Out of this grew the building of a rival line between Denver and Cheyenne wholly under the Union Pacific Railroad's control--locally known as the Colorado Central Railroad. This line was comprised of the Colorado Central Railroad, Denver to Golden, sixteen miles. It was commenced on New Year's Day 1868, being the first railroad in the state of Colorado. Its extension to Longmont, built in 1871, and the line Longmont to Cheyenne completed in 1877. This line was some one hundred and thirty miles against one hundred and six by the Denver Pacific Railroad, notwithstanding which it was used by the Union Pacific Railroad as its Denver connection until the adjustment of the differences between the different interests, which was brought about by an agreement made June 1st, 1878, by which the Kansas Pacific Railway and the Denver Pacific Railway were to be operated by the Union Pacific Company. This was followed by an absolute merger of the three roads, in January 1880 the new combination being known as the Union Pacific Railway Company. CHAPTER XI. _History of the Line since its completion._ Government Indebtedness--Absorption Other Lines--Receivership--Train Robbers--Settlement With Government. Upon the completion of the Union Pacific the rates for both freight and passengers were fixed at what now seems a very high figure. Thus passenger fares locally were ten cents per mile. Complaints arising, the matter was taken up in Congress and steps taken towards the appointment of a Board of Commissioners who should have authority to fix rates, both freight and passengers. The whole question of earnings and expenses of the line was an unknown quantity and as soon as experience demonstrated what was reasonable and just, the Company voluntarily adjusted their schedules,--until today the rates over the line are about on a parity with those charged by eastern lines through much more thickly settled states. In 1869 the agitation looking to a bridge across the Missouri River in place of the slow and often unreliable ferry culminated, and on March 11th of that year the structure was commenced. Three years were required for the work and the first train crossed on March 11th, 1872. By an agreement made with the city of Omaha that city was to be made the eastern terminus regardless of the bridge. This, however, was upset by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States declaring the bridge an integral part of the line and that it commenced in Iowa not Nebraska.