July 29, 1920
Mr. R. L Huntley,
Chief Engineer, Union Pacific Railroad,
Omaha, Nebr.
Dear Sir:-
Will you kindly advise if the Central Branch of the Missouri
Pacific running west from Atchison, Kansas, was at any time the property
of the Union Pacific, referring to about the year 1865: The charter name
of the company was at that time the Atchison and Pikes Peak Railroad.
Yours truly,
Chief Engineer System.
ESR-G
__________________________________
July 29, 1920
Mr. H. C. Searls,
Valuation Engineer, Missouri Pacific R. R.,
St. Louis, Mo.,
Dear Sir:-
Will you kindly advise if the Central Branch of the Missouri
Pacific running west from Atchison, Kansas, was at any time the property
of the Union Pacific, referring to about the year 1865: The charter name
of the company was at that time the Atchison and Pikes Peak Railroad.
Yours truly,
Chief Engineer System.
ESR-G
_______________________________________
H. C. Seals July 31, 1920. Valuation Engineer. File 3051.Mr. C. F. W. Felt,
Dear Sir:-
I have your letter of July 29th, making inquiry as to the Central Branch, running westwardly from Atchison, Kansas.
The first forty miles of this line were constructed by the Atchison & Pikes Peak Ry. Co. which was incorporated February 11, 1859. This company acquired the rights of the Hannibal & St. Joseph R. R. Co. under the Pacific Railways Act of July 1st, 1862, by assignment dated June 9, 1863. After the first forty miles were constructed, the name of the corporation was changed on January 1, 1867, to Central Branch Union Pacific R. R. Co., under which name the remaining sixty miles of the original one hundred mile Government aid was constructed.
While there was some relationship existing between the Atchison & Pikes Peak and the Union Pacific proper, also between the Central Branch Union Pacific and the Union Pacific proper, such relationship is not disclosed by any information which we have. The Union Pacific proper, at the time in question, had as officers:
President, Gen. John A. Dix,
Vice-Pres., T. C. Durant,
Chief Engineer, G. M. Dodge
The Union Pacific Wyandotte Division, which is the line running westwardly from Kansas City, has officers:
President, John D. Perry,
Engineer, R. M. Shoemaker.
The Atchison & Pikes Peak, which later was called Central Branch Union Pacific R. R., has as officers:
President, Senator S. C. Pomeroy,
Superintendent, Col. Wm. Osborne,
Chief Engineer, Maj. O. B. Gunn
The Pacific Railways Act, above mentioned, provided for Government aid for all three of these companies, and certain records we have indicated some relationship between the three companies, but we do not have just what form this took. The property was acquired by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company at a foreclosure sale.
It is interesting to note that Major Gunn, who built the first portion of the Atchison & Pikes Peak, and later became its Superintendent, resigned as Superintendent to become the first chief engineer of the Santa Fe.
Yours truly,
(Signed) H. C. Searls,
Valuation Engineer.