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79-658: The area developed as a warehouse and industrial district due to its proximity to major transportation, including the Southern Pacific Railroad (now Niles Subdivision ) on Embarcadero West and the Western Pacific Railroad (now Oakland Subdivision ) on Third Street, as well as the Oakland Estuary . The area between Broadway, Webster, First Street (Embarcadero) and the estuary was named Jack London Square in 1951. On May 1, 1951,

158-693: A brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1996 , as part of a new heritage program. It was the final unit in UP's Heritage Series of locomotives, and was painted in a color scheme inspired by the "Daylight" and "Black Widow" schemes. Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West , the Western States , the Far West , the Western territories , and

237-623: A fauna resembling its position in the dry deserts with temperature extremes. The western continental coast of the U.S., just as the East Coast, varies from a colder-to-warmer climate from north to south. Few species live throughout the entire West Coast, however, there are some, including the bald eagle that inhabits both the Alaskan Aleutian Islands and the California Channel Islands . In most of

316-414: A myth of the west which has shaped much of American popular culture since the late 19th century. Writers as diverse as Bret Harte and Zane Grey celebrated or derided cowboy culture, while artists such as Frederic Remington created western art as a method of recording the expansion into the west. The American cinema , in particular, created the genre of the western movie , which, in many cases, use

395-884: A national issue, agencies of the federal government own and manage vast areas of land. (The most important among these are the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management within the Interior Department , and the U.S. Forest Service within the Agriculture Department .) National parks are reserved for recreational activities such as fishing , camping , hiking , and boating , but other government lands also allow commercial activities like ranching , logging , and mining . In recent years, some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come into conflict with

474-473: A passenger train and send scores and hundreds to instant death. There are many Southern Pacific locomotives still in revenue service with railroads such as the Union Pacific Railroad , and many older and special locomotives have been donated to parks and museums, or continue operating on scenic or tourist railroads. Most of the engines now in use with Union Pacific have been "patched", where

553-593: A rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego, California . The company was purchased in September 1868 by a group of businessmen known as the Big Four : Charles Crocker , Leland Stanford , Mark Hopkins, Jr. and C. P. Huntington . The Big Four had, in 1861, created the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) It later acquired the Central Pacific Railroad in 1885 through leasing. By 1900,

632-578: A sharp decline in citrus production in Arizona. Many varieties of chile peppers are grown in the valleys of New Mexico . Starting in 1902, Congress passed a series of acts authorizing the establishment of the United States Bureau of Reclamation to oversee water development projects in seventeen western states. During the first half of the 20th century, dams and irrigation projects provided water for rapid agricultural growth throughout

711-468: A telecommunications network with a state-of-the-art microwave and fiber optic backbone. This telecommunications network became part of Sprint , a company whose name came from the acronym for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony. The original Southern Pacific Railroad was founded in San Francisco in 1865, by a group of businessmen led by Timothy Phelps with the aim of building

790-464: A total 2020 population of 78,588,572. The West is one of the most sparsely settled areas in the United States with 49.5 inhabitants per square mile (19.1 inhabitants/km ). Only Texas with 78.0 inhabitants/sq mi (30.1 inhabitants/km ), Washington with 86.0 inhabitants/sq mi (33.2 inhabitants/km ), and California with 213.4 inhabitants/sq mi (82.4 inhabitants/km ) exceed

869-754: A volcano in Washington , is also over 14,000 feet (4,300 m). Mount St. Helens , a volcano in the Cascades , erupted explosively in 1980 . A major volcanic eruption at Mount Mazama around 4860 BC formed Crater Lake . These mountain ranges see heavy precipitation, capturing most of the moisture that remains after the Coast Ranges, and creating a rain shadow to the east forming vast stretches of arid land. These dry areas encompass much of Nevada , Utah , and Arizona . The Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert along with other deserts are found here. Beyond

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948-540: Is in the Western states. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states. The climate of the West is semi-arid , yet parts of the region get high amounts of rain or snow. Other parts are true desert which receive less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rain per year. The climate is increasingly unstable, and subject to periods of severe drought. The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout

1027-689: Is predicted to experience drought-like conditions for much of the 21st century. Violent thunderstorms occur east of the Rockies . Tornadoes occur every spring on the southern plains, with the most common and most destructive centered on Tornado Alley , which covers eastern portions of the West, ( Texas to North Dakota ), and all states in between and to the east. Agriculture varies depending on rainfall, irrigation, soil, elevation, and temperature extremes. The arid regions generally support only livestock grazing, chiefly beef cattle. The wheat belt extends from Texas through The Dakotas , producing most of

