U.S. History IIThe West and the Gilded Age (1865 to 1898)D2.His.2.9-12
The Transcontinental Railroad
The first transcontinental railroad was finished at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, built largely by Chinese workers from the west and Irish and other workers from the east, and backed by federal land grants and loans.
When the Civil War and Reconstruction ended, the country turned west. The tool that opened the West fastest was the railroad. Before 1869, going from the East Coast to California took months by wagon or by ship. After 1869 it took about a week.
The two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. The Central Pacific built east from Sacramento; the Union Pacific built west from the Missouri River at Omaha.
🔑 Key idea
The first transcontinental railroad was finished at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869. Congress paid for much of it with land grants and government bonds (loans) in the Pacific Railway Act of 1862.
💡 Why it works
A railroad across 1,900 miles of plains, deserts and mountains cost far more than private investors would risk on empty land. During the war, Congress and President Lincoln wanted the West tied to the Union. So the Pacific Railway Act gave the two companies alternate square-mile sections of public land beside the track (a checkerboard they could sell to settlers) and loaned them government bonds for each mile built, more per mile in the mountains. Later railroads across the North and South got land grants too.
The work was hard and dangerous. The Central Pacific hired thousands of Chinese workers, who by the peak made up most of its crews; they blasted tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada. The Union Pacific relied heavily on Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans. Chinese workers were paid less than white workers and were left out of the famous photographs of the final spike.
Railroads changed even the clocks: in 1883 the railroads set up the four time zones.
Work it through
✏️ Worked example: Cause and effect
A farmer in Kansas in 1880 can now sell wheat in Chicago and New York. Which change made that possible, and what did it lead to?
The railroad carried heavy goods cheaply and quickly between the Plains and the cities.
Farmers could grow crops for distant markets, so more settlers came to the Plains.
More settlers and the railroads also brought hunters and soldiers onto Native lands, the subject of the next topic.
Answer: The railroad linked the Plains to national markets, which drew settlers and pushed Native nations off their lands.
⚠️ Common mistake
Many people think private companies built the railroads on their own. They did the building, but Congress gave the Union Pacific and Central Pacific millions of acres of land and tens of millions of dollars in government bonds. The Crédit Mobilier scandal (exposed in 1872) showed how some Union Pacific insiders overcharged for construction and gave shares to members of Congress. Quick check: ask who paid. Both the companies and the public did.
The railroad also brought problems you will meet in this unit: the destruction of the bison, the conflicts on the Plains, the power of big railroad companies over farmers, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Practice
Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 2 XP.