| Vol 8, No 336 | December 2, 1865 | Saturday Evening |
(1865) 
On this date in 1865, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company was chartered in California. By the mid 1880s, Southen Pacific met the Texas and Pacific in West Texas to open the nations Second Transcontinental Railroad. In 1885, Southern Pacific took control of the Central Pacific, the western half of the nations first Transcontinental Railroad. Southern Pacific, using lines leased from the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad, operated the Sunset Limited, America's first named train, from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Today the Southern Pacific is part of the Union Pacific system.