1106-540: The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake . Other businesses at Jack London Square range from the Oakland Athletics team headquarters and software firm Navis LLC, to restaurants such as Farmhouse, Noka Ramen, Scott's Seafood and Yoshi's restaurant and jazz club. California Canoe & Kayak retail and kayak rental shop has been located in Jack London Square since 1993. A mainline railroad runs through

1185-798: The American Southwest ; forested mountains , including three major ranges, the Sierra Nevada , the Cascades , and Rocky Mountains; the long coastal shoreline of the American Pacific Coast ; and the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest . The Western United States is the largest region of the country, covering nearly half the land area of the contiguous United States . It is also the most geographically diverse, incorporating geographic regions such as

1264-577: The Cenozoic era. Salt flats and salt lakes reveal a time when the great inland seas covered much of what is now the West. The Pacific states are the most geologically active areas in the United States. Earthquakes cause damage every few to several years in California . While the Pacific states are the most volcanically active areas, extinct volcanoes and lava flows are found throughout most of

1343-768: The Constitution of the United States . The Southern Pacific Railroad was replaced by the Southern Pacific Company and assumed the railroad operations of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1929, Southern Pacific/Texas and New Orleans operated 13,848 route-miles not including Cotton Belt, whose purchase of the Golden State Route circa 1980 nearly doubled its size to 3,085 miles (4,965 km), bringing total SP/SSW mileage to around 13,508 miles (21,739 km). The T&NO

1422-590: The East . During the latter half of the 20th century, several transcontinental interstate highways crossed the West bringing more trade and tourists from the East. Oil boom towns in Texas and Oklahoma rivaled the old mining camps for their rawness and wealth. The Dust Bowl forced children of the original homesteaders even further west. The movies became America's chief entertainment source featuring western fiction , later

1501-693: The Grand Canyon . The Colorado River is a major source of water in the Southwest and many dams, such as the Hoover Dam , form reservoirs along it. So much water is drawn for drinking water throughout the West and irrigation in California that in most years, water from the Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of California . The Columbia River , the largest river in volume flowing into

1580-668: The Gulf of Mexico . The Mississippi River forms the easternmost possible boundary for the West today. The Missouri River , a tributary of the Mississippi , flows from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains eastward across the Great Plains , a vast grassy plateau, before sloping gradually down to the forests and hence to the Mississippi . The Colorado River snakes through the Mountain states , at one point forming

1659-703: The Las Vegas Valley and Los Angeles . Plains make up much of the eastern portion of the West, underlain with sedimentary rock from the Upper Paleozoic , Mesozoic , and Cenozoic eras. The Rocky Mountains expose igneous and metamorphic rock both from the Precambrian and from the Phanerozoic eon. The Inter-mountain States and Pacific Northwest have huge expanses of volcanic rock from

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1738-413: The Mississippi , Ohio , Missouri , Illinois , Tennessee , Cumberland , Arkansas , and White Rivers and their tributaries, and certain other rivers that flow towards the Gulf of Mexico ." The Ohio River portion of the system includes parts of several Atlantic coastal states, from Georgia to New York. Most of the public land held by the U.S. National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management

1817-529: The Mormon Trail , made its fortunes on outfitting settlers; St. Louis built itself upon the vast fur trade in the West before its settlement. The 1850s were marked by political battles over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, issues leading to the Civil War . Between 1863 and 1869, North America's first transcontinental railroad was constructed to connect the eastern US with

1896-593: The Mountain States include Denver , Colorado Springs , Phoenix , Tucson , Albuquerque , Las Vegas , Reno , Salt Lake City , Boise , El Paso , and Billings . Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges , which, while not approaching the scale of the Rocky Mountains , are formidable nevertheless. They collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean. East of

1975-648: The Pacific Ocean from North America , and its tributary, the Snake River , water the Pacific Northwest. The Platte runs through Nebraska and was known for being a mile (2 km) wide but only a half-inch (1 cm) deep. The Rio Grande forms the border between Texas and Mexico before turning due north and splitting New Mexico in half. According to the United States Coast Guard , "The Western Rivers System consists of

2054-536: The Pacific coast . The resulting railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the American West by making the transportation of passengers and freight quicker, safer, and cheaper. The history of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and cinema of the United States. The image of the cowboy , the homesteader , and westward expansion took real events and transmuted them into

