The Union Pacific
When the Union Pacific laid track west from Omaha in 1865 the rails also followed the Great Platte River Road. The Union Pacific linked up with the Central Pacific at Promontory, Utah in 1869 to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. The railroad provided a faster and more comfortable way for settlers, miners and adventurer to go West, and the trains also transported cattle, grain, gold and mail. The Union Pacific reached the Ogallala vicinity in 1867, and the town soon became an important shipping point for longhorn steers driven north on the Texas Trail. The railroad built loading facilities west of town so cattle could be shipped to market.
Track laying was done by crews of Civil War veterans, emigrants, ex-miners, adventurers, and gamblers. The crews averaged about two miles of track per day. In 1867 three workers were killed by Indians about one mile west of Ogallala.
Marker is on West A Street near West Second Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
