The First Transcontinental Railroad

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The First Transcontinental
Railroad
Why Build a Transcontinental Railroad?
Growth of West Coast
 West Coast gold and silver
 Shorter trip to move West
 Connect East with West for
business
 Solidify the Union
 Achieve Manifest Destiny

Getting Started…

Choosing a route
◦ Congress ordered surveys in 1853
◦ Debates between north and south about route
◦ No free-state politicians would approve funds
for a railroad that would spread slavery
◦ Northerners won when South seceded

Conquering the Sierra Nevada
◦ Giant, rocky, snowy obstacle for the engineers
◦ Found a route through Donner Pass in 1860
Getting Started…(cont’d)

Gaining government support
◦ Needed government cooperation, money, and
LAND
◦ Government was on board, but occupied by
Civil War

Who will pay?
◦ Big Four (Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins,
Crocker)
 Created and chaired Central Pacific Railroad
◦ Thomas Durant
◦ Ames Brothers
Bought most of the Union
Pacific stock
Who Made it Possible?

Key Players
◦ Theodore Judah
◦ Grenville Dodge
Railroad experts who conducted
land surveys, worked with the
government, and found
investors for railroad
Grenville Dodge
◦ Both understood the great benefits of a
transcontinental railroad
◦ Both devoted their lives to making sure the
plan was carried out
What Made it Possible?

Pacific Railway Act
◦ Passed July 1, 1862
◦ Created Union Pacific to build road from the
East and meet the Central Pacific
◦ Provided companies 5 alternating plots of land
on each side of the road for each mile along the
route
◦ Allowed $16,000 for each mile of flat land,
$32,000 for hills, and $48,000 for mountain
terrain
◦ Revised in 1864 to allow companies more land
and privileges
The Game Plan

Central Pacific Railroad
◦ Begin in Sacramento, CA
◦ Broke ground January 1863

Union Pacific Railroad
◦ Begin in Omaha, NE
◦ Broke ground in late 1863 but no
tracks laid until 1865
Route along the 42nd Parallel
 Meeting place: Promontory Summit,
UT

Significance of the Railroad
Biggest and best engineering project
of its time
 Made the country smaller
 Helped spur interest in Homestead
Act
 Improved communication
 The beginning of the end for Native
Americans
 Led to other transcontinental
railroads and shorter branches

Bibliography
Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Build
the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 2000.
Cooper-Winter, Rebecca. Eastward to Promontory. 30 July 2007.
CPRR.org. 12 Oct. 2008.
http://cprr.org/Museum/Galloway_Judah_ASCE/index.html#006
“Grand TorchlightProcession and Illumination on Account of the
Pacific Railroad Act.” San Francisco Bulletin. Vol. 14, Iss. 81, Pg 3.
(11 July 1862)
Pictures: http://west.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/pager.php?id=53
Map: http://www.tcrr.com/Transcontinental-Railroad-map-wiki.jpg
Let’s Build a Railroad!

Look at your index card
◦ Go to the starting point for your railroad
◦ Find the workers whose cards have the
same color dot as yours
◦ The person whose card is marked with an
“S” is the supervisor

Supervisors
◦ Hand out tasks at each stop
◦ Read information aloud to other workers
Let’s Build a Railroad!

Stop at each city in order

Read information provided and use it to
complete the tasks for that station
◦ Each task sheet will act as a railroad tie
◦ When finished, fold paper in half with
colored dot on top and lay on the rails

After all ties are laid at a station, gather
as a group for an “overnight camp”
◦ Discuss the questions on your worksheet for
that station
Keep in Mind…

You do not need to stay at the station
to complete the tasks…use the room!

You will be graded on your answers, so
take your time and do quality work

Make sure to lay ties how they are
placed on actual rails (Hint: not piled
on top of each other!)
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