UPRR Locomotives Sold To H. M. Hoxie

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This page was last updated on March 16, 2013.

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(Timeline of the Union Pacific Railroad of 1864-1880)

Timeline

July 2, 1864
President Lincoln approved the changes to the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. (Building The Pacific Railway, by Edwin L. Sabin, 1919, page 89)

August 1864
"This August a contract was let to Hubert M. Hoxie for the building and equipping of the first 100 miles west from Omaha at $50,000 a mile, reckoned in securities at face value; sum total, $5,000,000. Owing to shortage of labor and the balloon ascent of all material, construction and equipment expenses had swelled as in the case of the Central." (Building The Pacific Railway, by Edwin L. Sabin, 1919, page 89)

Mr. Hoxie had been in charge of the company ferry between Omaha and Council Bluffs. ... The company decided to do away with independent contractors, and entrusted its building to the financial corporation formed of its stockholders and entitled, at the suggestion of the irrepressible George Francis Train, "The Credit Mobilier of America." ...but at any rate the road was put through. Contractor Hoxie was appointed assistant superintendent in the train operating department, and served efficiently in getting supplies to the front. (Building The Pacific Railway, by Edwin L. Sabin, 1919, page 89)

One source noted that Hoxie was an "irresponsible man (an employee in charge of the ferry at Omaha)". (The Union Pacific Railway, A Study in Railway Politics, History, and Economics, by John P. Davis, 1894; Google Books; page 163)

September 23, 1864
The so-called "Hoxie Contract" was signed between Union Pacific and man by the name of Herbert M. Hoxie, of Des Moines, Iowa, supposedly a friend of General Grenville Dodge and Thomas C. Durant. The contract had been signed on August 8, 1864.

Under the contract, Hoxie or his representative, was to build for the Union Pacific Railroad the first 100 miles of the new line.

October 4, 1864
The Hoxie contract was extended to the 100th Meridan, 247 miles west of Omaha.

October 7, 1864
Hoxie agreed to assign the actual work to "such persons as Durant personally might designate" (Ames, page 42) On that same day, Durant and his associates (all of whom were Union Pacific stockholders) formed a pool with the purpose of carrying out the Hoxie contract at a cost of $5 million ($50,000 per mile instead of the engineering estimate of $30,000 per mile). (Ames, page 43; Davis, page 164)

October 7, 1864
"...Hoxie agreed to assign his contract to Durant or any person he (Durant) might designate; on the same day, the assignment was made to a company (simple partnership-not a corporation or company of limIted liability) composed of Durant, McComb and a few others, all stockholders in the Union Pacific." (The Union Pacific Railway, A Study in Railway Politics, History, and Economics, by John P. Davis, 1894; Google Books; page 164)

"The Hoxie contract (covering the line from Omaha to the 100th meridian, two hundred and forty-seven miles) was assigned to the Credit Mobilier, and by that corporation performed, the work being finished on the 5th of October, 1866." (The Union Pacific Railway, A Study in Railway Politics, History, and Economics, by John P. Davis, 1894; Google Books; page 166)

December 19, 1864
Union Pacific sold three locomotives to H. M. Hoxie; all three were sold back to Union Pacific in April 1867.

October 5, 1866
Construction was completed to the 100th Meridian; a sign was erected at what was known as the symbolic beginning of the West by stating "100th MERIDIAN. 247 MILES FROM OMAHA"; the site is just west of today's Cozad, Nebraska, a town on U. S. Highway 30 and a station on the Union Pacific, as well as being a stop on the Pony Express.

(Cozad was shown as milepost 238.2 in 1948; the 1981 Union Pacific track profile shows the 100th Meridian at milepost 238.29)

December 1866
Union Pacific sold 17 locomotives to H. M. Hoxie; all were sold back to Union Pacific in April 1867.

Locomotives Sold To Hoxie (1864)

Original
Name
UPRR
Number
Builder Builder
Number
Date
Built
Date To
UPRR
Date
Vacated
Later
Number
Notes
Major General Sherman UPRR 1 Danforth, Cooke [381] Sep 1864 Jul 1865 1880 O&RV 4 1
Major General McPherson UPRR 2 Danforth, Cooke [382] Sep 1864 Jul 1865 1872 CC 2 2
(no name) UPRR 3 Manchester 51 Aug 1864   1868 CC 1 3

Locomotives Sold To Hoxie (1866)

Original
Name
UPRR
Number
Builder Builder
Number
Date
Built
As Built
Specs.
Wheel
Arrangement
1866 UPRR
Number
Date
Renumbered
Notes
Major General Sheridan UPRR 4 Norris [1187] 1865 60-16x24 4-4-0     1
Vice Admiral Farragut UPRR 5 Norris [1188] 1865 60-16x24 4-4-0     2
Black Hawk UPRR 6 Hinkley & Williams 752 Aug 1865 60-14x22 4-4-0     3
Omaha UPRR 7 Schenectady 411 Mar 1866 60-16x24 4-4-0     4
Idaho UPRR 8 Schenectady 418 Apr 1866 60-16x24 4-4-0     5
Denver UPRR 10 Danforth 447 May 1866 63-16x24 4-4-0     6
Colorado UPRR 11 Danforth 448 May 1866 63-16x24 4-4-0     7
Bellevue UPRR 12 Danforth 449 Aug 1866 54-18x22 2-6-0     8
Utah Pony No.1 Danforth [446] Jul 1866 46-14x22 0-4-0T     9
  UPRR 16 Grant 474 Jul 1866 61-16x24 4-4-0     10
  UPRR 17 Grant 475 Jul 1866 61-16x24 4-4-0     11
  UPRR 18 Grant 476 Aug 1866 61-16x24 4-4-0     12
  UPRR 19 (1st) Hinkley & Williams 784 Aug 1866 63-14x22 4-4-0 UPRR 13 1866 13
  UPRR 20 (1st) Hinkley & Williams 787 Sep 1866 63-14x22 4-4-0 UPRR 14 1866 14
  UPRR 21 (1st) Hinkley & Williams 788 Oct 1866 63-14x22 4-4-0 UPRR 15 1866 15
  UPRR 19 (2nd) Grant 477 Aug 1866 61-16x24 4-4-0     16
  UPRR 20 (2nd) Grant 478 Aug 1866 61-16x24 4-4-0     17

General Notes:

  1. Each of the 17 locomotives sold to Hoxie in 1866, were sold back to Union Pacific in 1867, and had the following later dispositions:
  1867 UPRR
Number
1880 UPRy
Number
Date
Vacated
Later
Number
  UPRR 4 UPRy 4 1882 OSLRy 29
  UPRR 5 UPRy 5 1882 OSLRy 24
  UPRR 6   1871 CC 3
  UPRR 7 UPRy 7    
  UPRR 8 UPRy 8    
  UPRR 10 UPRy 10    
  UPRR 11 UPRy 11 1882 OSLRy 26
  UPRR 12   1880 USRRE 12
  Pony No.1 UPRy 1    
  UPRR 16 UPRy 16 1880 OSLRy 3
  UPRR 17 UPRy 17    
  UPRR 18 UPRy 18 1880 OSLRy 10
  UPRR 13   1876 O&RV 1
  UPRR 14   1871 USRR 1
  UPRR 15   1870 UCRR 1
  UPRR 19 (2nd) UPRy 19 1880 OSLRy 1
  UPRR 20 (2nd) UPRy 20 1880 OSLRy 2

More Information

Union Pacific Locomotives, 1864-1880 -- A roster listing of UP locomotives numbered as UPRR 1 through UPRR 190.

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