In 1926, K. C. Ingram, a former newspaper writer turned Southern Pacific employee — he eventually rose to be assistant to the president — proposed that the railroad needed a unifying theme in its advertising. He argued that SP advertising at the time was “disjointed” and a centralized theme would give the public something to identify with, like a brand logo.

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This persuaded the company to develop its “four routes” campaign in 1927. This was based on the notion that the railroad offered four different ways into and out of California so passengers could go one way and return on another for little or no extra cost. This 1937 booklet was aimed at Californians who might want to take one route to, say, Chicago and another route back. Continue reading →

This booklet announces the February 1926 completion of 277 miles of new railroad between Springfield Oregon and Black Butte (near Mount Shasta) California. More than two decades in the making, the new line eliminated many sharp curves and grades on the Siskiyou Mountain route that had been completed in 1887. Even though the new line had to climb over the Cascade Mountains, it soon became Southern Pacific’s main north-south line in Oregon.

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The story began in 1866 when Congress passed the Oregon & California Railroad Land Grant Act promising 3.7 million acres of land to anyone building a railroad from Portland to San Francisco. Two companies competed to get the grant, one building down the east side of the Willamette Valley and the other further west. The east side line made it a little beyond Springfield while the west side line went to Eugene and reached the California border in 1887. Also in 1887, both lines came under the control of the Southern Pacific, which in 1901 was taken over by Edward Harriman. Continue reading →