Transcontinental Railroad Essay Outline

As the need for human transportation and various forms of cargo began to rise in the United States of America, a group of railroads with terminal connections along the way began to develop the land mass of this country, ending with the result of one of the most influential inventions in American history, allowing trade to flow smoothly from location to location, and a fast form of transportation, named the Transcontinental Railroad. America at this time consisted of overland travel and ocean travel. The journey all the way across the continent by land was risky and tough. It consisted of passing over mountains, plains, rivers, and deserts. It also was a very lengthy process. In ocean travel, each ship would have to travel from continent to

After a large number of controversies between the North and the South, delays in the plans occurred. Congress began working toward ideas in which the railroad could be created in such a sectional period. On the day of July 1st, 1861, Congress added legislation for the project, allowing the transcontinental railroad to be brought to life under a set law. It stated that the railroad would have to be built by two separate companies, with a government loan for each mile, for thirty years. In the year 1863, the Union Pacific railroad began construction in Omaha, Nebraska. Soon after, the Central Pacific Railroad was built. It started in Sacramento, California, and was planned to meet with another section in Promontory Summit, Utah. After the idea of the railroad spread, three new transcontinental lines were finished. One, The Northern Pacific Railroad laid from Lake Superior to Oregon. Number 2, The Santa Fe went from Atchison, Kansas to Los Angeles, and number 3, the Southern Pacific brought Los Angeles and New Orleans together. Each of the three new railroads received no money for the operation, although they received very much land to spread the railroad. Due to a large number of lands given to small loans, substandard railroad sections were sometimes built, resulting in repairs over

The Native Americans fit into this category. As the white population was migrating, they ended up pushing their tribes out of their land, the construction of the transcontinental railroad seemed to have an immense impact on the Native Americans. In 1890, a large body of land, known to the native settlers as the Powder River Valley, which was an area of hunting for these Native Americans for generations, was taken over by settlers. As the railroad was able to spread an abundance of people to a wide variety of areas, sports hunters made their way toward Native American lands. The Buffalo in which the native populations had depended on for years were suddenly diminishing. Millions of Buffalo were killed, resulting in Buffalo hides being sent throughout the railroad in a form of trade. Mining also began on the fertile soil owned by Native Americans, resulting in a massive depletion of land. As this benefited the people that had migrated throughout the United States, it harmed the Native American