Union Pacific Railroad
Named in 21 stories. Back to all names
- Feb 22, 1872Snowed In: The California Mail Famine of 1872For thirteen days, the telegraph was the only connection to the outside world, leaving businesses and citizens reeling from the silence of the snow-blocked passes.Seattle, WA
- Nov 1, 1876The Dream of a Seattle Rail EmpireAn 1876 editorial envisions a booming Seattle as the Pacific terminus for a global transit hub, connecting the rails of the East to the wealth of the West.California Hill, Seattle, WA
- Dec 16, 1883The Railroad Map That Erased SeattleNorthern Pacific's latest map omits two under-construction Puget Sound lines and reduces Seattle to a dot. The Post suspects a land-selling scheme behind the silence.Seattle, WA
- Dec 19, 1883The Railroad Map That Erased SeattleA Northern Pacific map circulating in 1883 omitted Seattle entirely—while granting bold capital letters to towns of fewer than 100 people—and the city's paper took the insult personally.Seattle, WA
- Jun 12, 1884The Northern Pacific Railroad's Toll on TravelA new restrictive policy forces passengers to pay more by banning alternate routes via the Union Pacific.Dayton, WA
- Jul 28, 1888The Great Seattle Railroad BlockadeA federal court issues a stinging injunction to halt the construction of rival railroad lines in Washington Territory, sparking a corporate war between the Union Pacific and local interests.Seattle, WA
- Sep 25, 1889The Promised City of the DesertPromoters in 1889 pitched Pasco as the inevitable 'Gate City' of the Inland Empire, promising a metropolis at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers.Pasco, WA
- Sep 29, 1889The Great Pasco Land Grab of 1889Capitalists from across the U.S. descended on the junction of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, pitching a 'Gate City' to Seattle investors.Pasco, WA
- Jan 1, 1891When Seattle Won the Transcontinental SweepstakesIn 1890, the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Union Pacific converged on Seattle, transforming the city from a remote settlement into a global Pacific terminus.Seattle, WA
- Nov 24, 1891The Treasurer Who Vanished, Then Wrote Home From Puget SoundAn Iowa county official disappeared in the 1870s. After his death, his family gathered at the Olympia Hotel to settle an estate—and letters revealed a hidden life, a bank failure, and a real-estate boom he hoped would make restitution possible.Olympia Hotel, Olympia, WA
- Dec 19, 1891Ten Strangers at the Tunnel: Is the Union Pacific Coming Back to Olympia?A corps of engineers has been quietly pacing the unfinished Tumwater tunnel, refusing to say who sent them or what they want — while heavy rain eats away at the abandoned work.Tumwater, WA
- Dec 31, 1891Olympia’s Booster Year: Brick, Bridges and a 50,000-Person PromiseAs 1891 closed, the capital city counted $3 million in new buildings, a record bridge, electric lights and new rail lines — and predicted 50,000 residents within a decade.Olympia, WA
- Feb 25, 1893Spokane Was Ready to Rotten-Egg Jim HillThe Great Northern's freight rates left Spokane merchants bitter enough to organize, sue, and threaten the railroad baron with produce.Riverside Avenue, Spokane, WA
- Feb 27, 1893The Farmers' Alliance Grain RebellionPalouse farmers bypass railroad-controlled elevators to handle their own grain, yielding massive profits.Oakesdale, WA
- Mar 2, 1893Tacoma Petitions to Throw Open the Puyallup ReservationBusinessmen, railroad men and politicians circulate petitions to oust the Puyallup Indian agent and dismantle federal restrictions, arguing the reservation's lands and rail routes should be 'opened' — a dispossession dressed as progress.Tacoma, WA
- Apr 12, 1894Northern Pacific Slashes Freight Rates in a Coast-to-Coast WarSeattle shippers get word that commodity rates from Chicago and the river cities will drop to match the Southern Pacific’s Sunset route.Seattle, WA
- May 13, 1894The Railroad That Ran to Nobody: Tacoma's Lake Park Line in Ownership LimboUnion Pacific bought the ten-mile line to Lake Park and American Lake, but its earnings are now being kept while the receiver sends back no instructions.Tacoma, WA
- Aug 8, 1894Spokane Merchants Take the Railroad Monopoly Back to CourtThirty-five Spokane merchants ask a federal judge to force the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific to obey an 1891 Interstate Commerce Commission order that found the roads were gouging the inland city.Spokane, WA
- Aug 12, 1894An Hour From Canada: The Kansas Fugitive Caught in a Bellingham Barber ShopFrank Greenwood fled Kansas after a seduction charge, hoping to disappear into Washington and then British Columbia. A persistent Kansas detective tracked him to New Whatcom, where he was arrested in his brother’s barber shop—just an hour before he meant to be gone.Seattle, WA
- Jan 21, 1895Spokane's Revolt Against a Railroad-Backed SenatorIn 1895, thousands of Eastern Washington voters signed a protest against John L. Wilson, charging that four transcontinental railroads had bought his Senate candidacy while freight rates drained the region dry.Spokane, WA
- Jan 29, 1895The House Would Rather Not Buy the RailroadsOlympia lawmakers mock a memorial urging Congress to foreclose on the Pacific railroads, then vote 67-55 to let the matter drop.Olympia, WA