The First Transcontinental Railroad

Publications

• Arrington, Leonard J. (1969). "The Transcontinental Railroad and the Development of the West". In The Last Spike is Driven. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Quarterly.

• Bain, David Haward (2000). Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Viking.

• Best, Gerald M. (1969). Iron Horses to Promontory. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books.

• Borneman, Walter R. (2010). Rival Rails: The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Random House.

• Farnham, Wallace D. (1973). "Shadows from the Gilded Age: Pacific Railwaymen and the Race to Promontory -- or Ogden". In The Golden Spike. Salt Lake City: University of Utah.

• Galloway, John Debo (1950). The First Transcontinental Railroad: Central Pacific, Union Pacific. New York: Simmons-Boardman.

• Griswold, Wesley S. (1962). A Work of Giants: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad. New York: McGraw-Hill.

• Kraus, George (1969). High Road to Promontory: Building the Central Pacific Across the High Sierra. Palo Alto, CA: American West.

• White, Richard (2011). Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. New York: W.W. Norton.

• Williams, J.H. (1988). A Great and Shining Road: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Time Books.

External Resources

• The Transcontinental Railroad. Calisphere.

• The Pacific Railway: A Brief History of Building the Transcontinental Railroad. Linda Hall Library.

• Transcontinental: The Construction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads. John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library.

• California Digital Newspaper Collection. Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

• Record Group 46. Records of the U.S. Senate. Records of the Senate Committee on the Pacific Railroad (1863-73). National Archives & Records Administration.

Publications

• Ames, Charles Edgar (1969). Pioneering the Union Pacific: A Reappraisal of the Builders of the Railroad. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

• Cahill, Marie (1989). The History of the Union Pacific: America's Great Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Crescent Books.

• Dodge, Grenville Mellen (n.d.). How We Built the Union Pacific Railway: and Other Railway Papers and Addresses.

• Hochschild, Harold K. (1961) . Doctor Durant and His Iron Horse. Blue Mountain Lake, NY.

• Klein, M. (1987). Union Pacific: Birth of a Railroad, 1862-1893. New York: Doubleday.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Union Pacific Railroad Collection (MS 54) - Contains miscellaneous records pertaining to the Union Pacific Railroad.

• Mies Family Papers (MS 596) - Contains a letter of recommendation for Joseph Mies written by Samuel B. Reed, Union Pacific Railroad General Superintendent of Construction, a Union Pacific monthly laborer's pay-roll, and an affidavit of William Mies attesting he may be the last living person at the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

• Tom Martin Collection (MS 864) - Includes artifacts and ephemera collected by Tom Martin to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, celebrated at Promontory, Utah in 1869. Items include material from both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific.

• Dr. Pedro Chan Collection (MS 865) - Contains early railroading and transcontinental railroad material including Harper's Weekly vintage prints, drawings, photographs, tickets, and financial records.

External Sources

Union Pacific Railroad Museum - A repository of Union Pacific collections and records, including transcontinental railroad history.

Publications

• Nordhoff, Charles (1996). C.P.R.R.: The Central Pacific Railroad. Silverthorne, CO: Vistabooks.

• Orsi, Richard J. (2005). Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

• Southern Pacific Bulletin (1913-1996). San Francisco, CA: Southern Pacific Company (Pacific Lines).

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Arthur Brown Collection (MS 486) - Contains correspondence written to Arthur Brown and collected by him during the course of his career as Superintendent of Buildings and Bridges with the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the building of the transcontinental railroad and later for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company throughout its early years of expansion. Notable correspondents include: Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mark Hopkins (1813-1878), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888). Some of the letters illustrate his friendship with Samuel Skerry Montague, various craftsmen, suppliers, and engineers.

• Salvador Ramirez Papers, 1860-1930 (MS 735) - Contains correspondence files including transcriptions of letters written between Charles Crocker, Collis Potter Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. Also includes biographies on Charles Crocker, Edwin B. Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, David Colton, and Hopkins family genealogy records.

