OT - Lincoln Highway and original 1869 UPRR Grade

[Peter M. Eick]

I need to know the exact location of the trace of the Lincoln highway and the original 1869 UPRR grade. I have hired archaeologist to map it for me in my project area, but I would like to get a jump start on their results. I am working in central Wyoming.

Does anyone have a suggestion how to find this?

Here is what I am talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Tran ... l_Railroad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway

I have 1 ft pixel airphotos of my region and 1 m LIDAR data so I can "ground truth" proposed paths very accurately. I have found that the published routes are wrong in places by more then a mile in my region.

[rjohns94]

I can't help in your area, but it is very well marked here in Pa. I live literally right on it her in south central PA, ofter biking or running parts of it. It travels through lancaster, york, gettysburg, pittsburgh, bedford to name a few here in PA. I wish you luck in your quest.

[Peter M. Eick]

Thanks. I know in some areas it is well marked but out in my project area I am sort of guessing. The issue is I need to prove that the path I pick is the "correct" one. For this reason I need to find an independently verifiable track of it.

[Mike D.]

Has the original track alignment changed appreciably? Here in the Sierra, it runs in it's original R/W, with multi-track upgrades, of course. I have found hundreds of CPRR artifacts over the years, including locks, journal box covers, threadless telegraph insulators, discarded bottles, and various other items associated with construction camps and RR usage.

[Peter M. Eick]

I know that UPRR has adjusted the alignment in the teens to near its current grade. There is a lot of obvious old RR grades you can see on the Lidar and the airphotos, but the problem is which one is the "right" one.

We did email the UPRR and ask them but it is very much like if they asked a question of my company, I am not sure we would respond for liability reasons.

[Meeteetse]

I worked for the Wyoming DOT for 35 years, much of that time as the Railroad Safety Administrator for the State. I can tell you that the UPRR is still pretty much on its original route through southern Wyoming. The UPRR was given huge land grants across Wyoming as incentive to complete the track, and with some very minor alignment shifts, they are still where they originally laid track. Much of what you see on aerial photos is indication of secondary track, double tracking and by-pass track laid to allow trains to pass.

Across Wyoming, the terrain dictated where the track would be built, and it still does today. There are even some of the original wooden truss bridges still in place, especially in the southwest part of the state. The "mainline" track currently used by the UPRR is probably within a few feet one way or the other from the original alignment. Sometimes a new parallel track was built immediately adjacent to the original track. I personally doubt if there are any records indicating the "exact" track location of the original 1849 routing. Given the survey techniques of the time, and the hurry-up methods of construction, I doubt if you could prove or document the original route to within 100 feet of today's existing line.

The railroads in the west are a fascinating story. From the land grants that included all the mineral rights as well as the land. Much of the land grants included a 200 foot minimum right-of-way (100 feet either side of the track) plus a checker board of land that included every other section (640 acres)(a mile by a mile square) completely across the state. Unlike other parts of the country where heavy-handed tactics were used by railroad companies to acquire right-of-way, in Wyoming, a territory at the time, the land was uninhabited and owned by the U.S. Government, who was more that willing to give it to the UPRR to "Open up the West".

The railroads use of Chinese labor is both interesting and sad. The mobile labor camps, that moved everyday, providing food and shelter for the workers are also interesting. You will find the history or the western railroad expansion very interesting. You might try the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne as a source of information.

edit: I forgot to add. Don't use the alignment of the Lincoln Highway of today (I-80) and try to compare it to the alignment of the railroad. They have no relationship. There are several areas where they are near each other, but the original highway (US 30) generally came second to the railroad and followed the railroad for convenience and because that is what the terrain dictated. The alignment of the Lincoln Highway today (Interstate 80 dedicated as the Lincoln Highway in the 1960's) has been dictated by the Federal Highway Administration and has changed dramatically from the routing of the original highway (US 30) which followed the railroad more closely.

[Jay Bird]

This is all I could find. Hope it can help.

[Don McDowell]

Thru Nebraska the Lincoln Highway is pretty much covered by what's left of US 30.
As you enter Wyoming at PineBluffs, the Lincoln higway is now county road 213 until it gets to Hillsdale, and then from Hillsdale west pretty much stays on the north side of the tracks to Archer . From Archer to Cheyenne the Lincoln is no longer there, but roughly followed the tracks down into Cheyenne. From Cheyenne west it's pretty much under I-80 now, from Laramie its now known as 30 again, but from Walcott on west to Point of Rocks theres is but little remnant of either the Lincoln or 30.
The UPRR's mainline is still where it's always been except for in a couple of spots on Sherman hill, and the Wilcox north of Rock River isn't the same Wilcox that Butch and Sundance made famous. There's been a few curves straightened and some grades rebuilt but for the most part the track bed is where they built it in 69.

