Imagine you lived in New York 150 years ago. You want to move from there to California for the gold rush. Would you travel by boat south or take a wagon? People wanted to make a faster way to go across the country. That is why people made the idea for a Transcontinental Railroad and formed two companies for it. It changed how people got from East to West forever.
Idea for a Transcontinental Railroad
To get to California the fastest, people took trains to Chicago and then to Omaha, Nebraska. From there they took wagons across the Rockies, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevadas. A man named Theodore Judah thought of the idea for a railroad that would travel from Sacramento to Omaha. He spent a lot of time in the mountains looking for a route through, and was successful after many years. He hired four businessmen who went to California in the Gold Rush. The men went there and became rich in the gold rush by selling supplies to the miners. They were called the Big Four. They wanted to do business with mines in Nevada because the mines had gold, and Judah said the railroad would make that possible. They were Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington, and Charles Crocker, and they sent Judah to ask for the money. He was successful and the government set up two companies to make it a reality.
Union Pacific Railroad Company
One of them was the Union Pacific. They would work there way West from Omaha. The first problem was that they had to wait until the American Civil War was over. They had to cross the plains and Native American territory. It was easy going at first but they had some problems. They had to have supplies brought from far away because the wood for ties on the plains was soft and water was hard to come by. To solve this, they made trains with cars for sleeping, blacksmiths, food, and anything else that might be needed while building the railroad. These were called work trains. Also, they were attacked by Native Americans. One troop of Natives led by chief Pawnee Killer overturned and burned two trains. They also almost overturned another. They were the biggest problem for the workers. They railroad workers went about 4-8 miles every day. The Union Pacific traveled farther but got to Promontory later.
Central Pacific Railroad Company
The other company was the Central Pacific. They worked East from Sacramento. They went fast at the beginning but soon came to the mountains and had troubles. They lost most of their workers in mines. The leader suggested hiring Chinese, but another leader turned him down. Finally they agreed to try a few and they worked so well that soon most workers were Chinese. They had troubles with snow covering tracks for up to 10 ft. and ended up investing in snow sheds.
Snow sheds were used in the mountains. They were a costly investment but made it so the workers could lay track instead of shovel snow.
They had to blast through mountains, and the Chinese were able to make it go a lot faster. They were loaded into baskets and held by the mountainside to but explosives in. Even with that, they only went 1-2 ft. every day. After three years they cut out of the mountains. After that they went up to 10 miles every day. They arrived at Promontory first but went less.
Celebration and Riding the Railroad
They railroads met on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah. Thomas “Doc” Durant, leader of the Union Pacific, drove in a silver spike. Leland Stanford, leader of the Central Pacific, drove in a golden spike. They were made out of silver and gold for the celebration only and were taken out afterward.
Promontory Point, Utah was the
meeting place of the railroads.
Leland Stanford and Doc Durant
drove the spikes in to finish the
railroad and then skooh hands.
Train service began in a week after the celebration. People could travel from coast to coast in a week and spend only $100. It used to take months and cost up to $1,000. The native chiefs could ride in passenger cars and other natives could ride in freight or flat cars. Immigrants could only ride in zulu cars, with wooden benches and maybe one stove. They had to either bring food or get it at restaurants once they stopped the train. First class costs were about $136. They rode in cars called pullmans, and they had beds that could be lifted during the day. Many had instruments like organs and dining rooms with great food and crystal chandeliers. Many african americans worked as the room attendants and baggage carriers. They were called pullman porters.
Conclusion
Clearly it took a lot of work to make the Transcontinental Railroad. It was a great idea that required two companies to work very hard. Even with that it was a cheap and fast way to get from coast to coast. Things would likely be different had people not created it. It was the third choice after taking a wagon or a boat in the question I asked before.
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