Interesting Transcontinental Railroad Photo

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I was doing some RR research the other night for a related topic over on the SASS Wire, and I came across this interesting photo in one of my books. This photo was taken sometime between 1863 and 1869 during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Location is unknown.



Here is a closeup of the man holding the rilfe. I want to say it is a Henry, but I may be wrong. Squinting at the photo in the book, I don't see a forend on the rifle. But the barrel looks a little bit short to be a Henry.



What do you think?

[Henry4440]

Hi DJ.
Great pic.
I say it is a Henry.The barrel imo didn't look too short.
Take a look at the following pics.






On the next pics, the guys looks a little bit short to me.

[Major 2]

In one photo, there is a caption

As you can see

it's like an old friend that cares for me

I wonder if it refurs to the Henry or the old dog 

Great photos cudo's to you both for sharing 

[Forty Rod]

Howdy

I was doing some RR research the other night for a related topic over on the SASS Wire, and I came across this interesting photo in one of my books. This photo was taken sometime between 1863 and 1869 during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Location is unknown.



Here is a closeup of the man holding the rilfe. I want to say it is a Henry, but I may be wrong. Squinting at the photo in the book, I don't see a forend on the rifle. But the barrel looks a little bit short to be a Henry.



What do you think?

Right where he's gripping it is a bright spot that could be a nose cap.  Right place and right size.  1866 maybe?  Sure would be easier if you could get him to turn the rifle around and show us the other side.

[Major 2]

I enlarged the area with software. And scribed a straight line between what appears thicker
Upper muzzle area and the breach end from the nose cap? ..there does appear to be a difference.
also note the front sight it is further back , not centered over the rotating barrel lug.
I think it's a 66 too 

[Henry4440]

After looking a little bit more precisely, i revise my opinion.
Major2 is right about the front sight.Looks more than a '66.And where his hand is, shines no metall.Wood?
Sometimes we see what we want to see.

[Will Ketchum]

It appears to have a sling attached.  If so it doesn't seem to have the normal Henry cheek piece sling swivel.   It would be nice if we could narrow down the date.

Will Ketchum

[Tuolumne Lawman]

The fourth picture down is the "Lt. Fahenstock" Henry. I actually handled it, that tintype, and his discharge papers about 1993 or 4.  An antique dealer I knew had a chance to "buy an old rifle" for $9,000, and thought it was too much.  I went to his shop and handled the Henry, photo and papers.  I told him to mortgage his kids if he had to, because $9,000 was a steal!  The owner ended up selling it to a collector for over $20,000 before my friend could come up with the money.  It is documented in Sword's book.

What a feelong handling a living piece of history.  The stories it could tell!  He was in some Illinois Infantry outfit like 66th or 86th, something like that.  The Henry was engraved with his name and unit.

[Ransom Gaer]

Interesting problem here.  Looks to me like it has features of both the Henry and the '66.  Looking at the receiver, it looks to me like a Henry and the rear sight looks like one of the locations on the Henry.  But I have to agree with it having a wood forearm.  I just went over to www.rarewinchesters.com and looked at what they have on 1866 model Winchesters.  Their photos of early 1866 models show a receiver very similar to the Henry and the rear sight is located close to the receiver like in the photo.  I'm inclined to say it is an 1866.  It would be nice if it were a Henry though.

Still it's an interesting photo.

I'm going to say the photo was taken between 1865 and 1869.  It is a Union Pacific locomotive and railroad construction didn't begin in earnest on the UP until 1865.  According to Union Pacific's website they laid the first rail in Omaha in 1865.

Ransom Gaer

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy again

I've had the book this photo is in for over 20 years, but I never before noticed the rifle in this photo. Funny thing.

Anyway, the book is called Makin' Tracks, The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad in the Pictures and Words of the Men Who Were There. It was published in 1975, and I've probably owned it for 25 years or so. Many of the photos in the book were taken by A. J. Russell who worked for the Union Pacific Photgraphic Corps, documenting the work of building the railroad.

