| Show An American America Ra Railroad Maintains a Unique Museum Which Links the Present With the Historic Past of th the Regions It Serves By ELMO ELl SCOTT SCOTT WATSON Released by Western NeOS Newspaper Union I TS T'S only a yellowing piece of paper upon which is scrawled a single sentence yet theres there's a alot alot lot of American history past and present bound up in that brief message Visit the Union Pacific museum in Omaha Neb and there you c can n read f for r your your- yourself yourself self this historic telegram You Youcan Youcan can make affidavit of completion of road to Promontory Summit Th The date was was May 9 1869 The Grenville M. M Dodge who had been a general in th the Union army during the the Civil war and who was now chief engineer of the Union Pacific railroad And when he penned that laconic message to President President dent Oliver Ames of the U. U P. P he was writing a new chapter in inthe inthe the history of transportation transportation- tion- tion also a new chapter in the annals of America For the first time these United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific were bound together by twin bands of steel never to be broken No longer would the westward far ing pioneer have to plod along afoot or on horseback or ride in swaying jolting stagecoach or prairie schoon- schoon schooner er in order t to reach the new lands of opportunity which beckoned him 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 well Present at atthe atthe the very moment you are arc reading Dodges Dodge's telegram there is flowing over this first transcontinental rail rail- railroad railroad road as well as the others which have been built in iii the last three three- quarters of a century an endless stream of men and munitions bound for the flung far battle lines of the greatest war in human history Soldiers Sol Sol- Soldiers diers sailors and marines machine guns and jeeps and tanks shells and gasoline and powerful food locomotives are speeding them west toward their final destination Tokyo okyo And these huge iron horses meet and roar past others headed east pulling behind them the men and munitions which will break breakdown breakdown down the walls of Hitler's European fortress But Dodges Dodge's telegram is not the e only document in the collections of this museum which links the past and the present in graphic manner We hear a lot of talk today about the manpower shortage Back in 1869 it was also a problem as wit wit- witness witness ness a letter preserved in the U. U P. P museum written by Brigham Young president of the Church of the Latter Day Saints Mormons in which he tells of his struggle to secure enough labor to build a con con- connecting 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 curator of the museum and she will tell you how the Past frequently walks through its doors in the per per- person person son of some one of the thousands of persons who visit the place annu- annu ally There was the day when a 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 it seems that one of the boys had recognized rec- rec recognized an time old photograph of one of his Crow forebears Dog a great war chief of the Sioux Then there was the day when two big westerners showed unusual un- un unusual usual Interest in one grim relic in inthe the the shackles used on Big Nose George a famous out out- outlaw outlaw law when he was brought back from Montana for an attempted hold hold- holdup holdup up of a Union Pacific train The label on this relic says that the sheriff who captured Big Nose George was one Joseph Rankin That was your grandfather you know know said the elder man to the younger younger and he might have added that Joe Rankin was not only a fa fa- famous famous western sheriff in the early days of Montana but he was also a renowned scout for the army and the hero of a remarkable long long- distance ride during the Ute Indian Indian war of 1879 In tact fact the collections in n the Union Pacific museum constitute a veritable graphic history of the o old d West The era of the fur trade IS symbolized in two relics of one of and its greatest the figures watch scissors used by Old Jim Bridger Here is a mute symbol of the days when the buffalo roamed the west west- y a s r 3 The of at Point Utah 10 1869 Wedding the Rails Promontory May 1 marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad The Cen- Cen Central Central Pacific engine is on the left the Union Pacific on the right From Froman an original photograph by C. C R. R Savage in the Union Pacific museum ern a bleached whitened skull of one of the great shaggy beasts And of course there is many a memento of the man who won his fame as a slayer of Buffalo bison Bill Cody and the notables both American and European whom he guided on their hunting parties Among them were James Gordon Bennett fa- fa famous famous publisher of the New York Herald the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia and the English nobleman the earl of Dunraven Over there is a memory of the epic migration of pioneers over the 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 Platte River valley across the bar bar- barren barren ren plains of southern Wyoming and through South Pass toward their goal beyond d 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- one boy of them a rare old book showing the trails from Texas to Ellsworth