The Transcontinental Railroad Connecting the Nation

The Purpose In 1863 the United States Government approved the construction of a “Transcontinental Railroad” – Transcontinental = Crossing a continent The railroad will connect East and West – By wagon it can take nearly 6 months to cross the United States, by train it will take ~ 6 days The railroad will allow people to settle the Great Plains – Before the T.C. Railroad most Americans still live east of the Mississippi River or along the West Coast. It will make the U.S. a power in global trade

Planning and Paying The man put in charge of planning the route for the T.C. Railroad is Theodore Judah. – The route will cover 1907 miles, and pass through some of the harshest terrain in North America In order to speed up construction, TWO Railroad companies are hired to work on the TC Railroad at the same time. – The Central Pacific Railroad Company (West) – The Union Pacific Railroad Company (East) The companies will start on opposite ends and meet in the middle.

Starting point Central Pacific Railroad Start in Sacramento, California and build East Union Pacific Railroad Start in Omaha, Nebraska and build West. The two companies will start on opposite ends and work towards each other. Eventually they will meet somewhere in the middle.

Paying for the Railroad In 1863, The United States did not have enough money to pay for the entire railroad. – The Railroad companies will be paid $16,000 per mile of track laid (more in mountains) – The Railroad companies will receive 6,400 acres of land (10 sq. miles) per mile of track laid That land will be worth billions of dollars – Both companies begin to scam the Government to get more money and land. The two companies will end up owning land equal to the size of Texas!!

Work Force Central Pacific Railroad The C.P uses mostly Chinese Immigrants as railroad workers (~80% of the workers) Union Pacific Railroad The U.P. uses mostly Irish Immigrants and Civil War Veterans as railroad workers. Both companies needed thousands of workers willing to do back breaking manual labor for little money.

Working Conditions Workers for both companies faced back breaking manual labor on a daily basis. – The average work gang worked 12 hours per day, 6 days per week Workers were paid between $1 and $3 per day – Chinese workers were always paid the least After workers completed their shifts, they stayed in camps near the worksite. (segregated by race) – Most slept in tents or bunk cars and ate plain meals like beans and boiled meats On days off, workers would often go spend their free time and extra money at “Hell on Wheels”

“Hell on Wheels” “Hell on Wheels” were mobile towns that serviced the railroad workers. – Eating, Drinking, Gambling, Banking, Shopping etc. When the railroad moved on, the town packed up and moved with it.

Work being done Workers spent their shifts laying and grading track, building bridges, drilling and blasting shelves and tunnels, and clearing rubble. – All of these tasks required VERY difficult manual labor and could be very dangerous Hammering, Shoveling, carrying heavy materials – Blasting of tunnels and shelves often required the use of Nitro Glycerin Nitro Glycerin = a liquid explosive 13X stronger than dynamite As many as 1200 workers may have died building the Transcontinental Railroad

Completion On May 10, 1869 the two companies will meet in Promontory Summit, Utah. – There is a huge ceremony and celebration. A golden railroad spike is hammered in as the final spike in the line

Completion The entire project had taken just under 6 years to complete. – The Central Pacific had laid 690 miles of track – The Union Pacific had laid 1087 miles of track – ~30,000 people had worked building the railroad – Total Cost: ~$50,000,000 ~200,000 square miles of land Travel on the Transcontinental Railroad began just 5 days after the line was completed and would change the future of the United States forever.