Transcontinental Railroad is a transcontinental railway line between the east and west coasts of the United States and was opened in 1869. It was the first transcontinental railroad in the world, the Panama Railroad from 1855 excluded because it is only 76 miles long. Since 1859, there was the line from Omaha, Nebraska to the Atlantic coast. For connection to the West Coast the Central Pacific Railroad was constructed from Sacramento, California to the east and the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha to the west.
In the following years, four more transcontinental railroads were built in the United States.
Use free sample research paper on Transcontinental Railroad to learn that according to the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, the federal government commissioned two companies to build the railway line.
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The government provided land on both sides of the line. As a result, it was of the utmost importance that both build as quickly as possible to the trajectory. More railroad meant more land. The construction was in the west hampered by the high peaks of the Rocky Mountains. In addition, the staff was a concern. Many railroad workers left the construction once they had money to look for gold. This construction was delayed. Finally, when a large group of Chinese people signed up, the problem was solved. In the east, the other things that slowed construction were the original inhabitants of Nebraska and Wyoming, the Cheyenne, who attacked the construction. There was a lot of mutual struggle between the workers. Alcohol abuse, solicitation, and violence were the order of the day in the camps. By mutual shootings sometimes four out of five employees life were lost. Only after General Sherman, a hero of the American Civil War who was not afraid of tough action, come put things in order, the construction of the Union Pacific was faster. Result was less shootings among the workers and the beginning of the extermination of the Indians.
The supervisors of the project consisted largely of veterans and the majority of the railway workers of the Central Pacific were Chinese. A tenth of the workers were Irish.
When the construction of two railway lines progressed, the Congress chose a meeting place for two companies in Promontory at the Great Salt Lake, Utah. From that moment it was a matter of prestige whose line would be arriving first there. The Central Pacific eventually won by two days. Promontory Summit, where the last golden nail into the wood was nailed, is now known as Golden Spike National Historic Site. The railway was seen by many as the greatest technical achievement in the 19th century and formed an important link in trade between east and west America, but also in the development of the Wild West. The advent of the line came to an end at the stagecoach transportation.
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