RAILROAD HISTORY

BIG BEND RAILROAD HISTORY
Produced by the son of one of my classmates in the Coulee City Schools, "This blog features historical information on the railroad lines of the Big Bend/Columbia Plateau region of Washington state."

CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD
Photographic History Museum
Website also has large online library.  Click on History.
Of particular interest under "Explorations and Surveys, c. 1853" is:
Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, made under the direction of the Secretary of War, in 1853-4. Volumes I-XII.  Washington, Government Printing Office, 1855-61.

GN-NP Archive
The Joint Archives of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society (GNRHS) and Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association (NPRHA). Both organizations are dedicated to the preservation and history of these two railroads, predecessors to today's BNSF Railway. The Joint Archives physically reside at Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul, MN, with an additional Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive facility under development, and comprise hundreds of thousands of files, drawings, books, photos and physical artifacts. These items are old, often delicate, and irreplaceable, so this website is dedicated to making as much material as possible available in digital form to members, researchers and the general public.

VANGUARD OF EXPANSION
Army Engineers in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1819-1879
by Frank N. Schubert
History Division, Office of Administrative Services
Office of the Chief of Engineers, August 1980
Of particular interest is Chapter VI, Pacific Railroad Surveys

THE CREDIT MOBILIER OF AMERICA IT'S ORIGIN AND HISTORY
IT'S WORK OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD AND THE RELATION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THEREWITH.
by J.  B. (JAY BOYD) CRAWFORD
BOSTON.  C.W. CALKINS & CO.  1880

HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD
by Eugene V. Smalley
New York.  G. P. Putnam's Sons.  1883.