Central Pacific Railroad Railroadiana Collectibles

The RICHINS RAREROAD by DAN RICHINS
Central Pacific Railroad of California
Central Pacific Railroad Co.
The CENTRAL PACIFIC, which formed the western portion of the first transcontinental railroad completed at Promontory Summit on May 10th 1869, comprised the section of railroad extending eastward from Sacramento 690 miles to Promontory Utah. This portion was constructed from January 8th 1863 to May 10th 1869.
In addition, the Central Pacific acquired the Union Pacific built section from Promontory Summit 47.5 miles to a point 5.11 miles west of the original Depot at Ogden, Utah- constructed by the Union Pacific in 1869. This section was purchased from the Union Pacific on Nov 17th 1869. The remaining 5.11 miles was leased from the Union Pacific for 999 years.
Groundbreaking occurred at the foot of "K" Street in Sacramento on Jan 8th 1863 with active construction commencing in March. The first iron pear-head rail was laid on October 26th 1863.
After the May 10th ceremonies at Promontory Summit the Central Pacific line was officially opened on May 11th with regular scheduled service on the 13th from Omaha Nebraska to Sacramento California with the westbound known as the "Pacific Express" and the eastbound as "Atlantic Express". On May 15th transcontinental freight and passenger service was inaugurated.
The corporate history of the Central Pacific is as follows: (1) articles of incorporation were filed on 28 June 1861 as the Central Pacific Rail Road of California (2) a slight name change occurred on 23 June 1870 to Central Pacific Railroad of California with the articles of incorporation filed on that date. Two small railroads, the Western Pacific Railroad (of 1862) and the San Francisco Bay Railroad, were consolidated on June 23rd 1870 to form the (3) Central Pacific Railroad Company of June 1870. This corporation was consolidated with three additional California railroads in August 1870. (4) Central Pacific Railroad of August 1870. This corporation was reorganized in 29 June 1899 as the (5) Central Pacific Railway which merged with the Southern Pacific Company on June 30, 1959.
Four audacious California merchants, Mark Hopkins, Collis Porter Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Leland Stanford formed the Central Pacific. They convinced Congress to authorize two constructing companies to build the transcontinental line and share in government subsidies. These men had neither the technical knowledge nor the capital to construct such a railroad, but through determination and grit forged the Central Pacific-Southern Pacific combination and they controlled 85% of all the railroads in California by 1878. These lines including the Central Pacific to Ogden were under the unified control of these men through lease and stock control. They held the majority of the stock in the various railroad lines. Many of these stock-controlled lines were also leased to them to assume greater control under a single management - theirs.
In the 1870s and particularly in the 1880s the Southern Pacific Railroad began to eclipse the Central Pacific in importance in the SP/CP combination because: (1) the high profits earned by the Central Pacific declined with declining mining activity in Nevada; (2) as the Southern Pacific System was being completed in Southern California, Arizona and Texas, its economic importance grew along with its profitability; (3) the Southern Pacific reached San Francisco while the Central Pacific did not; and (4) the percentage of stock owned by Huntington and his associates had shrunk to 30% of outstanding stock. Large amounts of Central Pacific stock had been sold in Europe in the 1870s those high profit years for the Central Pacific. Their control of the Central Pacific depended on proxies sent them. Ironically it was the Central Pacific which leased the Southern Pacific but this was reversed after the Southern Pacific Company was organized in Kentucky on March 17th, 1884. It was a stock holding company all Southern Pacific stock was acquired and an equal amount of Southern Pacific stock issued. Central Pacific stock was not acquired. The Southern Pacific Railroad was leased to the So. Pac. Co. on February 10th 1885 for 99 years. The Central Pacific Railroad was leased to the Southern Pacific Company on the 1st of April 1885 for 99 years. The Southern Pacific Company assumed all C.P. obligations except the principal of indebtedness of the U.S. Government bonds.
The indebtedness of the Central Pacific to the U.S. Government, to the tune of $58 million in government bonds plus interest, which were maturing towards the end of the 19th century, prompted the reorganization of the Central Pacific Railroad Co. To become the Central Pacific Railway. In the process all Central Pacific stockholders chose to receive stock and bonds of the Southern Pacific Company. The Central Pacific Railway then issued all its stock to the Southern Pacific Company. The Southern Pacific Company continued to lease the Central Pacific properties as lessee. The U.S. Government received payment in full plus interest.
One may ask what does the foregoing dry economic historical account have to do with Central Pacific artifacts? First the leasing of the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific on 10 Feb 1885 and 1 April 1885 meant that they kept their respective identities as to their properties but as the years passed more and more property items became marked "S.P. Co." rather than C.P.R.R. or S.P.R.R. Even the respective marking of the two leased railroads overlapped the CP lease date of 1 April 1885. The above statements are based on the assumption that the stamped numbers on 19th Century C.P.R.R. and S. P. Co locks are months and years. This assumption is based on no documentary evidence but from the following: (1) there are two sets of stamped numbers one set seems to indicate latter years of the 19th C such as "76," "82," "85" etc.; the second set is composed of single or double numbers from 1 through 12 seeming to indicate months of the year. No numbers have surfaced below 1 or above 12. There are CPRR locks with numbers of 12/76, 4/79, 5/81, 9/ 83, 11/83, 11/85,1/87 & 1/88, notice the last two number set are after the 4/1/85 lease date. Could these be old stock-on-hand locks put out for use? (2) all the SP. Co marked locks are reported in the post-1885 years. The S.P. Co locks are reported marked 2/88, 6/ 89, 5/90, 6/90 & 10/91; (3) there are double-marked items such as the C.P., S.P. axehead and the 9/83 CPRR of Cal lock; (4) even older corporate names such as CPRR of Cal and the later CPRR Co were stamped interchangeably on property items such as locks, tools etc. through the 1880s; (5) after the late 1880s on into the 1890s S.P. Co markings took over on locks, tools etc.
Finally the smaller locks of the Central Pacific for switch and utility use often are marked only C.P.R.R. or CPRR Cal. Some of these locks seem to be quite early. A CPRR lock marked Ritchie & Boyden Newark N.J. Pat Ext Aug 23 '67 is probably of construction era vintage as Ritchie & Boyden became Ritchie and Co. In 1870. There is also an identical lock marked R. Ritchie & Co. Newark N.J. Pat Ext. Aug 22 1867 marked CPRR. A similar lock is marked T. Slaight Pat Dec 12 65 Newark NJ and dates prior to 1900. This lock is stamped C.P.R.R. Cal. All these locks do not have the possible month/year stamped numbers.