Southern Pacific Railroad Company

The Southern Pacific Railroad was founded in San Francisco in 1865, and in 1868 it was purchased by the "Big Four" railroad tycoons of California, Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. In 1870, during the construction of the first transcontinental railway, the company merged with the Central Pacific to form the largest railroad company in the western U.S. By 1876 the railroad had opened service between Oakland and Los Angeles, and by 1883 a second transcontinental route had been built from Los Angeles to Chicago. In 1885 the Southen Pacific assumed control over all operations of the Central Pacific, and in 1913 the U.S. Supreme Court forced the Union Pacific Railroad to sell its stock in the Southern Pacific Company. In 1988 the Southern Pacific Company was taken over by Rio Grand Industries, and in 1996 the Southern Pacific was purchased again by the Union Pacific Railroad.

In 1887 the Southern Pacific assumed control of the Oregon and California Railroad, which had been established through a reorganization of the California and Oregon Railroad in 1865. The Oregon and California came to be known as the "East Side Line" since it competed with the Oregon Central, or "West Side Line," to build the rail link between Portland and San Francisco. In 1870, magnate Ben Holladay assumed control of the Oregon and California, although later financial losses led to his displacement by Henry Villard and the Northern Pacific after 1873. In 1887 the line from Portland to Oakland, California, was completed and the Oregon and California came under the control of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

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