• Lynn D. Farrar Papers (MS 616) - General Corporate Records (RG 1: Series 4, Subseries 1) include employee memoirs about the construction and operation of the Central Pacific Railroad between 1863 and 1900, as published in the Southern Pacific Bulletin, 1920-1930. Subject Files and Correspondence (RG 2) include genealogies and biographies about James Clark, H.H. Minkler, and the James Strobridge family (Box 1, Folder 6) ; correspondence between Jack Duncan and James Strobridge (Box 2, Folder 11); a Southern Pacific Bulletin article on William Hood (Box 3, Folder 10); and the personal history and reminiscences of Henry Root (Box 16, Folder 18).

• Richard J. Orsi Papers (MS 871) - Contains information on land grants for the Central Pacific Railroad.

• Historic American Engineering Record / Historic American Building Record Reports (MS 826) - Contains select copies of reports from the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) relating to structures of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroads in California, Nevada, and Oregon.

• Central Pacific Railroad Collection (MS 79) - Employee Records, 1864-1866 (Series 4) - Consists of construction payroll sheets for the building of the Central Pacific Railroad. The payrolls are handwritten on printed forms and were issued by the railroad for "C[harles] Crocker, Contractor." The payrolls list the construction division for which the individual worked, rates of pay, and total pay received. The collection includes some payroll sheets for Chinese labor gangs, as well as payroll information for James Strobridge and other construction officials. (Digital versions available through Ancestry.com.)

• Tom Martin Collection (MS 864) - Includes artifacts and ephemera collected by Tom Martin to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, celebrated at Promontory, Utah in 1869. Items include material from both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific.

• Dr. Pedro Chan Collection (MS 865) - Contains early railroading and transcontinental railroad material including Harper's Weekly vintage prints, drawings, photographs, tickets, and financial records.

External Resources

• Central Pacific Railroad: Photographic History Museum - A database catering to the history of the Central Pacific's involvement with the first Transcontinental Railroad.

• Historic American Engineering Records Survey. Library of Congress. (Digital copies)

Publications

• Chang, Gordon H. and Shelley Fisher Fishkin (editors). The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

• Chang, Gordon H. (2019). Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• Chew, William F. (2004). Nameless Builders of the Transcontinental Railroad: The Chinese Workers of the Central Pacific Railroad. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing.

• Dearinger, Ryan (2016). The Filth of Progress: Immigrants, Americans, and the Building of Canals and Railroads in the West. Oakland: University of California Press.

• Karuka, Manu (2019). Empire's Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

• Kraus, George (1969). Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific. In The Last Spike is Driven. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Quarterly.

• Lee, Sue and Connie Young Yu (2019). Voices From the Railroad: Stories by Descendants of Chinese Railroad Workers. San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Central Pacific Railroad Collection (MS 79) - Employee Records, 1864-1866 (Series 4) - Consists of construction payroll sheets for the building of the Central Pacific Railroad. The payrolls are handwritten on printed forms and were issued by the railroad for "C[harles] Crocker, Contractor." The payrolls list the construction division for which the individual worked, rates of pay, and total pay received. The collection includes some payroll sheets for Chinese labor gangs, as well as payroll information for James Strobridge and other construction officials. (Digital versions available through Ancestry.com.)

• Lynn D. Farrar Papers (MS 616) - Contains a subject file (Record Group 2, Box 2 Folder 1) pertaining to Chinese in California.

Photographs (at other repositories)

Alfred Hart Photographs (Library of Congress / California State Library)

• Stereocard #82. Prospect Hill Cut, Upper Slope, 170 feet [California], 1866.

• Stereocard #92. Heath’s Ravine bank, 1865-1866.

• Stereocard #119. Laborers and rocks, near opening of Summit Tunnel [California], 1867.

• Stereocard #204. Heading of east portal, Tunnel No. 8 [California], 1867.

• Stereocard #313. Chinese camp, Brown’s Station, 1868-1869.

• Stereocard #316. End of Track, near Humboldt Lake.

