Transcript The First Transcontinental Railroad

The First
Transcontinental Railroad
contents:
•
•
•
•
background
route
history
aftermath
background
• The construction and operation of the line was
authorized by the Pacific Railroad Acts
(Signed by the President Abraham Lincoln on
July 1,1862) of 1862 and 1864 during the
American Civil War.
• The railroad was motivated in part to bind the
eastern and western states of the United
States together. The Central Pacific Railroad
and Union Pacific Railroad.
Route
• Union Pacific Railroad Company: westward
across the Great Plains from Omaha(奥马哈),
Nebraska(内布拉斯加州).
• Central Pacific Railroad Company:eastward
across mountain passes in the sierras from
Sacramento(萨克拉门托),California.
Route
History
Fund resource:
Union Pacific Railroad was created by a federal
charter with a capitalization of $100 million.
Central Pacific Railroad was incorportated by Mark
Hopkins,Leland Standford, Collis Potter Huntington,
Charles Crocker.(Known as ‘Big Four’)
Beginning time
• The Central Pacific started work in 1863.
• Due to competition with the War for
workers, rails, ties, railroad engines and
supplies, the Union Pacific Railroad did
not start construction until July 1865.
Laborers
• The Central Pacific's
grade was
constructed primarily
by many thousands of
emigrant workers from
China.
• The majority of the Union Pacific track
was built by Irish laborers, and veterans
of both the Union and Confederate
armies.
Construction
Central Pacific
The Central Pacific made great progress along the
Sacramento(萨克拉门托) Valley. However construction was
slowed, first by the foothills of the Sierra Nevada(内华达),
then by the mountains themselves and most importantly by
winter snowstorms.
Union Pacific
The progress started in Omaha, Nebraska, by the Union
Pacific Railroad proceeded very quickly because of the
open terrain of the Great Plains. This changed, however,
as the work entered Indian-held lands.
The Last Spike
• Six years after the groundbreaking, the
Central Pacific Railroad from the west
and the Union Pacific Railroad from
the east met at Promontory
Summit(大盐湖正北方的突顶山), Utah.
It was here on May 10, 1869 that
Stanford and Thomas C.Durant drove
the The Last Spike (or golden
spike)that joined the rails of the
transcontinental railroad.
• In November 1869 the Central Pacific
finally connected Sacramento to San
Francisco Bay at Oakland, California.
Aftermath
• The feat is depicted in various movies,
including the 1939 film Union Pacific.
Thank you!