Stamp_amp_amp_Coin_Mart_-_February_2016__

http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk FEBRUARY 2016 55

I

n 1865, the quickest way to

get from New York to San

Francisco was to take a boat

to Panama City, cross the

isthmus to the Pacific port

of Colon (via a new railway,

before that, you had to take a boat

then a mule), then another boat. It

took three to four weeks, and was

dangerous: Panama was infested with

yellow fever. Still, it was quicker

than travelling overland, across the

great rock walls of the Sierra Nevada

and the Rockies. Settlers had needed

six months to make such journeys,

and as recently as 1847 a party had

starved to death, trapped in the

mountains by winter.

Many believed that building

a railroad across this barrier was

impossible; it took the vision and

determination of a young surveyor,

Theodore Judah, to find a route and

then to organise finance.

America’s Transcontinental

Railroad was built by two

companies, one working East from

Sacramento, and the other West

from Omaha on the Missouri River.

Work in the West began first, in

1863; it was not until America’s

Civil War ended that the line from

the East could begin. From July

1865, the constructors were in a

race – the more of the line they

built, the more money they’d make.

Both sections have their drama.

Westbound builders had to deal with

Native Americans, who understood

the destruction the ‘Iron Horse’ would

bring to their lands and way of life.

Heading East, the enemy was nature:

the Donner Pass (site of the 1847

tragedy), under which a huge tunnel

had to be built; the sheer gorge of

the American River, over 1,200 feet

deep; the fierce mountain winters.

Yet these were all overcome with

courage, ingenuity and muscle- and

will-power. The lines eventually met

at Promontory Summit, Utah, and

The USA’s simple 1869 pictorial stamp showing a locomotive might not have

been issued specifically to celebrate the Transcontinental Railroad, but it

captures the innovation and optimism of the time, as Chris West explains

Stamp stories

Atlantic to Pacif ic

on 10 May, 1869, Leland Stanford,

president of the Central Pacific,

raised a hammer to drive in the last

‘spike’. He brought it down – and

missed. But the line was complete. It

is arguably the greatest construction

project of the nineteenth century.

An achievement worthy of a

stamp, surely? The stamp illustrated

appeared on 27 March, 1869. In

celebratory anticipation of the

railroad’s opening?

No. Like our 1887 ‘Jubilee’ issue,

which happened to coincide with

Victoria’s fiftieth anniversary, this stamp

just happened to come out close to the

time of the railroad’s completion.

It was, like the railroad,

groundbreaking. Previous US

stamps had shown historical figures:

Franklin, Washington, Jefferson,

Jackson, Lincoln. It was hoped that

a new pictorial series would reflect

the reunited post-war nation, and

look forward, not back. How better

to show fresh optimism than this

fine 24-ton Baldwin locomotive, the

cutting-edge tech of its day?

However, the stamps were not

popular. Maybe people were still

too traumatized by war. The ten-

stamp issue was considered frivolous,

despite featuring national symbols

(an eagle and flag), Franklin,

Washington and Lincoln, and

paintings of Columbus’ landing

and the signing of the Declaration

of Independence, and despite

representing technological progress:

the high values (15c and over) were

bi-coloured; this created the usual

errors; the 15c with Columbus

up-side down is most valuable.

The 3c came in for particular

criticism, as this was the standard

letter rate – a job previously reserved

for George Washington. A year later,

the 1869 pictorials were replaced with

a series showing eminent (and dead)

men in profile. The US did not issue

any further pictorials until 1893.

In all, 335 million 3c stamps were

produced, but few were kept: serious

collectors wanted no truck with

them. But they have become classics,

and rightly so. Few stamps conjure

up the adventure of their era better

than this one.

Many believed that building a

railroad across America was impossible;

it took the vision and determination

of a young surveyor to find a route

and then to organise finance

The appearance of the

locomotive on this 1869

pictorial just happened

to coincide with the

completion of the railroad.

Later, in 1944, the US

Post Offi ce marked

75th Anniversary of the

Transcontinental Railroad

with a commemorative

3c stamp, showing the

opening ceremony

p55 Stamp story.indd 55 21/12/2015 09:52