• Stereocard #317. End of track, on Humboldt Plains, 1868.

Carleton Watkins Photographs (California State Library / Bancroft Library)

• Filling in Secret Town Trestle, C.P.R.R., Cal., after 1876.

• The Secret Town Trestle, Central Pacific Railroad, Placer County, after 1876.

Andrew J. Russell Photographs (Oakland Museum of California)

• [Untitled – Chinese laborers on handcar], 1876.

• R.R. Station House at Echo City, circa 1868.

Lawrence & Houseworth Photographs (Society of California Pioneers)

• Grading the Central Pacific Railroad, Sailor’s Spur and Fill [California], 1866.

External Resources

• Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University.

The following resources in the CSRM Library & Archives pertain to construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, with a heavy focus on the Central Pacific Railroad.

Publications

• Montague, Samuel S. (1865). Report of the Chief Engineer Upon Recent Surveys and Progress of Construction of the Central Pacific Railroad of California. Central Pacific Company.

• United States War Department (1855). Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad From the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Washington, D.C.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Arthur Brown Collection (MS 486) - Contains correspondence written to Arthur Brown and collected by him during the course of his career as Superintendent of Buildings and Bridges with the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the building of the transcontinental railroad and later for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company throughout its early years of expansion. Notable correspondents include: Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mark Hopkins (1813-1878), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888). Some of the letters illustrate his friendship with Samuel Skerry Montague, various craftsmen, suppliers, and engineers.

• Central Pacific Railroad Collection (MS 79) - Record Group 2: Engineering Department Records - Includes invoices and vouchers pertaining to surveying expenses from 1862 to 1863.

• Lynn D. Farrar Collection (MS 616) - Includes record groups pertaining to the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study and Subject Files on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad.

• Southern Pacific Railroad Company Records (MS 10) - Series 4: Land Department Records - Contains abstracts of deeds, cash receipts, day books, expenses related to acquisition of property, a ledger and journal of land accounts, and real estate and right of way property owned.

• Thomas Tennent Letter (MS 399) - A letter from Thomas Tennent in San Francisco to Mark Hopkins concerning payment owed to Tennent for the rental of surveying instrument by Theodore Dehone Judah.

• Central Pacific Railroad Collection (MS 79) - Employee Records, 1864-1866 (Series 4) - Consists of construction payroll sheets for the building of the Central Pacific Railroad. The payrolls are handwritten on printed forms and were issued by the railroad for "C[harles] Crocker, Contractor." The payrolls list the construction division for which the individual worked, rates of pay, and total pay received. The collection includes some payroll sheets for Chinese labor gangs, as well as payroll information for James Strobridge and other construction officials. (Digital versions available through Ancestry.com.)

Publications

• Best, Gerald M. (1969). "Rendezvous at Promontory: the 'Jupiter' and No. 119". In The Last Spike is Driven. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Quarterly.

• Bowman, J.N. (1969). "Driving the Last Spike at Promontory, 1869". In The Last Spike is Driven. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Quarterly.

• Center for Railroad Photography & Art (2019). After Promontory: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Transcontinental Railroading. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

• Hoyt, L.E. (1973). "From the Golden Spike to the Space Age in Railroading". In The Golden Spike. Salt Lake City: University of Utah.

• Ketterson, F.A., Jr. (1969). "Golden Spike National Historic Site: Development of an Historical Reconstruction". In The Last Spike is Driven. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Quarterly.

• Lampson, Robin (1969). The Man Who Gave the Golden Spike. Richmond, Calif.: Chimes Press.

• Mann, David H. (1969). "The Undriving of the Golden Spike". In The last spike is driven. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Quarterly.

Charles Crocker, 1822-1888

Publications

• Lewis, Oscar (1941). The Big Four: The Story of Huntington, Stanford, Hopkins, and Crocker, and the Building of the Central Pacific. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

• Rayner, Richard (2008). The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California. New York: W.W. Norton.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Lynn D. Farrar Collection (MS 616) - Includes record groups pertaining to the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study (RG 1) and Personal Papers (RG 2) on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Features correspondence and files pertaining to the Big Four & Associates.