[Jimbo]

Bet you're looking somewhere close to Hanna, WY. I have some old mine mapping from the UPRR that shows the approximate location of the Lincoln Highway in relation to the 1920ish or before mines around Hanna, but the same information is available on the WYDEQ abandoned mine lands reclamation web site. the stuff I have access to shows the Lincoln Highway about 1/4 to 1/2 mile north of the UPRR right of way. We're doing a project in that general area too. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Jimbo

[Don McDowell]

If you look closely from the overpass at Carbon, you can vaquely see the old highway road berm heading towards Elmo and Hanna. There's a few spots west of there you can still see where the road was , but you almost need to be on the rr right of way to see it.

[Peter M. Eick]

Thanks for the replys guys. Yes this is central Wyoming we are working on here.

In my area, the Lincoln appears to wander a bit and is south of i-80 and yet north of the current UPRR. It appears to be a dirt road most of the way based upon a track I got off the Lincoln Highway societies maps that they sell. The problem is that I can track a road grade to their map well but all of a sudden they go north across obvious areas of no roads and pick up a new right of way way to the north (1/2 mile give or take). It then is on another dirt road grade for a few miles until it merges into "my" Lincoln highway road grade to the south. Since I have to avoid it, which one I avoid matters. Probably they both are correct and both were parts of the grade at one time.

Regarding the RR right of way. The current grade is south of the obvious town sites by up to a few miles. This leads me to believe that they realigned the grades at some time during the history of the area. The problem is that the original town sites it is hard to track out which grade is the right original 1869 right of way. Logically I would have said it went from this town to the next town site and so forth. This would match more closely the checkerboard.

What I expect I will have to do is print out the airphoto's on the wall and make an educated guess as to which track is the real one and which road is the real one. I will then have to sit down with my Archaeologist and have them educate me as to why I am right an why I am wrong.

It will be fun to spend next summer driving around near these areas and see what it looks like to stand on the ground and contemplate the decisions. I have now been there 3 times but I did not have the chance to really walk out the grades and figure it out with a map and and GPS.

[jdad]

I used to live on the Lincoln Hwy and about 1/4 mile from the tracks. A little town, 2000 ft above sea level, called Applegate, CA about 7-8 miles south of Colfax. I have several original spikes I've found over the years. One of my old neighbors property was alongside the grade and had a well built by the Chinese laborers.

[Don McDowell]

To the best of my knowledge the Lincoln highway never was paved. 30 got pavement,but not the old highway. The Lincoln did jump around quite abit, for instance between Pine Bluffs and Hillsdale, I can think of 3 different 1 mile corrections.
As to the UP track bed being several miles off of the original, that's only the case in a very few instances. Sherman, and Wilcox being the only two I can think of at the moment.
Just from curiousity, what is the project you're working on?

You could probably call the UP division engineers office in Cheyenne and get some idea of where to find more information.

[Peter M. Eick]

I work for an oil company and I have a large seismic project I am working on. I will have receivers and vibe trucks going back and forth over the area and I need to make sure that I properly offset the historic UPRR grade and the Lincoln highway path by a 100 ft corridor on the BLM acreage. Thus the concern about the exact path. I need to document that I am 100 ft away from it and then for geophysical and aesthetic reasons I need to "dog-leg" my lines into the paths so if you were to stand on the right of way you would not see the tracks of my equipment. This is all about stewardship of America's historic places.

I do like the idea of going to Cheyenne and talking directly to the UPRR. I next trip up there I will do that. I just hate showing up to a company and cold calling on them.

Your post got me thinking. If they did not re-align the grade, why would the old town sites be north of the RR grade? The town sites are obvious on the air photo's so unless they moved north to the highway grade why would they not build next to the RR?

[Don McDowell]

There were company towns, and then there were public towns. Alchohol and firearms was/is forbidden on company property,henceforth the formation of towns a ways off the rightofway.
The Rawlins field office of the BLM should have much of the information you need. If you can't shake someone out there the state BLM office is in Cheyenne, but you might have better results with getting info out of the Casper office than with the Cheyenne one.

