“The Iron Road”

1883 – American Railway Association divides U.S. into 4 time zones

Transcontinental Railroad 1862 – Pacific Railway Act Union Pacific Central Pacific 1865 – 35,000 miles of track 1900 – 200,000+ miles

Union Pacific Headed west from Omaha, NE in 1865 Blizzards, scorching heat, hostile American Indians Labor, money, & engineering problems Irish immigrants, failed miners & farmers, ex-convicts, Civil War veterans 10,000 workers Hell On Wheels

Central Pacific Headed east from Sacramento, CA “Big Four” – Leland Stanford, Charley Crocker, Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntingdon Hired 10,000 Chinese workers - $1/day All equipment shipped from eastern U.S. Had to blast tunnels through solid mountains

Central Pacific Railway

1 mile of track – 400 rails, each rail took 10 spikes CP – Laid 688 miles of track UP – 1,086 miles “The two trains pulled up facing each other, each crowded with workmen. . . . The officers and invited guests formed on each side of the track. . . . Prayer was offered; a number of spikes were driven in the two adjoining rails . . . and thus the two roads were wedded into one great trunk line from the Atlantic to the Pacific.” — How We Built the Union Pacific Railway, 1910

Promontory Summit, UT – May 10, 1869 “The Last Spike” Promontory Summit, UT – May 10, 1869

Railroad Growth First big business in U.S. Large railroad companies connected hundreds of small railroads Spent huge $ on steel, coal, timber Freight prices ↓ by half between 1860 & 1900

Railroads & Corruption Federal govt. gave land grants to railroads Railroad entrepreneurs became rich – Cornelius Vanderbilt & Jay Gould, called robber barons Investors bribed members of Congress Crédit Mobilier Scandal – 1872 Members of Congress buy shares at well below market price Letter appears in New York Sun listing Congressmen Great Northern Railroad succeeds w/o land grants or corruption

Exit Slip: How do you think the Transcontinental Railroad will transform the nation?