• Salvador Ramirez Papers, 1860-1930 (MS 735) - Contains correspondence files including transcriptions of letters written between Charles Crocker, Collis Potter Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. Also includes biographies on Charles Crocker, Edwin B. Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, David Colton, and Hopkins family genealogy records.

• Arthur Brown Collection (MS 486) - Contains correspondence written to Arthur Brown and collected by him during the course of his career as Superintendent of Buildings and Bridges with the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the building of the transcontinental railroad and later for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company throughout its early years of expansion. Notable correspondents include: Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mark Hopkins (1813-1878), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888). Some of the letters illustrate his friendship with Samuel Skerry Montague, various craftsmen, suppliers, and engineers.

• Abstract of Title, Sacramento County, 1867-1884 (MS 387) - Title search (16 pages) performed in 1884 for a parcel of land in Sacramento County. Owners included the Western Pacific Railroad (1st), Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins.

• Charles Crocker Handwritten Certificate (MS 342) - Handwritten certificate signed by Charles Crocker, dated February 6, 1877, attesting to George Ulyett was a member of the crew that laid ten miles of track in one day, April 28, 1869.

• Raymond L. Clar Correspondence, 1868-1888 (MS 344) - Correspondence to banker and financier Nicholas Luning from Collis Potter Huntington (1822-1900), Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mary Frances Sherwood Hopkins (died 1891), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888), largely concerning a loan made to the Southern Pacific Company.

Photographs

• Portrait of Charles Crocker

Thomas C. Durant, 1820-1885

Publications

• Hochschild, Harold K. (1961) . Doctor Durant and His Iron Horse. Blue Mountain Lake, NY.

Alfred A. Hart, 1816-1908

Publications

• Kibbey, M.B. (1996). The Railroad Photographs of Alfred A. Hart, Artist. Sacramento: California State Library Foundation.

• Willumson, Glenn (2013). Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

External Resources

• A. A. Hart Stereographs of the Central Pacific Railroad: Finding Aid. [Huntington Library]

Thomas Hill, 1829-1908

Publications

• Hill, Thomas (1881). "The Last Spike," a Painting by Thomas Hill Illustrating the Last Scene in the Building of the Overland Railroad. San Francisco, CA.

Photographs

• ["The Driving of the Last Spike" painted by Thomas Hill]

• CSRM Photograph Files. Artists. Hill, Thomas

External Resources

• Hill, Thomas (1906?). History of the "Spike Picture" and Why it is Still in My Possession. San Francisco, CA.

Mark Hopkins, 1813-1878

Publications

• Allison, Mary L. (1953). Controversial Mark Hopkins. New York, NY: Greenberg.

• Bruchey, Stuart Weems (1981). Memoirs of Three Railroad Pioneers. New York, NY: Arno Press.

• Denison, John Hopkins (1935). Mark Hopkins: A Biography. New York, NY; C. Scribner's Sons.

• Lewis, Oscar (1941). The Big Four: The Story of Huntington, Stanford, Hopkins, and Crocker, and the Building of the Central Pacific. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

• Ramirez, Salvador A. (2007). The Inside Man: The Life and Times of Mark Hopkins of New York, Michigan, and California. Carlsbad, CA: Tentacled Press.

• Rayner, Richard (2008). The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California. New York: W.W. Norton.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Lynn D. Farrar Collection (MS 616) - Includes record groups pertaining to the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study (RG 1) and Personal Papers (RG 2) on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Features correspondence and files pertaining to the Big Four & Associates.

• Salvador Ramirez Papers, 1860-1930 (MS 735) - Contains correspondence files including transcriptions of letters written between Charles Crocker, Collis Potter Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. Also includes biographies on Charles Crocker, Edwin B. Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, David Colton, and Hopkins family genealogy records.

• Huntington, Hopkins & Company Hardware Store Collection (MS 78) - Consists of miscellaneous documents and hardware catalogs pertaining to the hardware store run by Collis P. Huntington and Mark Hopkins.

