1. The Transcontinental Railroad

2. After the Civil War, the U.S. looked for ways to connect the nation.

3. Brigham Young saw a great advantage in having the train come through Utah The Union Pacific started clearing land and laying tracks west from Omaha, Nebraska. Another railroad company, Central Pacific, started laying tracks eastward from Sacramento, California. Somewhere these tracks would join in Utah.

4. Immigrant Workers Most of the workers were immigrants from Ireland and other countries. Both the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific hired thousands of Chinese. Over 2,000 died put of 11,000 workers.

5. Central Pacific worked through the Sierra Nevadas and it was hard and dangerous. Problems: - Hot deserts and cold winters. - Many accidents and death by dynamite.

6. The Railroad and Utah Union Pacific approached the Rocky Mountains and needed help. Brigham Young made a deal: He would give the railroad a $2 million loan if they had the tracks run from Ogden to Salt Lake.

7. When the train hit Ogden, it did not go south as planned. President Ulysses Grant decided the railroad should follow old trails north of Ogden and the Great Salt Lake Sometimes I change my mind... I’m the president.

8. Brigham Young then started to help the Central Pacific too. Utahns sold goods to the workers. The race was on to see which railroad could gain the most land.

9. Finally the tracks met at Promontory Summit, just north of the Great Salt Lake. May 10, 1869

11. Thousands were camped there to witness this historic event of the two trains meeting. California’s governor, Leland Stanford, took a swing with a sledge hammer to drive the last spike, known as “THE GOLDEN SPIKE,” and missed, swung and missed, and another official tried and missed. Finally a worker came up and took one swing and got it in.

12. The Effects of Expansion: Travel time = 3 days instead of 3 months. More selling and buying of goods Large-scale mining. Business Failures, cheaper to ship then to make in Utah. Connected towns Sin (according to Mormons) Many other religions Cities built by miners don’t have the grid system (Park City, Price, Brighton) Wealthy people