2133-468: The Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts (the latter extends significantly into Texas, while both extend into Mexico ). Given this expansive and diverse geography it is no wonder that the region is difficult to define precisely. Sensing a possible shift in the popular understanding of the West as a region in the early 1990s, historian Walter Nugent conducted a survey of three groups of professionals with ties to

2212-535: The St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt, reporting marks SSW), El Paso and Southwestern Railroad , the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at 328 miles (528 km), the 1,331-mile (2,142 km) Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico , and a variety of 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow-gauge routes. The SP was known for its mammoth back shops at Sacramento, California , which was one of

2291-554: The Virginia opossum , which occurs throughout California and coastal areas in Oregon and Washington. The North American beaver and mountain beaver live in forested areas of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. The kit fox lives throughout Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, while the gray fox occurs throughout the Western U.S. The Western United States has been populated by Native Americans since at least 11,000 years ago, when

2370-580: The temperate rainforests of the Northwest , the highest mountain ranges, including the Rocky Mountains , the Sierra Nevada , and the Cascade Range , numerous glaciers , and the western edge of the Great Plains . It also contains the majority of the desert areas located in the United States. The Mojave and the Great Basin deserts lie entirely within the Western region, along with parts of

2449-559: The Coast Ranges lie several cultivated fertile valleys , notably the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys of California and the Willamette Valley of Oregon . Beyond the valleys lie the Sierra Nevada in the south and the Cascade Range in the north. Mount Whitney , at 14,505 feet (4,421 m) the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states, is in the Sierra Nevada . The Cascades are also volcanic. Mount Rainier ,

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2528-697: The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad to the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, allowing the combined Rio Grande Industries railroad system to use the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. A long time Southern Pacific subsidiary, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway

2607-778: The Northern Mariana Islands ). American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are also considered part of the western U.S. by the U.S. National Park Service , the Federal Reserve Bank system, FEMA , and the USGS . The population distribution by race in the Western United States (2022): As defined by the United States Census Bureau , the Western region of the United States includes 13 states, with

2686-552: The Northwest or Pacific Northwest . The term West Coast is commonly used to refer to just California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, whereas Hawaii is more geographically isolated from the continental U.S. and does not necessarily fit in any of these subregions . The three inhabited Pacific U.S. territories ( American Samoa , Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands ) are sometimes considered part of

2765-579: The Pacific Coast where it increases again. In fact, the greatest annual rainfall in the United States falls in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest . Drought is much more common in the West than the rest of the United States. The driest place recorded in the U.S. is Death Valley , California. In Western states, drought is closely associated with fire risk, and there have been a number of notable wildfires causing extensive property damage and wildlife habitat destruction . The Western United States

2844-583: The Rockies , 54 of which are over 14,000 feet (4,300 m), are found in central and western Colorado . East of the Rocky Mountains is the Great Plains, the western portions (for example, the eastern half of Colorado) of which are generally considered to be part of the western United States. The West has several long rivers that empty into the Pacific Ocean , while the eastern rivers run into

2923-504: The SP logo on the front is replaced by a Union Pacific shield, and new numbers are applied over the old numbers with a Union Pacific sticker, however some engines remain in Southern Pacific "bloody nose" paint. Over the past couple years, most of the patched units were repainted into the full Union Pacific scheme and as of January 2019, less than ten units remain in their old paint. Among the more notable equipment is: On August 19, 2006, UP unveiled

3002-577: The SP shops there, new shops and yards were built six miles south of the city at Bayshore. The Alhambra Shops in Los Angeles consisted of 10 buildings and employed 1,500 but declined in importance when the Taylor Yard was built in 1930. The SP was the defendant in the landmark 1886 United States Supreme Court case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad , which is often interpreted as having established certain corporate rights under

3081-641: The Southern Pacific Transportation Company to be taken over by the Union Pacific Corporation ; the parent Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (formerly Rio Grande Industries), the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway and the SPCSL Corporation were also taken over by the Union Pacific Corporation. The Union Pacific Corporation merged the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad,

3160-537: The Southern Pacific system was a major railroad system incorporating many smaller companies, such as the Texas and New Orleans Railroad and Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad . It extended from New Orleans through Texas to El Paso , across New Mexico and through Tucson , to Los Angeles , through most of California , including San Francisco and Sacramento . Central Pacific lines extended east across Nevada to Ogden, Utah , and reached north through Oregon to Portland . Other subsidiaries eventually included

