach ruch the new lands of opportunity which beckoned him himIn himIn himin In the West The overland journey which had once been a matter of months even years would now be reduced to weeks then days That Is the Past In this scrap of paper As for the Present Present well at atthe atthe atthe the very moment you ou are lire reading Dodges Dodge's telegram there li is flowing over this first transcontinental rail railroad road rondo as S well as lIS the others which have been built In the last three three- quarters of a century an endless stream of men and munitions bound for tar the flung far batUe battle lines of the greatest war In human history Sol Sol- Soldiers Soldiers diers sailors and marines machine guns and jeeps seeps end tanks shells and and arid food powerful food powerful locomotives are speeding them west i toward their final Anal destination I Tokyo And these huge Iron horses meet and roar past others headed east uti pulling p behind them the men and munitions which will break breakdown breakdown breakdown down the walls of Hitler's European fortress But Dut Dodges Dodge's telegram is not the only document In the collections of this museum which bleh links the past and the present in graphic manner We Wo hear Lear n II lot of talk today about the manpower shortage Back Dack In 1800 it U was also a problem as wit wit- witness witness ness n a letter preserved In the U U. U P. P p museum lm written by Brigham Young president of the Church of tho the Latter Day Saints Mormons In which he tells of his struggle to secure enough labor to build a con con- connecting link of railroad from Salt Lake City to the U. U P. P p main line Or talk to Mrs Ruth Hamilton the kindly haired gray lady who Is the tho curator of If the museum mils cum and she will tell you 1 0 how the Past frequently walks through Its Us doors in the per person son of ei some one of at Jf the thousands of persons who visit the place annu annu- ally There was the day when a 8 little group of skinned dark boys came shyly Into the big room and surveyed In silence the Indian relics in one of the cases Suddenly there was an exclamation of delight delight it it seems that one of the boys had tee rec recognized o an time old photograph of one of ef his forebears forebears Crow Crow Dog a great war chief of the Sioux Then there was the day when two big mg westerners showed un un- unusual unusual Unusual usual interest in one grim relic in inthe inthe inthe the museum the museum the shackles used on onDI Big DI Nose No e George a famous out out- outlaw outlaw law when hen he hp was brought back from Montana for an attempted hold holdup up of a Union Pacific train The label on this Ws relic r lIc says Ons On's that the sheriff who ho captured Big Dig Nose George was one Joseph Rankin Rank That was your our grandfather you know said the elder man to the younger oun er and he might have added lidded that Joe Rankin was not only a fa famous Ia fa mOllS western sheriff sh in the early days das of Montana but he was also a renowned scout for the army In fact the collections In the Union Pacific museum constitute con a II veritable graphic history of 01 the old West The era of the fur trade Is Iss symbolized s in two relics of 01 one CIne of ofUs Its Us greatest figures the figures the watch and scissors used by Old Od Jim Bridget Bridger Here lIere is a mute symbol of the days dars I rI rIto to k i i q M fr M J i. i r i f h i iThe tL- tL 4 j I 1 a. a j t The Wedding of the Rails at Promontory Point Utah May lay 10 1869 1169 marking markin the completion of the first transcontinental railroad The Cen Cen- Central Central Pacific laci o engine Is on the left the Union Pacific on the right From Froman an all original photograph by C. C C R. R R Savage In the Union Pacific museum when the buffalo roamed the west west- western ern cm plains by the millions a bleached blenched whitened ned skull of one of the tho great shaggy beasts bealts And of course there Is many a memento of the man who won his fame tame as a slayer of Buffalo bison Bill Dill Cody arid and and the notables both American and European whom he be guided on their hunting parties Among them were James Gordon Bennett Dennett fa Ia- famous mans m us publisher of the New York Herald the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia Russin and the Ei Ri I lish nobleman the earl of ven Over there is a memory of the epic migration of pioneers over the theold theold theold old Oregon Trail a huge yoke ox-yoke which once encircled the necks of the patient animals that dragged the covered wagons up through the Finite Fla tte River valley across the bar bar- barren barron ren ron plains of southern Wyoming and through South Pass Pus toward their goal beyond the the the very route over which speed the stream stream- streamliners streamliners liners of today Here too are mementos of the day of the cattleman and the cow cow- cowboy boy boy ono one of them a rare old book showing the trails from Texas to Ellsworth Kan one of the roaring cow towns on the Kansas Pacific c cIn in the seventies Then theres there's a col collection lection of branding Irons which once burned the insignia of famous cow outfits on the hides of Texas long long- longhorns horns horns and and Mrs Hamilton will tell teU you that hee branding Irons were of special interest to one party of If visitors a short time ago They bt Rare