The Laramie turntable was a part of the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) shops built in Laramie for repairing, servicing and re-routing engines. There were 14 bays where engines could pull in for servicing. There was also a singular rotating turntable that was moved by manpower to turn the engines around. Having UPPR repair shops in … Continue reading Laramie Turntable →

Men worked in groups to lay the railroad  tracks and other functions of the construction process. The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad struggled from a shortage of workers.  According to a PBS documentary, an engineer working on the construction of the railroad wrote to railroad executive Thomas Durant begging him to import workers to help … Continue reading Building the Railroad →

Many repair shops and roundhouses were rapidly built in Laramie during 1868 to accommodate the expanding Union Pacific Railroad line. A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables. In rail terminology, a railway turntable or wheelhouse … Continue reading Laramie Railroad Shops →

As the railroad expanded, windmills and water towers began dotting the landscape. Windmills provided the power to pump water from surrounding streams. The water towers then stored this water for use by the locomotives. The Laramie Windmill became so famous that visitors would come to Laramie just to see it, ignoring the nearby train stations, … Continue reading Windmills and Water Towers →

Building the railroad exposed the railroad workers to many difficult and dangerous activities  in their efforts to place the tracks at the best possible locations, which had been identified in advance by teams of surveyors.  Workers scaled rocks and mountains to be able to access the necessary areas, as well as to survey the land. … Continue reading Men Scaling Rocks →

A group of construction officials of the Union Pacific Railroad at their headquarters in Laramie in 1867. Click here to learn more about the history of the Union Pacific Railroad.  Resources

Building the railroad required a constant supply of timber to build railroad ties. The ties were cut from timber in the mountains surrounding Laramie, including the logs in this photograph, which were cut down in the Medicine Bow Mountains southwest of Laramie. The ties were milled in the mountains, floated down the rivers to a … Continue reading Railroad Ties Floating Down the River →

The railroad laborers visited the paymaster every week.  The paymaster was in charge of paying the men their wages and keeping track of which men were assigned which jobs. Protection was necessary in order to guard the paymaster and ward off any potential thieves. On the other hand, crooked paymasters often took advantage of the immigrant … Continue reading The Paymaster’s Tent →

Work progresses on the Union Pacific Railroad’s bridge in Green River, Wyoming near the Green River Butte, now better known as Castle Rock. The city of Green River takes its name from the river, which flows through the center of town, and its identity from the impressive rock formations that tower above it. Learn more about … Continue reading Green River Bridge →

Thomas Clark “Doc” Durant was an American financier, as well as vice-president and general manager of the Union Pacific Railroad. In the 1860s, he negotiated a contract to oversee the construction of the Union Pacific’s juncture with the Central Pacific as part of America’s Transcontinental Railroad. In this role, Durant extended his interests to benefit from … Continue reading Thomas Clark Durant →