It’s finally happened! Scientists have created a machine that will allow people to transport to other places instantly! Travelers simply step into a box at their departure site and arrive in a box at their destination within seconds! Cities all over the world have purchased these machines, hoping that it will increase travel and tourism in their areas.
• Where would you travel if this happened?
• What would be a positive or negative consequence from this type of technology?

Why Build a Transcontinental Railroad?
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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

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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
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Conquering the Sierra Nevada
◦ Giant, rocky, snowy obstacle for the engineers
◦ Found a route through Donner Pass in 1860

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Gaining government support
◦ Needed government cooperation, money, and
LAND
◦ Government was on board, but occupied by
Civil War
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Who will pay?
◦ Big Four (Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins,
Crocker)
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 Created and chaired Central Pacific Railroad
◦ Thomas Durant
Ames Brothers
Bought most of the Union
Pacific stock

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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

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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

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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 42 nd Parallel
Meeting place: Promontory Summit,
UT

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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

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

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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
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Supervisors
◦ Hand out tasks at each stop
◦ Read information aloud to other workers

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Stop at each city in order
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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
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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

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You do not need to stay at the station to complete the tasks…use the room!
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You will be graded on your answers, so take your time and do quality work
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Make sure to lay ties how they are placed on actual rails (Hint: not piled on top of each other!)