9,'t1pJ9i
il
I
I
llywaituntil i
Cowhands
usua
spring
tobegin
theirlong
and i
diffi(ult(attledrivenorth.
i
Settlers
oftenfindthe
environGreat
Plains
mentharsh,0nedes(|ibed
studgguideand
MakethisFoldable
useit to recordwhatgoulearn
Wesi.'
aboui'TheChanging
,
,
i
AmeriAftermanyyearsofwar,mostNative
cans
arefor(ed
to leave
theirnatural
h0melands
andliveonreservations.
Foldan 8 rzz"x ll'piece
of paperin halflikea hot
onesidel'
dog,leaving
longerthanihe oiher,
Make3 cuts,equal
disianceapari,onthe
shortsideof paper,
lormingfour labs.
Writeihe chaptertitle
on ihe l" iab,andthe
lessoniiiles on ihe four
s m a llt a b s .
rI
The
fhanscontinental
Raihoad
VOCABULARY
transcontinental
railroad
Pacific
Railroad
Act
PEOPLE
Grenville
Dodge
Crocker
Charles
Rg"qMBruG
STRATHGV
Use
a sequence-of(hartlikethe
events
to listthe
onebelow
steps
thatledtothe
building
ofthetrans(ontinentalrailroad.
LessonOutline
How did the
trdnscontihental
rcihoad help our
country grow?
. L_l':r-iiiarn
:la jria; lizrilra:rt:l
. )] i"ar.n:nal:r.!a
Lugi' a:rifif.tirrq i:r -rllii-
At the endof the civil War,mostof the country's
River.
railroadtrackswereeastof the Mississippi
To get to the WestCoast,peopletraveledby boat,
(whichtook months),or wagontrains(whichtook
manyweeks).Bothjourneys
A
weredangerous.
railroad,
transcontinental
somesaid,wasneeded.A
railroadis
transcontinental
an entire
onethat crosses
continent,
YouAreHere
1862-t869
DEMANDSFORA RAILROAD
Manypeoplewantedto go westin
the 1860s.Theydid not do so unlessthey
had goodreason.In 1838the peopleof
the lowa Teritory askedCongressfor
help buildinga transcontinentalrailroad.
deniedthe petition,sayingit
Congress
would be like trying "to build a railroad
to the moon."
Rafuoadbuildersthoughta transcontinental raihoad was risky They worried
about conflicts with the many Native
Americanswho lived in the West.The
raihoadwould cut acrosstheir lands.The
geography
ofrheWesralsodiscouraged
the builders.How would they build a railroadacrossthe vastGreatPlains,the
RockyMounrains,Ihe
snow-covered
desertsof the GreatBasin,and the rugged
Sieffa Nevadasof Califomia?
The GovernmentActs
Afterthe Californiagoldrush in 1849,
demandfor a transcontinentalraihoad
increased.Finally,in July1862,Congress
passedthe PaJ
RirilroadAcI. This act
offeredtwo companiesgovernmqntloans
and ftee land to build the railroad.PresidentLin co l nh o p e dthata l ran5c onLi ne n tal raihoad wor d help the Union during
the Civil War.
The two companiesdecidedto build
ftom oppositedirectionsand meetsomewherein the middle.ThomasDurant
headedthe Union PacificRailroad.Under
the leadershipof Gr-env
odse.the
Union Pacificwould lay track westward
Trains
Steam-powered
Ridard
Trevithid(,
anEnglishman,
builtthe
firststeam-powered
raihoad
engine
in1804,It
pulled
atatopspeed
0ffive
tentonsofcargo
miles
oerhour.
Inl82t George
Stephenson
made
anengine
he(alled
the80ddthatreached
sDeeds
0f30
per
miles hour.
lt used
sma
lltubes
thatran
produ(ed
qui*ly.
steam
through
theboilerand
(ould
engines
travel
faster
Now
thatrailroad
thanhorse-drawn
vehidet
th€ybe(amethe
most
popularform
0ftransportation
inth€nation.
over
better
wheels,
brakes,and
thenextfewdecades,
allowed
thelo(omotive
t0
otherimDrovements
perhour.
r€ach
speeds
ofupto50miles
Howdoyouthink
today's
trainsare
improvenents
over
trains
inthe18005?
ftom Omaha,Nebraska.The second
company,CentralPacificRailroad,was
headedby LelandStanford.A merchant
named dharles Crocker would lead the
CentralPacificeastlvardfrom Sacra.
mento,Califomia.
tc#
Whatwasthe Pacific
RailroadAct?
475
TASK
A TREMENDOUS
Buildingthe tmnscontinentalrailroad
wascostlyand involvedthousandsof
workers,many ofwhom wereinjured
Becauseof the CivilWar,supplieswere
oftenhard to get.Both comPanies
needediron rails,but they weremadeon
the EastCoast.Cental Pacifichad to ship
the iron railsby seaaroundSouthAmerica,which was cosdyand took months.
Union Pacificshippedthe railsby steamboat on the MissouriRiver'Thus,by 1865,
morethan threeyearsafterthey started'
neitherraihoadcompanyhad lain more
than 50 miles of track.
Workerson the CentralPacific
Findingworkersto lay the trackwas
anotherproblem.Many men werestill
seryingin the Union and Confederate
armies.Becauseof the recentgoldrush,
the CentralPacifichad troublekeepingits
withthedif{icult
helped
Manyimmigrants
the
raihoad.
ofbuilding
task
workersftom takingbetterpayingjobs or
quitting to look for Soldand silver.To get
workers,Crockerbeganhiring Chinese
immigrantsin 1865.The Chinesewere
paid the sameasotherworkersbut they
providedtheir ol,"nfood and shelter.By
1867,Chineseworkersmadeup nine out
of ten workers.
