Printing one of our train robber wanted posters and discussing the Central Pacific Railroad
On June 28, 1861, the Central Pacific Railroad was incorporated by Theodore Judah and four Sacramento businessmen known as “The Associates.” Also known as the “Big Four,” The Associates were Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington, and Charles Crocker. Theodore Judah, who previously worked for the Sacramento Valley Railroad and publisher of "A Practical Plan for Building the Pacific Railroad," was the Chief Engineer of the company. Judah was sent to Washington DC to lobby for a transcontinental railroad. On July 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Central Pacific was chartered by Congress to build the western section of the railroad.
Railroad construction of the eastward bound Central Pacific began at the foot of K Street in Sacramento on January 8, 1863 with a ceremony led by then-Governor Leland Stanford. Theodore Judah’s surveys and engineering plans helped make the railroad possible, although he did not live to see the railroad finished.
On May 10, 1869, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met at Promontory, Utah, completing the Transcontinental Railroad when Leland Stanford drove the gold spike. This railroad made traveling from coast to coast something that could be accomplished in just over a week, instead of potentially several months. Roughly 90 percent of the workforce, about 20,000 people, building the railroad for the Central Pacific were Chinese immigrants. Much or the Transcontinental Railroad’s route is today’s Interstate 80.
In honor of today, Jared letterpress printed a train robber wanted poster with the initials of the museum next door to the Sacramento History Museum. When you visit our museum, make sure to schedule extra time to visit the California State Railroad Museum!
You can order this wanted poster here: https://shopsachistorymuseum.org/Sele...
#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #centralpacific #railroad #sacramento #history #museum #printingpress #printing #typography #asmr #letterpress #oldsacramento