Transcript The First Transcontinental Railroad

It’s finally happened! Scientists
have created a machine that will
allow people to transport to other
places instantly! Travelers simply
step into a box at their departure
site and arrive in a box at their
destination within seconds! Cities
all over the world have purchased
these machines, hoping that it will
increase travel and tourism in their
areas.
•Where would you travel if this happened?
•What would be a positive or negative
consequence from this type of technology?
The First Transcontinental
Railroad
Why Build a Transcontinental Railroad?
Growth of West Coast
West Coast gold and silver
Shorter trip to move West
Connect East with West for business
Solidify the Union
Achieve Manifest Destiny
Getting Started…
Choosing a route
Congress ordered surveys in 1853
Debates between north and south about
route
No free-state politicians would approve funds
for a railroad that would spread slavery
Northerners won when South seceded
Conquering the Sierra Nevada
Giant, rocky, snowy obstacle for the
engineers
Found a route through Donner Pass in 1860
Getting Started…(cont’d)
Gaining government support
Needed government cooperation, money, and
LAND
Government was on board, but occupied by
Civil War
Who will pay?
Big Four (Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins,
Crocker)
• Created and chaired Central Pacific Railroad
Thomas Durant
Ames Brothers
Bought most of the Union
Pacific stock
Who Made it Possible?
 Key Players
◦ Theodore Judah
◦ Grenville Dodge
Railroad experts who conducted
land surveys, worked with the
government, and found
investors for railroad
Grenville Dodge
◦ Both understood the great benefits of a
transcontinental railroad
◦ Both devoted their lives to making sure the
plan was carried out
What Made it Possible?
Pacific Railway Act
Passed July 1, 1862
Created Union Pacific to build road from the
East and meet the Central Pacific
Provided companies 5 alternating plots of land
on each side of the road for each mile along
the route
Allowed $16,000 for each mile of flat land,
$32,000 for hills, and $48,000 for mountain
terrain
Revised in 1864 to allow companies more land
and privileges
The Game Plan
 Central Pacific Railroad
◦ Begin in Sacramento, CA
◦ Broke ground January 1863
 Union Pacific Railroad
◦ Begin in Omaha, NE
◦ Broke ground in late 1863 but no tracks
laid until 1865
 Route along the 42nd Parallel
 Meeting place: Promontory Summit,
UT
Significance of the Railroad
 Biggest and best engineering project of its
time
 Made the country smaller
 Helped spur interest in Homestead Act
 Improved communication
 The beginning of the end for Native
Americans
 Led to other transcontinental railroads
and shorter branches
The Impact of the
Railroads
Before the railroads, each town kept its own
time, based on the position of the sun.
Railroad companies, however, needed more
exact time tables. They devised a system with
four time zones – eastern, central, mountain
and pacific time. Every place within the same
time zone observed the same time.
Slide #18
The Impact of the
Railroads
In 1864, George Pullman designed a railroad
sleeping car.
Slide #19
The Impact of the
Railroads
In 1869, George Westinghouse helped make
railway travel safer and faster with the
invention of a new air brake. On early trains,
each railroad car had its own brakes and brake
operator. If different cars stopped at different
times, accidents resulted. The new air brake
allowed an engineer to stop all the cars at once.
Slide #20
The Impact of the
Railroads
Railroad lines also added dining cars where
porters, conductors and waiters attended the
needs of passengers.
Slide #21
The Impact of the
Railroads
The railroads spurred economic growth. Steelworkers turned millions of tons of iron into steel
for tracks and engines. Lumberjacks supplied
wood for railroad ties. Miners dug coal to fuel
the engines. The railroads opened every corner
of the country to settlement and growth.
Slide #22