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Central Pacific Railway Records
MS 79
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Contributing Institution:
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
Title: Central Pacific Railway records
Creator:
Central Pacific Railway Company
Identifier/Call Number: MS 79
Physical Description:
388.5 Linear Feet
377 Boxes + 19 volumes
Date (bulk): 1861-1959
Abstract: The Central Pacific Railroad Records include documents generated by Central Pacific, a railroad chartered by the U.S. Congress
in 1862 to build a railroad eastward from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First Transcontinental
Railroad" in North America in 1869. It includes records from its incorporation in 1861 until 1959, when it was formally merged
with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Much of the material in these records documents the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.
It includes accounting records and vouchers for the purchase of building material and supplies, payrolls of work gangs who
built the Transcontinental Railroad, and equipment records for locomotives, passenger and freight cars that ran on the railroad.
This is not a complete record of the company, but provides a good overview of the company in the nineteenth century.
Physical Location: Statewide Museum Collections Center
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open to research by appointment. Contact Library Staff for details
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The material in this collection was donated to the California State Railroad Museum by the Southern Pacific Railroad and the
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. The CP station plan book was donated by Arthur D. Haig in 1983 and the
unpaid wages book was donated by Jack Naack in 1983.
MS 79 is arranged into eight series:
Series 1. FINANCIAL RECORDS
Series 2. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT RECORDS
Series 3. LAND DEPARTMENT RECORDS
Series 4. PERSONNEL RECORDS
Series 5. EQUIPMENT RECORDS
Series 6. MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS, FORMS AND CORRESPONDENCE
Series 7. TARIFFS
Series 8. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
Incorporated in 1861 as the Central Pacific Rail Road, Central Pacific was a class 1 railroad operating in Northern California,
Nevada and Utah. On July 1, 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, which provided funding and land grants
to Central Pacific for the construction of the Western part of the Transcontinental Railroad. After breaking ground on January
8, 1963 in Sacramento, California, Central Pacific constructed the railroad over the Sierra Nevada mountain range and met
the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah in 1869, completing the first Transcontinental Railroad.
The railroad name was changed to "Central Pacific Railroad of California" on October 8, 1864. Central Pacific was consolidated
with the Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870), San Francisco and Alameda Railroad and San Francisco and Oakland Railroad to
form the "Central Pacific Railroad Co. in June 1870). In August 22, 1870, Central Pacific Railroad Co. was consolidated with
the California & Oregon Railroad, the San Francisco, Oakland & Alameda Railroad, and the San Joaquin Valley Railroad to form
the "Central Pacific Railroad Co.", a new corporation.
In April 1, 1885, Central Pacific Railroad was leased to the Southern Pacific Company. Its locomotives and rolling stock continued
to bear the Central Pacific name for a few years, but then was replaced with the Southern Pacific logo. In June 1899 Central
Pacific Railroad was reorganized as Central Pacific Railway a name it kept until it merged with the Southern Pacific Railroad
on June 30, 1959.
An index to the Central Pacific vouchers can be found in MS 616 LYNN D. FARRAR PAPERS, RG 1 SOUTHERN PACIFIC HISTORICAL COST
STUDY, Series 3. Other research material. Contact Library Staff for details.
Other Central Pacific land records can be found in MS 789 Central Pacific Land Company Records, and MS 634 Catellus Development
Corporation Railroad Land Grant Records
[Identification of item], Central Pacific Railroad Records, MS 79, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento,
California.
The Central Pacific Railroad Records include documents generated by Central Pacific, a railroad chartered by the U.S. Congress
in 1862 to build a railroad eastward from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First Transcontinental
Railroad" in North America in 1869. It includes records from its incorporation in 1861 until 1959, when it was formally merged
with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Much of the material in these records documents the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.
It includes accounting records and vouchers for the purchase of building material and supplies, payrolls of work gangs who
built the Transcontinental Railroad, and equipment records for locomotives, passenger and freight cars that ran on the railroad.
This is not a complete record of the company, but provides a good overview of the company in the nineteenth century.
Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the
owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Central Pacific Railroad Company
Railroads--California--History
Transcontinental Railroad
Railroad Locomotives
Railroads--United States--Freight cars