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 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 ◦ Both understood the great benefits of a transcontinental railroad ◦ Both devoted their lives to making sure the plan was carried out Railroad experts who conducted land surveys, worked with the government, and found investors for railroad Grenville Dodge

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 42 nd 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

The 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. Slide #18

The Impact of the Railroads In 1864, George Pullman designed a railroad sleeping car. Slide #19

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. Slide #20

The Impact of the Railroads Railroad lines also added dining cars where porters, conductors and waiters attended the needs of passengers. Slide #21

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. Slide #22