Grenville Dodge

The Chautauqua Troupe

Grenville Dodge

Patrick E. McGinnis presents Grenville Dodge, the U.S. Army general during the Civil War and Plains Indian campaigns, who became the chief engineer for the Union Pacific during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Dodge settled in Iowa in 1854 and, with the possibility of an eventual transcontinental railroad route, began to scout areas in the Platte River Valley and Rocky Mountains.  Following his military service in the Civil War and in the Great Plains, Dodge led the efforts of the Union Pacific Railroad crews building from Omaha westward to the eventual meeting point with the Central Pacific Railroad, Promontory Point, Utah.  Repeatedly he proved his engineering abilities by overcoming obstacles and deciding on the ultimate location of bridges, cuts, and fills.  Dodge resigned from Union Pacific in 1869 and settled in Council Bluffs and served as a consultant for other railroad projects.

Chautauqua Workshops
May 21 Grenville Dodge 7:30 pm
May 22 Civil War and the Great Plains 2:00 pm
May 24 The Railroad 12:00 pm