1. Extra, Extra! Where would you travel if this happened?
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?

2. The First Transcontinental Railroad

3. 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

4. Getting Started… Choosing a route Conquering the Sierra Nevada
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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. The Game Plan Central Pacific Railroad Union 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

10. 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

11. Bibliography
Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Build the Transcontinental Railroad New York: Simon and Schuster, Cooper-Winter, Rebecca. Eastward to Promontory. 30 July CPRR.org. 12 Oct “Grand TorchlightProcession and Illumination on Account of the Pacific Railroad Act.” San Francisco Bulletin. Vol. 14, Iss. 81, Pg 3. (11 July 1862) Pictures: Map:

12. Let’s Build a Railroad! Look at your index card Supervisors
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

13. 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

14. 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!)