Union Pacific Traditional Cache
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My second railroad themed cache, this one is a log only, printed on special waterproof paper that can be signed even if wet, but the paper can only be written on with a ballpoint pen, so be sure to bring one along. The shortest route to this cache is a soft alkali dust road that is not very pleasant when wet. Even under the best of conditions, I wouldn't attempt this one in a passenger car. To avoid trespassing on railroad property, do not wander north of the fence line.
The Union Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1862 to build the eastern portion of the Transcontinental Railroad, stretching from Omaha, Nebraska to a meeting with the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah. How they came to own the entire route from Omaha to San Francisco was the result of several complicated but interesting circumstances.
In 1865, a group of San Francisco businessmen founded the Southern Pacific Railroad as a land holding company. In 1868, the financiers of the Central Pacific Railroad purchased the Southern Pacific, and in 1870, the SP and CP merged. Fifteen years later, the SP took over all operation of the Central Pacific, and the CP ceased to exist as a seperate company.
In 1901, the Union Pacific Railroad acquired control of the SP, but in 1913, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a divestiture order that required the Union Pacific to sell all of its stock in the SP. The SP continued to grow, extending lines from New Orleans through Texas, across New Mexico and Arizona, throughout California, Nevada and Utah, and had lines reaching north throughout Oregon.
In 1988, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad purchased the Southern Pacific. After the purchase, the combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name. The Southern Pacific subsequently was taken over once again by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996, an acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before. Ironically, although the Union Pacific was the dominant company, taking complete control of the SP, its corporate structure was merged into the Southern Pacific, which on paper became the "surviving company"; it then changed its name to Union Pacific. The merged company retains the "Union Pacific" name for all railroad operations.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
"Bss jvgu ure urnq!"
Treasures
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