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To promote the new company and attract investors, Governor Evans orchestrated a large publicity campaign throughout
Arapahoe County, including Denver City. Some of his partners lobbied wealthy locals to invest, while others persuaded middle and lower class citizens of Arapahoe County to contribute
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partnered with East Coast investors to form a railroad company that would link the Denver City and to a lesser degree the
Territory of Colorado with the national rail network. The company was incorporated in the Territory of Colorado on November 19, 1867 as the "Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph
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and incorporated on
November 7, 1861. The decision to build the transcontinental railroad to the north had left the fledgling city stranded from the major transportation routes. Many at the time expected that Cheyenne would blossom into the major population center of the region. As a result, Thomas
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The efforts seemed to be on the brink of failure when Evans was able to persuade
Congress to grant "the company" 900,000 acres (3,600 km) of land on the condition that the company build a line connecting the Union Pacific line with the existing Kansas Pacific line, which then extended only as
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The first train from
Cheyenne arrived in Denver on June 24, 1870. Two months later, in August 1870, the Kansas Pacific completed its line to Denver and the first train arrived from Kansas. The Denver Pacific line intersected the Kansas Pacific at "Jersey Junction", three miles north of downtown
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in the form of small pledges and even donations of their own time and labor to work to construct the line. Within several days, the company sold $ 300,000 in stock, but were unable to raise further funds to begin construction. The company was turned back in its efforts to solicit funds from the
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In the 1870s, investors of the Kansas
Pacific eventually acquired control of the railroad. On January 24, 1880, the railroad merged with the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific, with the resulting company retaining the Union Pacific name.
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The Denver
Pacific's rival, the Colorado Central line from Golden, was not completed until 1877. By this time, Denver had established its supremacy over its rival as the population center and capital city of the newly admitted
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The construction of the rail line linking
Cheyenne and Denver was widely credited at the time for reviving the city of Denver, which had been founded at the time of the
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Company." A sense of urgency existed for this Denver based corporation, due to the formation of a rival, the
Colorado, Clear Creek and Pacific Railway (later the
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now stands. The event was cheered by a crowd of nearly 1,000 local citizens. The line took approximately two years to complete. It followed the
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Racing to beat the Golden investors, the company broke ground on its
Cheyenne line on May 18, 1868, at a spot near where the
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by boat. With the completion, it was finally possible to embark a train on the east coast and disembark on the west coast.
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Durant, vice president of the Union Pacific, pronounced Denver "too dead to bury." Colorado Territorial Governor
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Denver. With the completion of the Kansas Pacific line to Denver (completed at
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railroads in 1880. The railroad was formed primarily to create a link between
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declared that "Colorado without railroads is comparatively worthless."
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was a historic railroad that operated in the western
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Rocky Mountain News: The Bold Move that Saved Denver
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during the late 19th century. Formed in 1867 in the
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77:"Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company"
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331:Completion and National Significance
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462:Rail lines receiving land grants
416:Trainweb: Denver Pacific history
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