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?
The Transcontinental Railroad

Railroads had already
transformed life in the East, but
at the end of the Civil War
railroad tracks still stopped at the
Missouri River. For a quarter of a
century, men had dreamed of
building a line from coast to
coast. Now they would attempt to
lay 1,775 miles of track from
Omaha to Sacramento
Union and Central

In 1862, Congress gave charters
to two companies to build these
tracks. The Central Pacific was to
push eastward from Sacramento,
over the Sierra Nevada
mountains. The Union Pacific was
to start from Omaha Nebraska,
cross the great plains and cut
through the Rockies.
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
The Route
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?

The Pacific Central “Big Four” were Collis P.
Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford
and Charles Crocker.

The Central Pacific Railroad made
these four investors some of the
wealthiest men in America.
Stanford
Huntington
Hopkins
Crocker
Workers

In 1865, Crocker, in charge of construction,
found a solution to their work force problem.
Besides hiring Irish immigrants who worked
for low pay, the Central pacific Railroad
employed over 10,000 Chinese immigrants.
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
Pacific Railway Act
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

Last Spike Driven In
Impact of the Railroads

Before the railroads, each town kept
its own time, based on the position of
the sun. Railroad companies,
however, needed more exact time
tables. They devised a system with
four time zones – eastern, central,
mountain and pacific time. Every
place within the same time zone
observed the same time.
The Impact of the Railroads

In 1864, George Pullman
designed a railroad sleeping car.
The Impact of the Railroads

In 1869, George Westinghouse helped make
railway travel safer and faster with the
invention of a new air brake. On early
trains, each railroad car had its own brakes
and brake operator. If different cars stopped
at different times, accidents resulted. The
new air brake allowed an engineer to stop all
the cars at once.
The Impact of the Railroads

The railroads spurred economic growth.
Steel-workers turned millions of tons of iron
into steel for tracks and engines.
Lumberjacks supplied wood for railroad ties.
Miners dug coal to fuel the engines. The
railroads opened every corner of the country
to settlement and growth.
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
Novinger Area
La Plata is serviced by Amtrak's Southwest
Chief which runs along the BNSF Railway.
 Kirksville once had two operational railroads
that ran through town.
 The east-west rail line became known as the
Burlington Northern in 1970 and was later
removed.
 Kirksville’s other railroad, the Wabash Railroad,
ran north to south, and In late September 1997,
the tracks through Kirksville were torn down
leaving the city without a rail line.

Novinger Area

Novinger history began at the time when
the Pacific Railroad was extending
westward from Kirksville. John C.
Novinger, who owned the farm across
which the railroad was to run. At first he
objected to it's crossing his farm, but by a
compromise with the officials of the
railroad he agreed that it could do so,
provided a depot would be built on his land
and be called "Novinger."
Novinger Area

The station was soon to become more
than a stop on the map. Forestry was the
first industry of the Novinger
area. Railroad ties, and other timber
products were loaded on the trains at
Novinger and shipped out by the
trainload for several years.
Novinger Area

The O.K. Railroad was built through
Novinger in 1878-1879. The Iowa & St.
Louis Railroad was built in 1900-1901. At
one time several coal trains loaded with
tons and tons of coal left Novinger each
day to markets all over the mid-west. The
financial benefits from the sale of this coal
was a major part of the prosperity of the
whole area for years.
Novinger Area

The railroads had pulled out by 1950, and
the last mine, Billy Creek Coal Mine
southwest of Novinger, closed in January
1966.
Rombauer Coal Mine Novinger, MO
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!)