3239-409: The Southern Pacific, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, was founded in 1969 and assumed control of the Southern Pacific system. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company was acquired in 1996 by the Union Pacific Corporation and merged with their Union Pacific Railroad . The Southern Pacific legacy founded hospitals in San Francisco , Tucson , and Houston . In the 1970s, it also founded

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3318-415: The St. Louis Southwestern Railway and the SPCSL Corporation into their Union Pacific Railroad but did not merge the Southern Pacific Transportation Company into the Union Pacific Railroad. Instead, the Union Pacific Corporation merged the Union Pacific Railroad into the Southern Pacific Transportation Company on February 1, 1998; the Southern Pacific Transportation Company became the surviving railroad and at

3397-401: The Sunset Limited. Well known were the Southern Pacific's unique " cab-forward " steam locomotives. These were 4-8-8-2 , 2-8-8-2 , and 4-6-6-2 (rebuilt from 2-6-6-2 ) locomotives set up to run in reverse, with the tender attached to the smokebox end of the locomotive. Southern Pacific had a number of snow sheds in mountain terrain, and locomotive crews nearly asphyxiated from smoke in

3476-414: The Uptown neighborhood. KTVU (Channel 2), the Bay Area's Fox affiliate, has had studios at the Square since it began broadcasting on March 3, 1958, and the offices of the Port of Oakland are located there as well. The Square was also the temporary home of the Oakland Tribune from 1989 to 1996 after the newspaper was forced to abandon the landmark downtown Tribune Tower due to damage it sustained in

3555-398: The West ) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau . As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward , the meaning of the term the West changed. Before around 1800, the crest of the Appalachian Mountains was seen as the western frontier . The frontier moved westward and eventually the lands west of the Mississippi River were considered

3634-479: The West . The U.S. Census Bureau's definition of the 13 westernmost states includes the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin to the Pacific Coast , and the mid-Pacific islands state, Hawaii. To the east of the Western United States is the Midwestern United States and the Southern United States , with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The West contains several major biomes , including arid and semi-arid plateaus and plains , particularly in

3713-429: The West and California , whites and blacks together are less than half the population because of the preference for the region by Hispanics and Asians . African and European Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the lower rates of citizenship and voting among Asians and Hispanics . According to 2022 estimates from the Census Bureau, the largest ancestries reported in

3792-440: The West and brought prosperity for several states, where agriculture had previously only been subsistence level. Following World War II , the West's cities experienced an economic and population boom. The population growth, mostly in the Southwest states of New Mexico , Utah , Colorado , Arizona , and Nevada , has strained water and power resources, with water diverted from agricultural uses to major population centers, such as

3871-517: The West are Mexican (24.2%), German (10.1%), English (9.5%), Irish (7.2%), Italian (3.5%), Filipino (3.4%), and Chinese (3.3%). The West also contains much of the Native American population in the U.S., particularly in the large reservations in the Mountain and Desert States . As of 2022, the West is home to 365,351 Navajo , 109,208 Apache , and 78,364 Blackfeet , as well as 276,082 people identifying as Indigenous Mexican . The largest concentrations for African-Americans in

3950-453: The West as a metaphor for the virtue of self-reliance and an American ethos. The contrast between the romanticism of culture about the West and the actuality of the history of the westward expansion has been a theme of late 20th and early 21st century scholarship about the West. Cowboy culture has become embedded in the American experience as a common cultural touchstone, and modern forms as diverse as country and western music have celebrated

4029-409: The West can be found in San Diego , Los Angeles , Oakland , Sacramento , Fresno , San Francisco , Seattle , Tacoma , Phoenix , Las Vegas , Denver , and Colorado Springs . The Western United States has a higher sex ratio (more males than females ) than any other region in the United States. Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became

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4108-662: The West. The ecoregions and ecology found in the Western United States are extremely varied. For instance, large areas of land are made up of everything from sand dunes in the Central Basin and Range ecoregion , which makes up much of the State of Nevada , to the ecology of the North Cascades in Washington state , which has the largest concentration of active alpine glaciers in the lower 48 . The densely forested areas found in Northern California , Oregon , Washington, Idaho , and Montana have mostly species adapted to living in temperate climates , while Southern California , Nevada , Arizona , southern Utah , and New Mexico have

4187-444: The West. Low elevations on the West Coast have warm summers and mild winters with little to no snow. The desert southwest has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow. The Inland Northwest has a continental climate of warm to hot summers and cold to bitterly cold winters. Annual rainfall is greater in the eastern portions, gradually tapering off until reaching