Kan one of the roaring cow towns on the Kansas Pacific in the seventies Then theres there's a col- col collection collection lection of branding irons which once burned the insignia of famous cow outfits on the hides of Texas long long- horns and Mrs Hamilton will tell you that these branding irons were of special interest to one party of visitors a short time ago They M n Rare photograph of Col W. W F. F Cody Buffalo Bill BIU autographed by him to Chief Red Shirt of the Sioux who was one of oC the Indian notables in his Wild West show This is isIs Is one of the few pictures ever taken of Cody wearing the unIform of the Nebraska national guard in which he was an officer and Is here 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 that roam the pampas of that country by the hundreds of thou thou- thousands thousands sands and the designs Qt of their branding irons are not unlike the Spanish designs which were used by bythe bythe the vaqueros in the early days of California Of Of course most of the exhibits in inthe inthe the museum relate directly to the history of the Union Pacific railroad its itself U but since U. U P. P P history is so inextricably interwoven with the history of the trans Missouri frontier fron- fron frontier tier it is almost impossible to say where one leaves oft off and the other begins Nor are all the relics there mementos of westerners The East Eastis is well represented too for it was eastern capital that built the Union J Pacific and the history of the U. U P. P names nent easterners Asa Whitney Oliver Oli- Oli Oliver ver Ames George Francis Train Thomas C. C Durant and born Grenville M. M Dodge who surveyed the cute ute for the first transcontinental railroad and then was chief engineer for its building It may surprise you to see how many relics of Abraham Lincoln there are here too But it is not inappropriate that they should be for it was the Great Emancipator who on July I 1 1862 signed the Pacific railway bill passed by con con- congress congress gress which provided for a land grant and subsidy from the govern govern- government government ment to aid in the construction of ofa a railroad westward from the Mis- Mis Missouri Missouri river to California and for an- an another another other road eastward across Califor- Califor California California nia to connect conn with it It was President President dent Lincoln who designated Coun- Coun Council Council cil Bluffs Iowa as the eastern terminus of the U. U P. P and among the most treasured documents in inthe inthe the museums museum's collections is an original original nal Lincoln letter letter-an executive or- or order order der dated October 1863 appoint appoint- appointing ing Springer Harbaugh of Pennsyl- Pennsyl Pennsylvania Pennsylvania vania as a government director of the projected railroad Fortunately for posterity photography photography raphy had become a well established art by the time the Union Pacific began building west and to that re- re region region gion flocked many of the daring early day camera men who had won their spurs as photographers on the battlefields of the Civil war Among them were such men as Al- Al Alexander Alexander Gardner Capt A. A J. J Rus- Rus Russell Russell sell who became official photographer photographer pher for the U. U P. P William H. H Jack Jack- Jackson Jackson son Savage and Ottinger and oth- oth ers So an important part of the collections in the U. U P. P museum are the photographs made by these men which comprise a priceless pictorial record of one of the most thrilling epochs in American history It was Savage who made some of the best pictures at the historic cere- cere ceremony ceremony mony at Promontory Point Utah on May 10 1869 when there took place the Wedding of the Rails the driving of the golden and silver spikes which symbolized the joining of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific lines and the completion of the first transcontinental railroad And incidentally one of the most in- in interesting interesting of the documentary exhibits its in the museum is the photostat of the diary of this same C. C R. R Sav- Sav Savage Savage age age from May 4 when he set out from his studio in Salt Lake City through May 11 after his work at Promontory Point was done Too many museums are places of static exhibits where the whole at- at atmosphere atmosphere is that of the dead and moldering past To visit this unique museum in Omaha unique in that no other railroad so far as is known has set aside space in its headquarters to preserve materials connected with its own history and the history of the country it serves is to have havea a 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 be due to the vision of Carl R. R Gray former president of the Union Pa- Pa Pacific Pacific who established the mu- mu museum museum seum and sponsored its early devel- devel Then again it may be due to the galvanic influence of his suc- suc successor successor cessor who takes a keen personal interest in the place and is responsible responsible sible for the addition of many an interesting item to its collections His name in case you en ento to remember that dynamic personal personal- personality I ity who went to the national capital capitala a year or so ago and showed Wash Wash- Washington Washington ington officialdom how to do a big job quickly and efficiently is Big Bill J Jeffers |
