{{Short description|Railway line in Missouri, United States}} {{About|the railroad within Missouri|the transcontinental railroad that was originally known as the "Pacific Railroad"|First transcontinental railroad}}
{{Infobox rail | gauge={{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}| | railroad_name = Pacific Railroad | logo_filename = | logo_size = | system_map = | map_caption = | marks = | locale = Missouri | start_year = 1849<ref name="mopac">[http://www.mopac.org/history_mp.asp MPHS – Missouri Pacific Railroad History<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409011728/http://www.mopac.org/history_mp.asp |date=2011-04-09 }}</ref> | end_year = 1872<ref name="mopac" /> | predecessor_line = | successor_line = Missouri Pacific Railroad,<br />St. Louis-San Francisco Railway | length = | hq_city = }} The '''Pacific Railroad''' (not to be confused with Union Pacific Railroad) was a railroad based in Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. Chartered by Missouri in 1849 to extend "from St. Louis to the western boundary of Missouri and thence to the Pacific Ocean"<ref name="mopac" /> Due to a cholera epidemic in St. Louis in 1849 and other delays, groundbreaking did not occur until July 4, 1851.<ref name="mopac" /><ref name="mo-org">[http://stlouis.missouri.org/government/heritage/history/transport.htm St. Louis Historic Context: Transportation<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The railroad purchased its first steam locomotive from a manufacturer in Taunton, Massachusetts; it arrived at St. Louis by river in August 1852.<ref name="mopac" /> On December 9, 1852, the Pacific Railroad had its inaugural run, traveling from its depot on Fourteenth Street, along the Mill Creek Valley,<ref name="mo-org" /> to Cheltenham<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/frisco/depots/stlouis.cfm |title=Frisco Depots: St. Louis County, Missouri<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2008-02-09 |archive-date=2008-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517055412/http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/frisco/depots/stlouis.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref> in about ten minutes.<ref name="mopac" /> By the following May, it had reached Kirkwood;<ref name="mo-org" /> within months tunnels west of Kirkwood were completed, allowing the line to reach Franklin.<ref name="mopac" />
The Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad was authorized in 1852 and split off at Franklin (renamed Pacific, Missouri, in 1859), as the Southwest Pacific Railroad (later the main line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway) in 1866.
Financial difficulties meant that Pacific Railroad did not reach Washington, eighteen miles away, until February 1855.<ref name="mopac" /> On November 1, 1855, an excursion train carrying 600 passengers from St. Louis to celebrate the opening of the railroad to Jefferson City crashed through a temporary bridge over the Gasconade River killing at least 30. This became known as the Gasconade Bridge train disaster. Later that year, the line reached Jefferson City, the state capital.<ref name="mopac" />
By July 1858 the Pacific Railroad reached Tipton,<ref name="mopac" /> 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.<ref name="mopac" />
In 1865, it became the first railroad to serve Kansas City, after construction was interrupted by the American Civil War. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railroad by new investors after a railroad debt crisis.
== See also == *List of defunct Kansas railroads *List of defunct Missouri railroads * Butterfield Overland Mail in California * Butterfield Overland Mail in New Mexico Territory * Butterfield Overland Mail in Texas * Butterfield Overland Mail in Indian Territory * Butterfield Overland Mail in Arkansas and Missouri
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{cite web | year=1960 | url=http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/frisco/history/100years.cfm | title=100 Years of Service | accessdate=2006-04-20 | archive-date=2008-08-28 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828060005/https://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/frisco/history/100years.cfm | url-status=dead }}
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Category:Defunct Missouri railroads Category:Defunct Kansas railroads Category:Predecessors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Category:Railway companies established in 1849 Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1876 Category:1849 establishments in Missouri