Russell's most famous photo is probably this one, the chaotic scene at the actual driving of the Golden Spike at Promentory Point on May 10 1869.



The photo probably resides in the huge collection the UP maintains, but I have not been able to find it on the web. The UP owns about 500,000 photos. A few of the photos in the book are on the UP website, but unfortunately this one is not among them.

The caption on the photo simply says Wyoming Depot, so it was taken someplace in Wyoming. I'm going to guess it was taken in 1868 because the UP was probably building across Wyoming by then.

I took a digital photo of the rifle in the photo, to try and get some better resolution than my printer scanner.

Here it is:



I'm afraid it looks like a '66 to me. It appears to me the barrel and magazine may be separate. But the line deliniating them dissappears below the man's hand, possibly because of the presence of a forend. If it is a '66, the owner had the latest and greatest in repeating firepower at the time.

[Ranch 13]

 The Union Pacific did infact own and issue a sizeable number of Henry's in 44 flat . Mostly they were issued to surveyors , but they also handed a few out to others.
There was still a couple of them on display in their museum in Omaha.

[Henry4440]

Found this on the rarewinchester website:
Guns of Many Voices
In the late 1860s, the construction of a transcontinental railroad line brought thousands of men flooding into the high plains and mountain country beyond the Missouri, and, the Henry came with them in greater numbers. General Grenville M. Dodge, chief of the Union Pacific Railroad project, led a Henry-armed 1865 exploratory expedition into the Powder River country to chart a route for the rails and found a trafficable pass through the Laramie Mountains while his repeaters held the suspicious Cheyenne at bay. It was the start of an enduring partnership between the railroaders and the rimfires. Although the Army provided some troops to guard the construction crews, Indian attack was a constant problem, and the men often had to lay aside their tools and transits to mount watch with surplus Springfields and Spencers as well as the Henrys.
Pioneer photographer A.J. Russell recorded the Union Pacific's westward progress in a series of remarkably clear and vivid pictures of the men and the harsh land they challenged. One image captured Engine No. 23 and its proud crew at Wyoming Station on a bright day in 1868. Gleaming with polish, and sporting a huge rack of elk antlers from its headlight, the locomotive and its tender were obvious objects of pride, much like the Henry rifle that one of the railroaders displayed for Russell's lens.

http://www.rarewinchesters.com/articles/art_gun_voices.shtml

[Driftwood Johnson]

Thanks for adding that. The article is clearly describing this photo. They seem to think it is a Henry. I still can't quite tell for sure.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Here is the entire photo as it appears on the cover to the book, complete with station.

[Major 2]

Thanks for adding that. The article is clearly describing this photo. They seem to think it is a Henry. I still can't quite tell for sure.

That clearly seems to settle it..but perhaps they still called the 66 it a Henry (Impoved Henry).

I note all the photos show the Henry's unloaded, the posable exception is the standing officer (note the Spencers in the same photo)
and the trapper.

[Books OToole]

Interestingly;  The orginal photograph is now on exhibit at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.  It is part of a special exhibit called Art in the Age of Steam featuring art dealing with trains.

If anyone is in the area, or going to visit between now and January, be sure and take in this exhibit.  It is great.

Books

[Fox Creek Kid]

The Union Pacific did infact own and issue a sizeable number of Henry's in 44 flat .

I'm curious as to where you read that. I know they issued a few Spencers as well as some 1st Model Allin conversions in .58 rimfire and some Joslyns. Later on the UPRR bought some '72 Open Tops as well.

[Ranch 13]

 It's been pretty well documented in various history's of the UPRR,and an occasional sribbling about the Henry rifle. Working for the UPRR for a number of years led to some of the information.

[Fox Creek Kid]

It's been pretty well documented in various history's of the UPRR,and an occasional sribbling about the Henry rifle. Working for the UPRR for a number of years led to some of the information.

Mind you, I am not doubting this. It's just that I had never read where Henry rifles were issuance by the UPPR and would appreciate if anyone here on the forum could offer up a source.