If you can get ahold of the right folks with the UP you'll be able to find out exactly where the original track bed was, and if you want to dig deep enough they could probably tell you how many times Bob Gonzales had to swing a spike maul to set the spikes at mile post such and such.... The UP engineering dept has always been very detail oriented. (I know I spent 16 years with the good ol Onion Pathetic )
Also check with the UP Historical Society at 3076355197, If they don't have the info on hand dollars to donuts they'll get you to the right spot.
The State Archives will probably yield you more information on the Lincoln Highway , than any other branch of the state government. But then again I'ld be terribly surprised if 99% of the info you seek isn't buried in the bowels of the BLM's records somewhere.

[Don McDowell]

Peter one last word of caution , on the archeaologist, there's a big a difference in those guys as there is between gunparts changers and gunsmiths.
If you're not already locked into a contract with one, it might not hurt to call the Western History Center in Lingle Wy and ask for a recommendation on prospective finders of old stuff....

[Mike D.]

The remnants of those little Wyo townsites along the tracks have coughed up some good WT bottles for us diggers. We manage a trip that way every couple of years, or so. The last pit we excavated was full of blacksmith culls and worn out leather boots and shoes. Everything either went to the local dumpsite or down the privy hole.

[Don McDowell]

Peter one more thought, as you've stated your concern with the land you'll be affecting, you can probably do yourself a good bit of pre arrival good will by working with the Conservation Districts that' you'll be working thru. They can help you with projects to lessen/offset your impact, as well as maybe help with landowner cooperation. Check with the Medicine Bow CD, SERC (Saratoga, Encampment, Rawlins) CD, and you might also get into the Laramie Rivers District. All 3 of those districsts have full time managers so you should be able to contact them with littel trouble. If you have trouble finding folks at home there let me know, and I can get you further contact information.

[Meeteetse]

There were company towns, and then there were public towns. Alchohol and firearms was/is forbidden on company property,henceforth the formation of towns a ways off the rightofway.
The Rawlins field office of the BLM should have much of the information you need. If you can't shake someone out there the state BLM office is in Cheyenne, but you might have better results with getting info out of the Casper office than with the Cheyenne one.

If you can get ahold of the right folks with the UP you'll be able to find out exactly where the original track bed was, and if you want to dig deep enough they could probably tell you how many times Bob Gonzales had to swing a spike maul to set the spikes at mile post such and such.... The UP engineering dept has always been very detail oriented. (I know I spent 16 years with the good ol Onion Pathetic )
Also check with the UP Historical Society at 3076355197, If they don't have the info on hand dollars to donuts they'll get you to the right spot.
The State Archives will probably yield you more information on the Lincoln Highway , than any other branch of the state government. But then again I'ld be terribly surprised if 99% of the info you seek isn't buried in the bowels of the BLM's records somewhere.

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I agree with Don about the towns being both company and public. Many of the public towns were also told not to locate on the UPRR right-of-way so they had to build outside the checker board ownership of the railroad. As I stated earlier, much of the railroad ownership is as much as a mile either side of the operating right-of-way, so you must ask about land grant property as well as operating right-of-way. The operating right-of-way of course is where the trains run. The other owned/granted property of the railroad is so vast it includes agriculture and mining lands all across the southern part of the state and a great deal of it is not attached to the operating right-of-way. Because of the wandering nature of the lands, being adjacent to the railroad could easily mean being a mile away. A small price to pay for the convenience of traveling and/or receiving goods and services. Sometimes the towns were located as near as possible to the railroad but even nearer to the nearest source of water. Water has always been a scarce commodity in Wyoming except along the rivers.

One last thought. The Department of Transportation's HQ office is in Cheyenne. That is where I spent 35 years of my working career. I believe they still have some historical information concerning the highway system. If they don't keep it there any longer, they can tell you where it is kept. Their office is at the Central Avenue Interchange of I-25 in north Cheyenne. Talk to the public information department in the main lobby. I would give you the names of my contacts at the UPRR but they have retired. As Don suggests, contact the UPRR Engineering Department in Cheyenne. I believe they are still located in the old depot in downtown Cheyenne.
Dave

[Peter M. Eick]

Lots of good information. Yes I am already working with the BLM offices and several of the agencies you named. I also have a very well respected Arch on my project as the lead so things are going very smoothly so far. I am just trying to jump start my mapping program to understand the impact of the offsets on my survey.

I will save the contact numbers you guys gave out and give them a call after the holiday week off.

I had not considered the company town verses the local town. Excellent insights!

Thanks!