EXHIBITS
Dinosaurs
Fossils
Prehistoric People
Native Americans
Mountain Men
Oregon-California
Trail
Mormon Trail
Pony Express
Cherokee &
Overland Trail
Stagecoaches
Union Pacific
Railroad
John Wesley Powell
Coal & Trona Mining
Oil & Gas Booms
Mormon War of
1857
Chinese
Massacre
U.S. Army in Wyoming
Outlaws & Lawmen
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Big Nose George
Cattle Ranching
Sheep Herding
Riverboats
Lincoln Highway
Aviation
Amelia
Earhart
Women's History
Wyoming General Hospital
Nursing
Firemen
Rialto Theater
Home
Entertainment
Wild Horses
Offsite Exhibits
Chinese Dragon
Parade
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD
Without the railroad the West would not have been settled so quickly. People could cross America in relative comfort within days avoiding the long, difficult and dangerous trips west by wagons or stagecoaches. Before the railroad was built it cost more than $1,000 and several months to make the trip from New York to San Francisco. The trip by rail took seven days and cost $70 for a third class ticket. Additionally, the railroad lowered the costs of transporting agricultural and mining products back to the large population centers in the East.
It could be said that the Union Pacific Railroad “made” southern Wyoming; the railroad was the primary employer in both Rock Springs and Green River for many years. Prior to the railroad's arrival in 1869, it is estimated that there were fewer than 1,000 non-Native Americans in Wyoming Territory. Twenty-one years later, over 60,000 people called Wyoming home with the majority residing in towns created along the railroad’s tracks.
A set of china used by the Union Pacific railroad.
Union Pacific Railroad china is displayed next to a UPRR station master's uniform in the railroad section.
Telegraph artifacts and train objects help tell the story of the railroad’s importance in Sweetwater County.
