Effects Of Westward Expansion From 1860 To 1890

Introduction
This “think piece” will be covering the Westward Expansion from 1860 to 1890. During that time a lot of changes occurred to the American land. One of the major impacts, that was noticed, was the increase in railroads and cities. Without these railroads, traveling time to the west could to up to 6 months and the small cities were growing because of the railroads that were being created and were being called “Railroad Towns”.

Transcontinental Railroad Before the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad, travel to the west could take up to 6 month and that meant going through rivers, over mountains and possibly getting lost and dying of starvation. In the 1830s the first trains began to run along the East Cost and the idea of

Judah began seeking investors and was able to convince Sacramento businessman, that a railroad would bring much needed trade to the area. These Business men paid Judah to survey the route; he used maps from his survey to present the idea to congress in 1861.Many members of congress were leery with this expensive decision. But, President Abraham Lincoln agreed with Judah and on July 1st 1862 The Pacific Railway Act was signed authorizing land grants and government bonds, which amounted to $32,000 per mile of

(2004). The railroads were assured land on which to lay the tracks and sell the land, the proceeds of which helped companies finance the construction of their railroads. Smaller railroads had to purchase the land first in order to lay there track because they were not government funded. The contract of this project lay to two companies, Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad. Now with money on the line the two companies began competing for the $32,000 subsidy from the government. No end point was set for the two rail lines when President Lincoln signed the act, so a decision was going to be made. The two companies were closing in one another in Utah, with Central Pacific starting from New York City and Union Pacific from Omaha, Nebraska. With numerous Civil War veterans now out of work, hiring for the Union Pacific Railroad was very easy. The Central Pacific Railroad had almost 80 percent Chinese workers within three years and some believed to be working harder and faster than the works in the Union Pacific railroad. Mostly due to the fact, that the works of the Central Pacific slept in the tunnels to save precious time traveling in and out every