Although I have a lot of editing to do on my current work-in-progress (the sixth book in my Oregon series), I am beginning to think about the next book. I’m planning for the seventh novel to be the last book in the series, but who knows?
I only have the sketchiest of plots for that novel at this point, but I think railroads will play a part in the story. I want the overall arc of my series to span from the early days of the Oregon Trail (Lead Me Home and Forever Mine were set on the trail in 1847) until the Transcontinental Railroad made the Oregon Trail far less important to emigrants to the West. At that point, a new technology made the western trails almost obsolete.
The Golden Spike joining the Transcontinental Railroad was pounded into place in 1869, but that wasn’t the true completion of rail travel from coast to coast. The Transcontinental Railroad only ran from Omaha (in what is now Nebraska) to San Francisco, California.
But the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge between Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa, wasn’t completed until 1872. That’s what connected the Transcontinental Railroad to eastern railroads.
There were earlier rail bridges that spanned the Missouri River at Kansas City, Missouri, and at Leavenworth, Kansas, but these rail lines were not part of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Octave Chanute designed the Hannibal Bridge in Kansas City. Construction on that bridge began in 1867 and completed in 1869. Competing sites for bridges would have required another bridge across the Kaw River, which is why the site of the Hannibal Bridge won out. The Hannibal Bridge, though not part of the Transcontinental Railroad, brought prominence to Kansas City as a rail center. Kansas City grew exponentially after the completion of the bridge.
Even though it wasn’t a complete solution to rail travel, the Transcontinental Railroad significantly shortened and cheapened travel to the West Coast. Rail travel across the country could be completed in a week instead of six months. And rather than investing around $1000 in wagon, teams, and provisions, a rail ticket was $150. Rail travel thus displaced use of the Oregon Trail and other western trails.
Still, even after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Oregon wasn’t connected to the East by rail. There were early rail spurs in Oregon (perhaps I’ll write more about those in another post), but a railroad didn’t run all the way from Portland in the north to Roseburg in the south until 1872. And it took until 1887 to connect Oregon by rail to California, due to lack of funds for the laying of track past Roseburg.
Given this timeline of railroads to the West, I know my next novel won’t be set until at least 1872 or ’73 after the bridge at Omaha was completed. Beyond that, I cannot say.
What are your experiences with travel by rail?
Traveling by train inside the country here is more common than travelling by bus. The last time I went 350 km go, 350 km back was 3 weeks ago, to my grandmother’s village. I still have there old aunts, uncles and cousins around my age.
Also, I made 3 tours of Europe by train in the late 1990s – from Romania to Bulgaria and Greece was not much, but from Romania to France and England, it was. And in 1998 we went to Portugal and visited the World Exhibition there.
I haven’t traveled a lot by train as an adult, except for in Europe. But I remember several train rides as a child.
Actually, the bridge across the Missouri at Kansas City was part of the transcontinental railroad system, but it was south of THE Transcontinental Road. James Joy wanted a road to go across the continent from east t west WITHOUT a ferry. And he did it, this was a major achievement.
Thanks for the clarification. I learn something every day.