Accidentsand deathswerecommon,
especiallyfor the CentralPacificworke$
The most dangerouswork was often
givento Chineseor lrish immigrants.To
blastroadbedsthroughthe Siera
Nevadas,for example,theyuseda
merhodderelopedin China.Bylowering
downthe mounrainsin bacthemselves
kets,worlerswereableto drill holesin
the hard graniterock.Then,theyfilled
the holeswith gunpowderThousandsof
workersdied doingthis.
Workerson the Union Pacific
At first, the Union Pacifichired fbrmer
Civil War soldiersand ftee African Amencansto work on the railroad,Later,
GrenvilleDodgehiredmosdyldsh
and Germanimmigrants.TheYwerc
paid lowwages,evenfor the timesabout$2.50to $4 a daY.However,
Dodgeprovidedfood and housing.
The songon the nextPagewas
sungby Union Pacificworkers.Some
sayit was adaptedftom an lrish
hFnn, and othersftom African
Americanswho lived in Louisiana
""$
Whydid bothrailroad
preferusing
companies
immigrantlabor?
X've
ffieen
I'rc
]'ve
bectrroLk-ine on rlic
b,eenirofk'lng on d\e
iail
rail
road, Jtrst to
GC
Rise u|
vou heaf ihe irhis-dc
G
D.n't
lou hear thc clf'
nl
$eft - ly nr
D?
TO WIN
COMPETING
Amendments were added to the Pacific
Ra i l r o a dAc r r o sp e e du p th e b u i l d i n goI
the railroad. They olfered more money
and land for every mile of completed
track. The Union Pacific quickly took the
le a d .D o d g e scre n h a d th e a d ra n ra g eol
laying track on the flat land of the Grcat
Plains.Crocke/s men, on the other hand,
had to crossover or blast through mountains. His workels began transpoding
supplies over the mountains before the
crew.Then they would not have to wait
for the supply train to come to them as
they laid new track.
spikesbeinghammeredinto the tacks
by Chineseworkers.
At the finish, CentralPacific'sLeland
Stanfordheld a railroadspikemadeof
puregold.\{hen the goldenspikewas
was
hammeredin, a simplemessage
telegraphedacrossthe country:"Done'
Cannonsroared,bellsrang,and fireworksexplodedto celebratethe completion of the tmnscontinentalraihoad.
w
Whichrailroadleaderwon
the s10,000bet?
The Last Day
l h e r a c eb etw e e nl h e t\^oco mp a n ie\
heated up as the railroad neared completion. CharlesCrocker learned that the
Union Pacifichad finished six miles of
track in one day. He made a $10,000bet
with Thomas Durant, head ofthe Union
Pacific,that the Central Pacific could lay
ten miles oftrack in a day.
O n Ap r i l 2 8 . 1 8 6 9o. n l ) l 6 mi l e sse pamted the two companies.In 12 hours the
crew of the Central Pacificfinished ten
milesplus a lew feeLmore.Crowdsgathered to watch the workers.This leat set an
all-time record for many years to come.
The Ten-Mile Day came to s!'rnbolizethe
hard work ofthe thousands of men who
worked on the railroad.
The Golden Spike
For sixyears, rcilroad workers had
worked constantly,laying more than
1,700miles oftrack. On May 10, 1869,the
two railroads met at Promontory Point,
Utah. On this day, a crowd of railrqad
workers, reporters, and soldiers gathered
at Promontory Point to watch the last
478
shownon the
l. ldentifythe railroad5
m ap.
2. Whichcitieswereconnectedto the
railroad?
transcontinental
I
I
I
(left)was
Thegolden
spike
(ompletion
used
atthe
ofthe
trans(ontinenlal
raihoad.
The
(ontinue
spike
reads,
"MayGod
theunityofourCountry
asthe
great
Railroad
united
two
o(eans
oftheworld."
PUTTING
IT TOGETHER
Serviceon the transcontinentalmilroadbeganimmediately.It costfirst-class
passengers
$100to travelbetween
Omahaand Sacmmento.
Passengers
dding coachpaid $75.The tdp wasnoisy
and uncomfortableand the food wasbad.
l. Writea sentence
for eachofthefollowing
vocabulary
terms.
PacificRailroadAd
transcontinentalrailroad
2. Whatwasthe Ten-MileDay?
3. Howdid the transcontinental
railroadaffect
the settlingof the West?
4. Whatweresomeofthe reasons
the United
passed
StatesCongress
the PacificRailroad
Act?
5. Predi<ttheeffectsthat the transcontinentali
railroadwould haveon the waysof lifeofthe ;
NativeAmericans.
Evenso,manypeoplethoughtofit asa
miracle.Thinkingofthe earlyEuropean
explorers,onewriter said,"Havingnever
found a NorthwestPassage,
Amedcans
had fashionedone instead."Soonpeople
and products were taveling ftom New
Yorkto SanFranciscoin abouta week.
Usethemapon page478andthe
Atlasmapon pagesR'18-R19to
identify
railthelandfolms
thetranscontinental
roadhadto cross.Then
organizea debate
on thetopic"which
landform
caused
the
mostdifficulty?"
(u
*' Writea journalentrydescribing
a
typicalworkdaythatyouwouldhavehad
asa rallroad
workerfor oneofthetwo
companies
thatbuiltthetranscontinental
railroad.What
newsightsdidyousee?
Howdidyoufeel?
479