“The Railroads”Chapter 9Section 2

Linking the Nation Pacific Railway Act

Signed by President Abraham Lincoln and began the railroad boom

Provided for the construction of the transcontinental railroad by the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific

The government offered each railroad company land along its right-of-way to encourage rapid construction of the tracks.

Linking the Nation The Union Pacific and Greenville

Dodge In 1865 under the direction of engineer

Greenville Dodge, the Union Pacific began pushing westward from Omaha, Nebraska.

Union Pacific employed 10,000 workers. The Big Four and the Central Pacific

Charley Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Collins P. Huntington owned stock in the Central Pacific.

Due to shortage of labor, the Central Pacific hired 10,000 workers from China.

Railroads Spur Growth By linking the nation, railroads increased

the size of markets for many products Linking Other Lines

Seven giant systems with terminals in major and smaller cities controlled most rail traffic

Cornelius Vanderbilt Benefits of a National System

To make rail service more reliable, in 1883 the American Railway Association divided the country into four time zones

The Transcontinental Railroad

It was 1,775 miles from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California.

The Transcontinental RailroadRailroads had already transformed life in the East, at the end of the Civil War railroad tracks stopped at the Missouri River. For a quarter of a century, men had dreamed of building a line from coast to coast.

Union Pacific

Union Pacific went from Omaha, Nebraska, westward to Promontory Summit/Point Utah.

The Central Pacific

Central Pacific Railway system carved their sections through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

They went from Sacramento California, East to Promontory Summit/Point Utah.

Central Pacific Chinese Labor

Central Pacific Bridges

Central Pacific

Cape Horn

Bloomer’s Cut

CPRR Summit Tunnel (#6), Tunnels #7 & #8, Snowsheds

, "Chinese" Walls, Donner Trail, and Dutch Flat Donner - Lake Wagon Road

 at Donner Pass

The Summit Tunnel was 7,042 feet above the sea. This was the highest point reached by the CP. When they were finished, the facings were off by only two inches, a feat that could hardly be equaled in the twenty-first century. Clement had done it with black powder, nitroglycerin and muscle power. He had not used electric or steam-driven drills, steam engines to power scoop shovels, or any gas or electric-powered carts or cars to haul out the broken granite. There were no robots, no mechanical devices. Well over 95 percent of the work was done by the Chinese men. They and their foremen and the bosses, Clement and Crocker and Strobridge, had created one of the greatest

moments in American history.”

Newcastle: Original 1864 Grade, 1909 Realignment, Trestle, & Tunnel #18

Promontory, Utah May 10, 1869

"May God continue the unity of our Country as this Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world.   Presented by David Hewes San Francisco."

"The LAST SPIKE"

The Transcontinental RailroadIn 1866, the CPR had 44 blizzards while tunneling through the Sierras. In 1869, the CPR laid 360 miles of track. On April 28, 1869, the CPR crew set a record of laying 10 miles in twelve hours.

The Land Grant System

Land Grants Railroads would sell

the land to settlers, real estate companies, and other businesses

Government awarded railroad companies over 120 million acres of land

Robber Barons

Jay Gould Stock fraud

Using information as a business owner to manipulate stock prices and make larger gains

The Credit Mobilier Scandal Union Pacific investors got rich by paying inflated

bills from a construction company they controlled The Great Northern

Became the most successful transcontinental railroad and the only one that was not eventually forced into bankruptcy