4266-401: The Western United States. American Samoa is in Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean , while Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are in the Mariana Islands in the western North Pacific Ocean . Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have district courts within the 9th Circuit , which includes western states such as California and Nevada. (See District Court of Guam and District Court for

4345-557: The area was formally dedicated and a plaque placed at the foot of Broadway. Jack London Square is located at the south end of Broadway, across the Oakland Estuary from Alameda . The name has also come to refer to the formerly industrial neighborhood surrounding Jack London Square now known as the Jack London District , which has undergone significant rehabilitation in the last decade, including loft conversions and new construction. Former California Governor (and former Oakland mayor) Jerry Brown made his home here before moving north to

4424-426: The cab. After a number of engineers began running their engines in reverse (pushing the tender), Southern Pacific asked Baldwin Locomotive Works to produce cab-forward designs. No other North American railroad ordered cab-forward locomotives. Narrow Gauge Locomotives Until May 1, 1971 (when Amtrak took over long-distance passenger operations in the United States), the Southern Pacific at various times operated

4503-450: The community of Hollywood in Los Angeles became the headquarters of the mass media such as radio and television production. California has emerged as the most populous state and one of the top 10 economies in the world. Massive late 19th–20th century population and settlement booms created two megalopolis areas of the Greater Los Angeles / Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area / Northern California regions, one of

4582-478: The contiguous Western U.S. are mule deer , white-tailed antelope squirrels , cougars , American badgers , coyotes , hawks and several species of snakes and lizards are common. While the American black bear lives throughout the U.S., the brown bears and grizzly bears are more common in the northwest and in Alaska. Along the West Coast there are several species of whales, sea otters , California sea lions , eared seals and northern elephant seals . In

4661-636: The daytime and nighttime population and use. Recent new components include the 55 Harrison building, a 178,000-square-foot (16,500 m) mid-rise by RMW Architects in association with Steve Worthington. The public spaces by SWA Group extended the city to the waterfront by adding accessible waterfront spaces supporting a variety of programs and events from farmers markets to the popular festivals and events. 37°47′39″N 122°16′29″W  /  37.7942°N 122.2747°W  / 37.7942; -122.2747 Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific ( reporting mark SP ) (or Espee from

4740-459: The deserts lie the Rocky Mountains . In the north, they run almost immediately east of the Cascade Range , so that the desert region is only a few miles wide by the time one reaches the Canada–US border. The Rockies are hundreds of miles wide and run uninterrupted from New Mexico to Alaska . The Rocky Mountain Region is the highest overall area of the United States, with an average elevation of above 4,000 feet (1,200 m). The tallest peaks of

4819-463: The dry, inland desert areas of states such as California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico there are some of the world's most venomous lizards, snakes and scorpions. The most notorious might be the Gila monster and Mohave rattlesnake , both found in deserts in the Southwest . The Sonoran Desert has eleven species of rattlesnakes - more than anywhere else in the world. Along the southwestern border there are jaguars and ocelots . Other mammals include

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4898-435: The few in the country equipped to design and build locomotives on a large scale. Sacramento was among the top ten largest shops in the US, occupying 200 acres of land with dozens of buildings and an average employment of 3,000, peaking at 7,000 during World War II. Other major shop sites were located at Ogden, Utah ; Houston, Texas ; and Algiers, New Orleans . After the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco, including

4977-412: The first Paleo-Indians arrived. Pre-Columbian trade routes to kingdoms and empires such as the Mound Builders existed in places such as Yellowstone National Park since around 1000 AD. Major settlement of the western territories developed rapidly in the 1840s, largely through the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush of 1849. California experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it

5056-429: The following named passenger trains . Trains with names in italicized bold text still operate under Amtrak: The man or men who committed this horrible deed near Glendale may not be anarchists, technically speaking. But if they are sane men, moved by motive, they are such stuff as anarchists are made of. If the typical anarchist conceived that a railroad corporation should be terrorized, he would not scruple to wreck

5135-433: The land's managers, who are required to keep land use within environmentally acceptable limits. The largest city in the region is Los Angeles , located on the West Coast . Other West Coast cities include San Diego , San Bernardino , San Jose , San Francisco , Oakland , Bakersfield , Fresno , Sacramento , Seattle , Tacoma , Anchorage , and Portland – some of which are dozens of miles inland. Prominent cities in