• Arthur Brown Collection (MS 486) - Contains correspondence written to Arthur Brown and collected by him during the course of his career as Superintendent of Buildings and Bridges with the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the building of the transcontinental railroad and later for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company throughout its early years of expansion. Notable correspondents include: Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mark Hopkins (1813-1878), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888). Some of the letters illustrate his friendship with Samuel Skerry Montague, various craftsmen, suppliers, and engineers.

• Abstract of Title, Sacramento County, 1867-1884 (MS 387) - Title search (16 pages) performed in 1884 for a parcel of land in Sacramento County. Owners included the Western Pacific Railroad (1st), Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins.

Photographs

• [Portrait of Mark Hopkins]

• [Huntington, Hopkins & Company Hardware Store, Sacramento]

Collis P. Huntington, 1821-1900

Publications

• Bennett, Shelley M. The Art of Wealth: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age.

• Evans, Cerinda W. (1954). Collis Potter Huntington. Newport, VA: The Mariner's Museum.

• Huntington, Collis Potter (1900). Speech of C.P. Huntington at the Annual Dinner to the Chiefs of Departments of the Southern Pacific Company. San Francisco, May 16, 1900 on "California, Her Past, Present and Future." San Francisco, CA: Southern Pacific Company.

• Huntington, Collis Potter (1982). The Octopus Speaks: The Colton Letters. Carlsbad CA: Tentacled Press.

• Lewis, Oscar (1941). The Big Four: The Story of Huntington, Stanford, Hopkins, and Crocker, and the Building of the Central Pacific. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

• Ramirez, Salvador A. (2010). A Clash of Titans: Ambrose Bierce, Collis Huntington, and the 1896 Fight to Refund the Central Pacific's Debt to the Federal Government with Accompanying Art Work by Homer Davenport & James Swinnerton. San Luis Rey, CA: Tentacled Press.

• Ramirez, Salvador A. (n.d.). The Colton Letters Revisited.

• Rayner, Richard (2008). The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California. New York: W.W. Norton.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Lynn D. Farrar Collection (MS 616) - Includes record groups pertaining to the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study (RG 1) and Personal Papers (RG 2) on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Features correspondence and files pertaining to the Big Four & Associates.

• Salvador Ramirez Papers, 1860-1930 (MS 735) - Contains correspondence files including transcriptions of letters written between Charles Crocker, Collis Potter Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. Also includes biographies on Charles Crocker, Edwin B. Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, David Colton, and Hopkins family genealogy records.

• Huntington, Hopkins & Company Hardware Store Collection (MS 78) - Consists of miscellaneous documents and hardware catalogs pertaining to the hardware store run by Collis P. Huntington and Mark Hopkins.

• Raymond L. Clar Correspondence, 1868-1888 (MS 344) - Correspondence to banker and financier Nicholas Luning from Collis Potter Huntington (1822-1900), Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mary Frances Sherwood Hopkins (died 1891), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888), largely concerning a loan made to the Southern Pacific Company.

Photographs

• [Huntington, Hopkins & Company Hardware Store, Sacramento]

• [Portrait of Collis Potter Huntington]

Theodore D. Judah, 1826-1863

Publications

• American Society of Civil Engineers (n.d.). [Biography of Theodore D. Judah]

• Baker, Cindy L. (1996). First in the West: The Sacramento Valley Railroad. Folsom, CA: Dept. of Public Works.

• Crazy Judah and the Sacramento Valley Railroad (1989). Roseville, CA: Roseville Historical Society.

• Judah, Theodore Dehone (1857). A Practical Plan for Building the Pacific Railroad. Washington, D.C.

• Hinckley, Helen (1969). Rails From the West: A Biography of Theodore D. Judah. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books.

• Judah, T.D., & Cobern, M.K. (n.d.). Judah the Dreamer: A Practical Plan for Building the Pacific Railroad. Tucson, AZ: Western National Parks Association.

