On May 10, 1869, photographer Andrew J. Russell captured “East and West Shaking Hands at Laying of Last Rail,” or “The Champagne Photo,” when Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific Railroad’s Jupiter trains met at Promontory Summit, Utah. The men shaking hands in the front center are Central Pacific Chief Engineer Samuel Montague, left, and UP Chief Engineer Grenville Dodge. Above them, George Booth, engineer for the Jupiter, center left, and UP Engineer Sam Bradford, center right, break open bottles of champagne.
CHEYENNE — Jim Ehernberger began work with Union Pacific in 1953 as a crew caller at age 16. When he started, 11 passenger trains traveled each way across Wyoming. By the 1970s, there were only one or two.
Over 34 years with the company, he saw a lot of change. From telegraph to radio to telephone to computer, and from steam to gas turbine to diesel locomotives, things were constantly evolving.
When Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, Ehernberger began seeing other changes at UP. For the first time, the rail company was making intentional efforts to diversify its staff. There was a full-time staff position dedicated to recruiting more women and people from underrepresented communities to UP’s roster.
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming is now making an effort to collect and document some of those voices.
On May 10, 1869, photographer Andrew J. Russell captured “East and West Shaking Hands at Laying of Last Rail,” or “The Champagne Photo,” when Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific Railroad’s Jupiter trains met at Promontory Summit, Utah. The men shaking hands in the front center are Central Pacific Chief Engineer Samuel Montague, left, and UP Chief Engineer Grenville Dodge. Above them, George Booth, engineer for the Jupiter, center left, and UP Engineer Sam Bradford, center right, break open bottles of champagne.
National Archives Photo
“When it comes to the Union Pacific Railroad, we have a lot about how the railroad was built way back in 1867 to 1869. But what about the people who actually worked for the railroad? What are their stories?” project coordinator Leslie Waggener told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. “And especially, as much as we can, we’re going to try to talk to women who have been employed by the UP and people from underrepresented communities who have been employed, just to know what their experiences were.”
Similar projects have been conducted before, but this will focus on preserving the stories of those who may have faced different experiences from a majority of UP employees over time.
Waggener’s project will host roundtable discussions across the UP corridor — which is now the Interstate 80 corridor — throughout Wyoming. From Cheyenne and Laramie to Rock Springs and Evanston, Waggener and her team will be looking for participants in communities along the corridor to share their stories. She anticipates four or five participants in each discussion group.
“I want people to be comfortable and not be in front of a big crowd to tell their story,” Waggener said.
The conversations will be recorded and documented as an oral history with UW’s American Heritage Center. From there, some participants will have the opportunity to participate in one-on-one conversations with interviewers to offer a more in-depth documentation of their experience.
Funding for the project comes from a grant from the Union Pacific Foundation. Waggener expects to begin the roundtable discussions sometime in the next few months. She encourages those eager to share their story for the project to reach out to her to participate.
Union Pacific’s Centennial locomotive.
Courtesy
Ehernberger retired from UP in 1988 and has spent much of his time researching and documenting railroad history, particularly the UP in Wyoming. He’s volunteering to help find sources for the project.
He recently spoke with one former coworker who was born and raised in Wyoming, but is of Mexican descent. This coworker was in the Army for three years, started with UP as a telegraph operator, attended University of Colorado at Denver and is now retired after a long career with UP.
Ehernberger said his former coworker shared stories of discrimination because of his skin color and how he dealt with it at the time.
“It’s important to know what life was like and what people endured or encountered to reach the point that they did,” Ehernberger told the WTE.
Waggener and her team hope the project will diversify the documented perspective of railroad workers and preserve history.
The American Heritage Center already has more than 1,000 boxes of railroad artifacts, photographs and documents — many of which were donated by Ehernberger from his personal collection.
“All of this is building up to be a fantastic archive,” he said.
This project at UW will not focus exclusively on women and people from underrepresented communities, but looks to focus on documenting their voices, Waggener said.
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Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.
