The First Transcontinental Railroad

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Extra, Extra!
Its 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?

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The First Transcontinental Railroad
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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

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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

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Getting Started(contd)

• 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
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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
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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

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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

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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

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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.h
  tml006
• 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.p
  hp?id53
• Map http//www.tcrr.com/Transcontinental-Railroad
  -map-wiki.jpg

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Lets 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

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Lets 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

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Keep in Mind

• You do not need to stay at the station to
  complete the tasksuse 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!)