Southern Pacific Transportation Company: Difference between revisions

 

==History==

The original Southern Pacific Railroad was founded in [[San Francisco]] in 1865, by a group of businessmen led by [[Timothy Guy Phelps|Timothy Phelps]] with the aim of building a rail connection between San Francisco and [[San Diego, California]]. The company was purchased in September 1868 by a group of businessmen known as the [[Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|Big Four]]: [[Charles Crocker]], [[Leland Stanford]], [[Mark Hopkins, Jr.]] and [[Collis Potter Huntington|C. P. Huntington]]. The Big Four had, in 1861, created the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] (CPRR)<ref>{{Cite web |last=R |first=Miriam |date=2020-07-31 |title=Moments in History: Leland Stanford, 1824-1893 and Jane Stanford, 1828-1905 |url=https://paloaltohistorymuseum.org/moments-in-history-leland-stanford-1824-1893-jane-stanford-1828-1905/ |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=Palo Alto History Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> It later acquired the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] in 1885 through leasing.<ref>{{Harvp|Yenne|1996|p=29}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Yenne|1996|p=51}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Farmer, Jared |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/889889389 |title=Trees in paradise : a California history |date=2013 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-07802-2 |oclc=889889389}}</ref> By 1900, the Southern Pacific system was a major railroad system incorporating many smaller companies, such as the [[Texas and New Orleans Railroad]] and [[Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad]]. It extended from [[New Orleans]] through [[Texas]] to [[El Paso]], across [[New Mexico]] and through [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]], to [[Los Angeles]], through most of [[California]], including [[San Francisco]] and [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]]. Central Pacific lines extended east across [[Nevada]] to [[Ogden, Utah]], and reached north through [[Oregon]] to [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]. Other subsidiaries eventually included the [[St. Louis Southwestern Railway]] (Cotton Belt, reporting marks SSW), [[El Paso and Southwestern Railroad]], the [[Northwestern Pacific Railroad]] at {{convert|328|mi|km}}, the {{convert|1331|mi|km|adj=on}} [[Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico]], and a variety of {{RailGauge|3ft|lk=on}} [[Narrow-gauge railway|narrow-gauge]] routes.