Pacific Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name = Pacific Railroad
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locale = Missouri
start_year = 1849 [http://www.mopac.org/history_mp.asp MPHS - Missouri Pacific Railroad History ] ]
end_year = 1872
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successor_line = Missouri Pacific Railroad, St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
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hq_city = The Pacific Railroad is a defunct U.S. railroad. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway.

The Pacific was chartered by the U.S. state of Missouri in 1849 to extend "from St. Louis to the western boundary of Missouri and thence to the Pacific Ocean." Due to a cholera epidemic and other delays, groundbreaking didn't occur until July 4, 1851. [http://stlouis.missouri.org/government/heritage/history/transport.htm St. Louis Historic Context: Transprtation ] ]

The railroad purchased its first steam locomotive from a manufacturer in Taunton, Massachusetts; it arrived at St. Louis by river in August 1852. On December 9, 1852, the Pacific Railroad had its inaugural run, traveling from its depot on Fourteenth Street, along the Mill Creek Valley, to Cheltenham [ [http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/frisco/depots/stlouis.cfm Frisco Depots: St. Louis County, Missouri ] ] in about ten minutes. By the following May, it had reached Kirkwood.; within months tunnels west of Kirkwood were completed, allowing the line to reach Franklin.

The Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad was authorized in 1852 and split off as the Southwest Pacific Railroad (later the main line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway) in 1866.

Financial difficulties meant that Pacific Railroad didn't reach Washington, eighteen miles away, until February 1855. Later that year the line reached, Jefferson City, the state capital.

By July 1858 the Pacific Railroad reached Tipton, the eastern terminus for the Butterfield Overland Mail, an overland mail service to San Francisco. The combined rail/coach service reduced mail delivery times between St. Louis and San Francisco from about 35 days to less than 25 days.

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