A Brief Introduction of Transcontinental Railroad

Definition Transcontinental Railroads Chinese Labor

A Transcontinental Railroad is a rairoad that crosses a continent from "coast-to-coast". Terminals are at or connected to different oceans. In the United States, the term Transcontinental Railroad usually refers to a line over the Rocky Mountains (and on several routes also the Sierra Nevada Mountains) between the Midwest and Pacific Ocean. Some of the eastern trunk lines are covered in railroads connecting New York City and Chicago. Definition

Transcontinental railroad, in U.S. history, rail connection with the Pacific coast. In 1845, Asa Whitney presented to Congress a plan for the federal government to subsidize the building of a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. The settlement of the Oregon boundary in 1846, the acquisition of western territories from Mexico in 1848, and the discovery of gold in California (1849) increased support for the project; in 1853, Congress appropriated funds to survey various proposed routes. Rivalry over the route was intense, In 1863 the Union Pacific RR began construction from Omaha, Nebr., while the Central Pacific broke ground at Sacramento, Calif. The two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah, and on May 10, 1869, a golden spike( 铁路上的道钉） joined the two railways, thus completing the first transcontinental railroad. Others followed. Three additional lines were finished in 1883: the Northern Pacific RR stretched from Lake Superior to Portland, Oreg.; the Santa Fe extended from Atchison, Kans., to Los Angeles; and the Southern Pacific connected Los Angeles with New Orleans. A fifth line, the Great Northern, was completed in The transcontinental railroads immeasurably aided the settling of the west and hastened the closing of the frontier. They also brought rapid economic growth as mining, farming, and cattle-raising developed along the main lines and their branches. The transcontinental railroads

The ceremony for the driving of the "Last Spike" signifying the joining of the tracked CPRR and UPRR grades at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

Chinese Labor The first Chinese were hired in 1865 at approximately ＄ 28 per month to do the very difficult and dangerous work. By the summer of 1868, 4,000 workers, built the transcontinental railroad over the Sierras and into the interior plains.