photograph of Col W W. F. F F Cody Buffalo Kill autographed by him to Chief Red Shirt of the le Stout who ho ho was wal one of the Indian notables In his Wild West show This Is one anc of the few pictures ever taken of Cody wearing arm the tIle uniform of ef f the Nebraska ka national guard In la which he officer and Is here was as an reproduced reproduced for the first time Original in the Union Pacific museum came from Argentina where similar irons are used today to mark the cattle atHe that roam the pampas of that country by the hundreds of 01 thou thousands sands and the designs of their branding irons are not unlike the Spanish designs which were used by bythe bythe bythe the In the early days of California Of course most of the exhibits In Inthe Inthe inthe the museum relate directly to the history of the Union Pacific Paci c railroad itself but since U. U P. P history is so inextricably interwoven with the history his tor of the trans-Missouri trans fron Iron frontier tier it is almost impossible to say I where one leaves lea oil off and the other begins Nor are nil all the relics there mementos of westerners The East Eastis is well weli represented too for it was as eastern capital that built the Union Pacific and the history of the U. U U P. P is studded with the names of prominent prominent nent font easterners easterners Asa Asa Whitney Oil Oli Oliver vet vcr Ames George Francis Train Thomas C. C Durant and born M. M Dodge who surveyed the route for the first transcontinental railroad and then was chief engineer for Its building It 1 may surprise you to see how many relics of Abraham Lincoln there thue are here too But it is not inappropriate te that they should be for it U was the Great Emancipator who on July ruly uly 1 I 1862 1662 signed the Pacific railway bill passed by con conS congress congress gress which provided for a land grant and subsidy from the govern govern- government ment to aid in the construction of ot ofa ota a railroad westward from the Mis Mist saud river to California and for an an- another another other road eastward across Califor Califor- California California nia to connect with it It was President dent Lincoln who designated Coun Coun- Council ell cil Bluffs Iowa as the eastern terminus of the U. U P. P p and among the most treasured documents in inthe Inthe inthe the museums museum's collections is an original original nal Lincoln Lincola letter letter letter-an an executive or or- order order order der dated October 1863 appoint appointing ing Springer Harbaugh of Pennsyl Pennsylvania vania vanEs as a government director of the projected railroad Fortunately for posterity photography raphy had become a established well art by the time the Union Pacific began building west and to that re reo region re- re region gion glon flocked locked many of the tho daring early-day early camera men who had won their spurs as photographers on the tho battlefields of ot the Civil war Among them were such men as ss Al Al- Alexander Alecander Gardner Capt A. A J. J Rus Rus- Russell Russel Russell sell sel who became official photographer photographer photographer pher for the U. U U P. P William H. H Jack Jack- Jackson Jackson son Savage and Ottinger and oth oth- others others ers So an Important part of the collections in the U. U U P. P museum are the photographs made by these men which comprise a priceless pictorial record of one of 01 the most thrilling epochs in American history It was as Savage Sav ge who made some of the best pictures atthe historic cere cere- ceremony ceremony mony at Promontory Point Utah on Stay May 10 1869 when there took took place the Wedding of the Rails the driving of the golden and silver sliver spikes which symbolized the joining I of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Paci c lines and the completion of the first transcontinental railroad And incidentally one of the most In in- Interesting of the documentary exhibits its in la the museum is the photostat of the diary of this same C. C R. R Sav Say Savage I age from May 4 when he set out from his studio in Salt Lake City through l h May 11 after his work at Promontory Point was done Too To many museums are places ol of static exhibits where the whole hoIe at at- atmosphere atmosphere is that of the dead and moldering past To visit this unique museum in hi Omaha unique in that no other railroad so far as is known has set aside space in mils its headquarters to preserve materials connected with ith Its own history and the history of the country it serves is to have havea a II feeling of seeing history on the march with the past blending into the present in the continuing story of a nation still being built It may maybe maybe maybe be due to the vision of Carl R. R Gray former president of ot the Union Pa Pa- dOe who established the mu museum scum seum l and sponsored its early devel Then again it may ma be due to th the galvanic influence of his suc sue successor cessor who takes a keen personal interest In the place and is responsible sible for the addition of many an interesting item to its collections His name in case you ou dont don't happen to remember that dynamic personal personal- personality ity who went to the national capital capitala a year ear or so EO ago and showed Wash Wash- Washington Washington ington officialdom how to do a big job quickly and efficiently is Big Bill Jeffers Jeers |