5214-408: The locomotive's smokebox silver (almost white in appearance), with graphite colored sides, for visibility. Some passenger steam locomotives bore the Daylight scheme, named after the trains they hauled, most of which had the word Daylight in the train name. The most famous "Daylight" locomotives were the GS-4 steam locomotives . The most famous Daylight-hauled trains were the Coast Daylight and

5293-443: The middle of Embarcadero West , with the train speed limit set at 15 mph (25 km/h). Trains served 16th Street station until earthquake damage in 1989; afterwards, that station was replaced in 1994 by the present-day Jack London Square station. The tracks running through Jack London Square are used by BNSF and Union Pacific and Amtrak 's Capitol Corridor , Coast Starlight and San Joaquin services. The trains share

5372-524: The national average of 77.98 inhabitants/sq mi (30.11 inhabitants/km ). As of 2022, just under half of the 78.7 million residents of the West live in California . The entire Western region has also been strongly influenced by European , Hispanic or Latino , Asian and Native Americans ; it contains the largest number of minorities in the U.S. While most of the studies of racial dynamics in America such as riots in Los Angeles have been written about European and African-Americans , in many cities in

5451-477: The pruning of branch lines. On October 13, 1988, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company (including its subsidiary, St. Louis Southwestern Railway) was taken over by Rio Grande Industries , the parent company that controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (reporting marks D&RGW). Rio Grande Industries did not merge the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad together, but transferred direct ownership of

5530-412: The railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States . The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad , Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company . The original Southern Pacific began in 1865 as a land holding company. The last incarnation of

5609-405: The region: a large group of Western historians (187 respondents), and two smaller groups, 25 journalists and publishers and 39 Western authors. A majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the Great Plains or on the Mississippi River . The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there

5688-425: The road with automobiles, AC Transit buses, and pedestrians. A second Transbay Tube may include a BART station at the square. Another possibility is an aerial tramway to BART stations in downtown Oakland . Jack London Square's most recent changes are adding more businesses, restaurants, and entertainment. Under lead developer Ellis Partners, Jack London Square's new architecture and public spaces are adding to

5767-477: The same time the Union Pacific Corporation renamed the Southern Pacific Transportation Company to Union Pacific Railroad. Thus, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company became, and is still operating as, the current incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad. Like most railroads, the SP painted most of its steam locomotives black during the 20th century, but after 1945 SP painted the front of

5846-503: The sense of isolation and independence of spirit inspired by the frontiersmen on "virgin land". The advent of the automobile enabled the average American to tour the West. Western businessmen promoted Route 66 as a means to bring tourism and industry to the West. In the 1950s, representatives from all the western states built the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center to showcase western culture and greet travelers from

5925-590: The wheat and soybeans in the U.S. and exporting more to the rest of the world. Irrigation in the Southwest allows the growth of great quantities of fruits, nuts, and vegetables as well as grain, hay, and flowers. Texas is a major cattle and sheep raising area, as well as the nation's largest producer of cotton. Washington is famous for its apples, and Idaho for its potatoes. California and Arizona are major producers of citrus crops, however, declining supplies of water, as well as urban sprawl have contributed to

6004-652: Was admitted to statehood in 1850 without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory. One of the largest migrations in American history occurred in the 1840s as the Latter Day Saints left the Midwest to build a theocracy in Utah . Both Omaha, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri laid claim to the title, "Gateway to the West" during this period. Omaha , home to the Union Pacific Railroad and

6083-715: Was also marketed under the Southern Pacific name. Along with the addition of the SPCSL Corporation route from Chicago to St. Louis, the former mainline of the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railroad that once belonged to the Alton Railroad , the total length of the D&;RGW/SP/SSW system was 15,959 miles (25,684 km). Rio Grande Industries was later renamed Southern Pacific Rail Corporation . By 1996, years of financial problems had dropped Southern Pacific's mileage to 13,715 miles (22,072 km). The financial problems caused

6162-428: Was fully merged into the SP in 1961. In 1969, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company was established and took over the Southern Pacific Company; this Southern Pacific railroad is the last incarnation and was at times called "Southern Pacific Industries", though "Southern Pacific Industries" is not the official name of the company. By the 1980s, route mileage had dropped to 10,423 miles (16,774 km), mainly due to

6241-456: Was on the boundaries of the West. The region is split into two smaller units or divisions, by the U.S. Census Bureau: Other classifications distinguish between Southwest and Northwest . Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas , and the Oklahoma panhandle are typically considered to be the Southwest states. Meanwhile, the states of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington can be considered part of

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