AT&SF—Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
D&RG—Denver and Rio Grande Railway
SP—Southern Pacific Railroad
| 1853 | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leads railroad surveys of the West.
Gadsden Purchase ensures U.S. control of 32nd parallel route. |
| 1858 | Butterfield Overland Mail begins. |
| 1860 | Cyrus K. Holliday and others incorporate AT&SF. |
| 1862 | Congress passes Pacific Railroad Act. |
| 1864 | Amendments to Pacific Railroad Act increase land grants. |
| 1865 | Civil War ends; railroad construction renews with a flurry. |
| 1866 | Union Pacific reaches the 100th meridian, in mid-Nebraska.
Congress approves land grants for still-trackless SP. |
| 1867 | William Jackson Palmer surveys 35th parallel for Kansas Pacific. |
| 1868 | AT&SF begins construction southwest from Topeka, Kansas. |
| 1869 | Completion of first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah. |
| 1870 | Denver Pacific reaches Denver from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Kansas Pacific completes line to Denver at Comanche Crossing.
Collis P. Huntington consolidates Bay Area railroads into SP.
William Jackson Palmer incorporates D&RG. |
| 1872 | AT&SF reaches Colorado-Kansas line, earning Kansas land grant. |
| 1873 | Panic of 1873 slows all railroad construction. |
| 1874 | AT&SF gains access to Kansas City, Missouri. |
| 1876 | SP completes Tehachapi Loop.
SP completes San Fernando Tunnel, on San Francisco-to-L.A. line. |
| 1877 | SP reaches Colorado River at Yuma and forces crossing. |
| 1878 | AT&SF seizes Raton Pass and blocks D&RG advance south.
D&RG and AT&SF contest Royal Gorge and route to Leadville, Colorado.
Fred Harvey opens restaurant and sleeping rooms, Florence, Kansas. |
| 1879 | Raton Pass Tunnel opens to AT&SF traffic. |
| 1880 | “Treaty of Boston” resolves “Royal Gorge war.”
SP reaches Tucson, Arizona.
AT&SF reaches Albuquerque, New Mexico.
John Evans sells Denver, South Park and Pacific to Jay Gould. |
| 1881 | AT&SF makes connection with SP at Deming, New Mexico.
Tom Scott sells Texas and Pacific to Jay Gould.
D&RG crosses Marshall Pass and reaches Gunnison, Colorado.
AT&SF and Texas and Pacific join rails at Sierra Blanca, Texas. |
| 1882 | Denver, South Park and Pacific completes Alpine Tunnel.
AT&SF completes Cañon Diablo bridge; first train to Flagstaff,
Arizona. |
| 1883 | SP Sunset Route completed, San Francisco to New Orleans.
Atlantic and Pacific (AT&SF) meets the SP at Needles, California.
D&RG completes line to Ogden through Colorado.
California Southern connects San Diego and San Bernardino. |
| 1884 | Georgetown Loop completed by Jay Gould. |
| 1885 | California Southern builds line over Cajon Pass. |
| 1887 | AT&SF joins the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe to its system.
AT&SF builds its own line from Kansas City to Chicago.
AT&SF completes its own line into Los Angeles. |
| 1889 | William Barstow Strong leaves presidency of AT&SF. |
| 1890 | Reporter Nellie Bly races from San Francisco to Chicago via SP and AT&SF. |
| 1892 | AT&SF inaugurates California Limited, Chicago to Los Angeles. |
| 1893 | Panic of 1893 forces many railroads into receivership. |
| 1895 | Edward Payson Ripley becomes president of AT&SF. |
| 1897 | SP and AT&SF swap the Sonora and Mojave lines.
First section of double track laid on AT&SF in Kansas. |
| 1898 | AT&SF acquires the San Francisco and San Joaquin. |
| 1900 | E. H. Harriman acquires control of SP from Huntington estate. |
| 1901 | George Gould acquires control of D&RG. |
| 1905 | El Tovar Hotel and Hopi House open to rave reviews at Grand Canyon.
Walter “Death Valley Scotty” Scott rockets from Los Angeles to Chicago. |
| 1908 | AT&SF completes Belen Cutoff, final link in Los Angeles–Chicago straightaway. |