Transcontinental Railroad By Lara S.

Imagine walking for hours each day. Sun up to sun down, you trudged along dusty trails, the wind blowing dirt into your eyes. You were trying to walk all the way from coast to coast. You could also be galloping on your horse all day in that uncomfortable saddle. Miles and miles, days and days, month after month, you traveled each day hoping to reach your faraway destination. It was the mid 1800’s and the United states needed an easier way

to travel. This where the Transcontinental Railroad came in. The railroad brought new hope to America, though they had trouble getting started, it was hard work to build, but it was a great victory for the U.S. when it was finally finished.

The first one to think of the Transcontinental Railroad was a man named Theodore Judah. No one believed him that this was a good idea for the U.S., or even possible. People called him “Crazy Judah” for this idea. A few years later, Judah finally got the papers signed by President Lincoln to start construction. A man named Grenville Dodge presented a great route for the train to follow. Finally, all they needed was people to build it. They hired 4 men, Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. These men were called the Big 4. They could not enough find men strong enough for the difficult labor of laying the many tracks. They finally settled on hiring immigrants because they were strong, they worked for cheap, and there were lots of immigrants to hire. Irish immigrants worked on the Union Pacific starting from the east side of the U.S. The chineses immigrants worked for the Central Pacific and started from the west side. Most of the track laid in Utah was done by the Mormons, or now known as the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

These men worked tirelessly each and every day. Some men worked as much as 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. They also face danger. For example, men working through the mountains had to pack a spot on the mountain full of gunpowder, light a fuse, and run away as fast as they could, hoping not to get blown up by the explosion. Mostly these men were Chinese immigrants who worked for the Central Pacific railroad. The longest tunnel built was 1,659 feet long. Many good men died in the process of building the Transcontinental Railroad. There were pros to building the railroad, too, though. Each company got 10 square miles of land for every mile of track they laid, and the railroad was more than 2,000 miles long! The record track laid in a day was 10 miles and 56 feet.

Every day the men worked from sun up to sun down building track. They usually made about 5 miles of track each day.


The railroad was finally completed at Promontory Point, Utah. It was May 10, 1869, a few years after the civil war ended. After 6 years, over 1,800 miles from Omaha,Nebraska to Sacramento, California the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. For the ceremony, Leland Stanford and the rest of the big 4 drove golden, silver, and iron spikes into the ground to finish the railroad. Thousands of Americans watched as they swung the hammer. 1,2,3… It should have been 1,2,3,4 because he had missed!! Filled with embarrassment, Leland Stanford handed the hammer to the next member of the big four. After all the lives that it cost, all the money, the railroad made life easier in America. They called it “The Work of a Giant”.The railroad also opened up a lot of jobs including conductors, and many jobs at the railroad towns.

May 10, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad met at Promontory Point, Utah.


6 years of work, 2,000 miles, the Transcontinental Railroad truly brought new hope to America. Now it took 7 days to get from California to Nebraska, rather than 4 months. You could ship goods across the continent in a week, rather than having to take them by foot or horse. After all the sweat, lives and money the railroad cost, it truly brought the United States together as one.