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How Did The Transcontinental Railroad Affect Westward Expansion

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In the United States today a person could board a non-stop flight in New York City and arrive in San Francisco in less than seven hours. American’s today are spoiled in many ways, especially when it comes to travel. Imagine, instead of taking a flight to San Francisco you would have to travel by horse and buggy for up to six months in order to make the same trip. From the horse and buggy, travel evolved in the 1800s to railway and trains, which severely reduced the travel time. The Transcontinental Railroad influenced the westward expansion and transformed travel and economics of the United States in the late 1800s. The transcontinental railroad became important to westward expansion for obvious reason; it made travel to the west quicker, …show more content…

Responding to the booming transport demand, American entrepreneurs developed projects for a transcontinental railroad with the first being submitted to Congress in 1845, but it would be blocked due to its cost and political conflicts (Duran). Between 1853 and 1861, there would be numerous studies and surveys conducted on the railroad from the cost, possible routes, and alternative transportation options. On July 1, 1862 the Pacific Railroad Act was passed (Duran). The act would authorize several grants that allowed for financial support for companies to complete the railway. Two railroad companies would begin work, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific. Both companies would begin constructing what would become the transcontinental railroad and on May 10, 1869 the two companies would meet in Promontory Point, Utah completing the transcontinental railroad. The project would be official with the driving of the final gold spike and the Union Pacific and Central Pacific became a single, continent-spanning rail line (Haycox). The transcontinental railroad officially became the first long-distance form of travel in the United States linking the Pacific and Atlantic

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There have been steam engine trains trailing the United States in the early 1800’s. Many of the early ones ran only a few dozen miles. When the railways ran longer distances, the cost to build and later ride them were be extremely high. However, long distances were what Minnesota needed to keep up with the competitive and growing nation around it. “Construction began on the first track in 1861 in St. Paul and was completed in 1862.”

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The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 authorized the construction of the transcontinental railroad which made it easier for settlers to travel West. Since it was more affordable and safer, it was easier for railroad companies to encourage western

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The two railways were not projected to meet at the planned location in Utah any longer. Congress acted and ordered the lines to meet at Promontory Point, near Ogden, Utah. The final railroad tie was made of laurel and was wrapped in silver. It was laid on May 1, 1869, completing the long track of railway connecting West to East (Stockwell, 2011). The transcontinental railroad was key to the industrial economy of the United States.

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The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad began in 1863 with two companies: Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads being tasked with building it from opposite

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They began the railroad in California and worked through the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the cold. The Union Pacific workers were Irish immigrants and they began that portion of the railroad in Omaha, Nebraska and worked west. Both sides of the railroad met in Utah. In between, the workers met Native American tribes which didn’t like the railroad and were forced off their land. Workers laid ten miles of railroad track each day and finally, the railroad was finished in 1869.

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(Billington,2001) There were four main trails to travel west to settlements which included the Sant Fe Trail, The Overland Trail, the Mormon Trail, Oregon Trail. These were the only way to the western territories until the transcontinental railroad. In 1862, the U.S. government issued bonds and land grants to the Union Pacific and the Cental Pacific Railroad in the first railroad acts. On July 10, 1865, the first track of the Union

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Each railroad company got one side of the country. The Union Pacific got the East side of the country, starting at Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific got the West side of the country, starting at Sacramento, California. Both companies joined tracks on May 10, 1869 in Promontory Point, Utah. During the time of the building, The Civil War

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This railroad would connect the United States from one end (east), all the way to the other (west). From 1862 to 1869, Central Pacific and Union Pacific made their way across the US, towards each other. After great risk and struggle, they finally met in Promontory, Utah, May 10, 1869. Locomotives were the most efficient way to move cargo over long land distances thus far in history. Today still, more than 33% of all freight transport happens via railway systems.

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By Americans moving away from the east then into the west a need for better technology in transportation and telegraphs. In America before the country decided to expand west there wasn't a transcontenital railroad that would connect the east to the west. This development came in 1863 after expanding west, without this it would've taken Americans months to get from east to west making it less efficient and harder to transport goods from one side of the country to another. In the text it states “ The building of the transcontinental railroad opened up the American West to more rapid development. With the completion of the track, the travel time for making the 3,000-mile journey across the United States was cut from a matter of months to under a

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The Transcontinental Railroad was the first line across the continent. The railroad line stretched from Omaha, Nebraska, all the way to Sacramento, California. This railroad allowed the United States the opportunity to expand westward, as both people and resources would be able to be shipped much faster than before. In 1862 The Pacific Railway Act was passed, which allowed the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad to construct the lines for the transcontinental railroad. On May 10, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was established at Promontory, Utah.

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This act gave the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies the task of building a transcontinental railroad between Sacramento, California and Omaha, Nebraska. This started in 1862 and would finish on May 10th, 1869, when the two railroads met at Promontory, Utah. The Union Pacific company’s workforce consisted primarily of white workers, and the terrain that the Union Pacific workforce would work through was quite safe, being mostly flatland. However, the Central Pacific would work through much more dangerous terrain, as it would go through the Sierra Nevada mountains.

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