THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

WHEN IT FIRST BEGAN

• It first began in 1863
• It took more than six years to complete.
• There were two main companies that were in charge of the project.

Work on the railroad begun in 1863, when two companies, the Central Pacific who worked east from Sacramento, Cali. while the Union Pacific worked west from Omaha, Nebraska. They worked for six years until the two railroad met at Promontory Summit, Utah.

A man named Theodore Judah had dreams about the railroad before seriously. People started calling him, "Crazy Judah," because he talked about the railroad so much. Judah couldn't really make his dream come because he didn't have much money.

So, he tried to raising money in San Francisco, but the wealthy people didn't take him very seriously, so he went to Sacramento and tried again there. Some business owners began to listen. By 1861, Judah had found 4 men-Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins.

LELAND STANFORD (1824-1893)

• Governor of Cali. from 1861 to 1863.
• President of the Central Railroad.
• U.S Sentor for Cali. too
• Died at Palo Alto on June 21, 1893

CHARLES CROCKER (1822-1888)

• In charge of the construction unit.
• Under his leadership, the railroad was done seven years ahead of schedule.
• Died August 14, 1888

COLLIS HUNTINGTON (1821-1900)

• Vice President of the Railroad
• Founded the town of Newport News, Virginia.
• Died August 13, 1900

MARK HOPKINS (1813-1878)

• Was the Railroad's Treasurer
• The other members trusted his judgements
• Had him look at all their projects.
• Died in Yuma, Ari. March 29,1878

The 4 members were known as "The Big Four." They funded the project on one condition, Judah finds a path through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. So he went and found a path called the Dutch Flat.

However, wet ground and winter rains delayed them for a month. Once they started moving on, Judah went back to the east to find more money, unfortunately he caught the "Yellow Fever" and died before reaching New York.

The Union Pacific was formed by the U.S government. In Oct, 1863 president of the Union Pacific, John A. Dix caused most of the delays. The Central Pacific didn't lay one tie or rail until the next year.

The Race Begins.
That year in1865, the work progress was very slow, they only covered 40 miles. The delays were mostly because of the Indians because they wanted food and often attacked and also because of the territory rights. The other problem was having no men to work. So Dodge (a man who helped build the railroad) hired people to help.

He hired Civil War veterans and Irish workers who fled Ireland during the potato famine in the 1840s. The Irish knew how to build so they were a huge benefit. In December 1866, the Union Pacific had laid 305 miles of track, more than 250 of those miles were built in nine months between April and December.

Meanwhile, the Central Pacific didn't make progress for the first few years either. They had to drill and blow through the mountains, it took them 3 years. They needed men badly so they thought, "Hey, the Chinese built the Great Wall, so why don't we bring them here?" They brought the Chinese here for very low pay. The men even had to pay for their own food too.

Two-thirds of the workers were Chinese. The Chinese did most of the blasting, all of the workers worked 6 days a week, from sunrise to sundown. Six men slept in tents that were 10 by 12ft.

Record-Breaker
On April 28, 1869, a Central Pacific crew laid 10 miles and 56ft of track in a day in Utah.

Finally, in May 10, 1869 soldiers fired cannons from coast to coast. One word started the celebrations, "Done." This simple message was sent by telegraph when the railroad was finished. The railroads were connected by one last spike, a gold spike. The golden spike is now kept in display in Stanford University.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!

SOURCES

• The Transcontinental Railroad by Julie Rach
• Pictures by Google.
• A History of Railroads by Hynson.