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Union Pacific Railroad Essay

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The construction of railroads played a huge role in the development of Colorado. In the mid-1800s, the Union Pacific Railroad was set to be the first transcontinental railway. The Colorado Central and the Denver Pacific were in competition with one another to be the first to connect to the Union Pacific. As the tracks were laid, and the rail companies clashed, the number of white settlers in the region was growing exponentially. Increasing permanent villages triggered conflict between native tribes and settlers. The Native Americans would be drove from the land one way or another, but the installment of the railroads only hastened the inevitable. In the early years of Colorado’s development, early locals gave little thought to a railroad passing …show more content…

So, despite the UP’s decision, they decided to develop their own railroad companies. Out of Golden came the Colorado Central; out of Denver- the Denver Pacific. Each of these railways had every intention to be the first to reach and connect with the Union Pacific. Golden wanted to ensure their position over Denver. They wanted to be at the center of the mining traffic, hoping this would earn them the capital position. Denver knew they needed a railroad, as well. At the time, the Kansas Pacific was a line being built from Kansas to Denver, but the businessmen of Denver were displeased with the slow speed that the line was being built. Thus, they began their own company to lay tracks through their city. They believed they needed to connect to the Union Pacific to ascertain the city’s economic growth. Growth was exactly what these two lines were creating. The largest barrier for both companies was the lack of funding. The Denver Pacific joined forces with the Kansas Pacific, in doing so, acquiring a portion of its land grant. This allowed the DP to complete the line by June of 1870. In September of that same year, the Union Pacific helped the Colorado Central to create a line between Golden and Denver. Both cities now had a connection to the transcontinental …show more content…

They believed the land was theirs to use as they saw fit. The Union Pacific's progress through the upper plains put construction workers in the path of the Plains Indians. Under the command of General Grenville Dodge, the U.S. army battled warriors from many Indian tribes, including the Sioux, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne in areas of Wyoming, Nebraska, as well as Colorado. The Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, in which U.S. Army forces raided and killed 150 Cheyenne Indian villagers, and the Cheyenne retribution at Julesburg, Colorado, a few weeks later were commonplace along the route of the railroad. (Cultural Impact of Building the Transcontnental Railroad

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Mike Flanagan stated in The Old West Day by Day that in 1868, Western Native Americans attacked groups of railway workers in opposition of the growth of railroads, and after forty homestead attacks, ninety-nine white settlers were killed. This occurred one year before the Union Pacific railway was completed, and the progress on the groundbreaking route was far along by 1868. Many involved in the building of the railroad were foreign immigrants who came to America to find new opportunities. The railroad workers were often impoverished and did not intend to encroach on the Native Americans’ hunting grounds, but the Native Americans attacked them anyways. A large sum of homesteaders were similar in circumstance to the railroad workers, and came to the Great Plains in search of a better life.

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The rail road and fossil fuels are the keys to Palmer’s vision for an industrialized Colorado. The increasing demand for energy from the populous tinkled up to business like Colorado Fuel and Iron Company to minimized cost. However, the side effects of bring the rail road and coal mining to the beautiful Colorado included destroying the landscape and polluting the living condition to citizens of Colorado. The growing cost of labor paved away to immigrant labor to enter into the coal mining industry instead of the experienced and more expensive colliers.

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From 1865 to 1900 agriculture was at war, shifting from small, individual farms to larger commercialized farms because of the devaluing of currency, competition from corporate farms with more land and better technology, and government policies that proved detrimental to those clinging to old ways of life. To escape debt and seek profit in new lands, many farmers started working westward but so did corporations looking to expand. Because of westward expansion, companies like the union pacific railroad company built railroads that connected lands all across the U.S. and earned 10 miles of land in either direction of the railroad. This land put the railroad in control of many western lands and in control of the prices of land, travel and resource transportation.

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Even though the railroad existed before the great division between the north and the south and it mainly contributed in providing goods for both sides, the invention of the railroad greatly contributed to the civil war. The first railroad created in the US was in 1827 and their major role was to transport goods from the North to the South and back. As slaves became more abundant in the South and less present in the North a war began on the idea of slavery. The railroad caused this Civil War by bringing goods to only one side and keeping their advantage. It went from having different point of views to all out battles that started with starvation and isolation, but led to death and separation.

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Railroads is also the key to Seattle's success. For instance, they helped to link Seattle to the coal mines East and South of Lake Washington and to farms in Eastern Washington. Moreover, during the 1890s and 1900s, when gold was found around Yukon and Alaska, railroads would ensure that Seattle became the metropolis for those hinterlands, although its connections to the North were made by sea rather than by

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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 American West changed greatly during 1860-1900. Some changes were great while others were not. The changes had a great impact on the way people lived and traveled. Their lives changed greatly during that time. Between 1860-1900 the history of the American West was heavily influenced by the actions of the national government.

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The railroad is only bringing more and more settlers to our old land while we are stuck in the reservations. The railroad builders have abused our old land. They have killed so much of our food, the buffalo, to make way for the railroad and are only using a few of the parts of the buffalo. When they were building the railroad, a few brave Natives fought against

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The lives of the Plains Indians were affected by many technological developments and the government actions during the period 1850-1900. Technological developments came into The Plains Indians life and drove them back. When the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869 which united the east and the west it made it easier to trade, communicate, and white settlers could ride the railroad in any part of the country. The transcontinental railroad finished this made it worse for the Plains Indians because they no longer needed the wagon training was over. Having the railroad finished it changed the land and most areas were destroyed.

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Territories including Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota. Agricultural land continued to grow across the American frontier and the Pacific. By the 1890’s, the US railroad system had gown, with railroad tracks crossing every state and territory in North America. The largest network growth being throughout the Frontier and the Pacific regions of North America. Americas population continued to grow, and with more settlers traveling west, Denver became a major city in the 1890’s.

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Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern

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With the help of the government, two train companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific,, capitalized on the rush for westward movement. Together, they created the transcontinental railroad, which connected the East coast with the West which made a month long trip only take a week, therefore making it easier for people to move west. To get people to move, many companies put up advertisements saying that there were many acres for sale at cheap prices. This is shown in Document 7 in which the Burlington & Missouri River R.R. Co. advertises Millions of Acres for sale in Iowa and Nebraska going for 6 per ct. interest and low prices.

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383 Words | 2 Pages

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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In between California and the rest of the country were the Great Plains which were not heavily populated so there was no easy way of trade and transportation to the growing western territories. A group of men called the “Big Four” which consisted of Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, decided what the country needed was a transcontinental railroad. Their company, The Central Pacific Railroad company would hire 15,000 Chinese men to work on constructing the railroad due to the fact that they would work for less than the average American. This made transportation cheaper and quicker than ever

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