• Judah, Theodore Dehone (1865). Report of the Chief Engineer Upon Recent Surveys and Progress of Construction of the Central Pacific Railroad of California. Central Pacific Company.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Theodore Dehone Judah Family Collection, 1850-1950 (MS 2) - The collection consists of biographical materials, including a handwritten biographical memoir of Theodore Judah, possibly by Anna, business and personal letters to Judah, business documents, materials pertaining to the California Eastern Extension Railroad, ephemera relating to the family, portraits of Theodore D. Judah, and books from his library.

Photographs

• [Portrait of Theodore Dehone Judah]

• [Ceremony at the Theodore Dehone Judah monument]

A.J. Russell, 1829-1902

Publications

• Combs, Barry B. (1969). Westward to Promontory: Building the Union Pacific Across the Plains and Mountians - A Pictorial Documentary. Palo Alto, CA: American West.

• Mayer, L.R., & Vose, K.E. (1975). Makin' Tracks: The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad in the Pictures and Words of the Men Who Were There. New York, NY: Praeger.

• Naef, Weston J. Era of Exploration: The Rise of Landscape Photography in the American West, 1860-1885.

• Willumson, Glenn (2013). Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

External Resources

• The Andrew J. Russell Collection. Oakland Museum of California.

• A.J. Russell. The J. Paul Getty Museum.

• Andrew J. Russell: Nunda Painter, Photographer, and America's 1st Photojournalist, 1829-1902. Nunda Historical Society.

Leland Stanford, 1824-1893

Publications

• Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1952). History of the Life of Leland Stanford: A Character Study. Oakland, CA: Biobooks.

• Clark, George Thomas (1931). Leland Stanford: War Governor of California, Railroad Builder and Founder of Stanford University. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

• De Wolk, Roland (2019). American Disruptor: The Scandalous Life of Leland Stanford. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

• Lewis, Oscar (1941). The Big Four: The Story of Huntington, Stanford, Hopkins, and Crocker, and the Building of the Central Pacific. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

• Rayner, Richard (2008). The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California. New York: W.W. Norton.

• Tutorow, Norman E. (1971). Leland Stanford: Man of Many Careers. Menlo Park, CA: Pacific Coast Publishers.

• Tutorow, Norman E. (2004). The Governor: The Life and Legacy of Leland Stanford, A California Colossus. Spokane, WA: Arthur H. Clark Company.

Manuscripts & Archival Sources

• Lynn D. Farrar Collection (MS 616) - Includes record groups pertaining to the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study (RG 1) and Personal Papers (RG 2) on the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Features correspondence and files pertaining to the Big Four & Associates.

• Salvador Ramirez Papers, 1860-1930 (MS 735) - Contains correspondence files including transcriptions of letters written between Charles Crocker, Collis Potter Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. Also includes biographies on Charles Crocker, Edwin B. Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, David Colton, and Hopkins family genealogy records.

• Arthur Brown Collection (MS 486) - Contains correspondence written to Arthur Brown and collected by him during the course of his career as Superintendent of Buildings and Bridges with the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the building of the transcontinental railroad and later for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company throughout its early years of expansion. Notable correspondents include: Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mark Hopkins (1813-1878), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888). Some of the letters illustrate his friendship with Samuel Skerry Montague, various craftsmen, suppliers, and engineers.

• Abstract of Title, Sacramento County, 1867-1884 (MS 387) - Title search (16 pages) performed in 1884 for a parcel of land in Sacramento County. Owners included the Western Pacific Railroad (1st), Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins.

• Raymond L. Clar Correspondence, 1868-1888 (MS 344) - Correspondence to banker and financier Nicholas Luning from Collis Potter Huntington (1822-1900), Leland Stanford (1824-1893), Mary Frances Sherwood Hopkins (died 1891), and Charles Crocker (1822-1888), largely concerning a loan made to the Southern Pacific Company.

Photographs

• [Portrait of Leland Stanford]

• ["The Driving of the Last Spike" painted by Thomas Hill]