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Noah Maximov

Laurel Klein

Education 2020

24 August 2009

Building the Trans-Continental Railroad: A Writing Sample

Today, trains are taken for granted. We are so used to being able to go to a store and buy

things from other places that we forget how they usually got there: by train. Looking back at the

challenges we faced, though, it's amazing that the Transcontinental Railroad, a system of

railways that connected both coasts of the United States, was ever built at all. Back in the

1850's, entrepreneurs had been lobbying the government to build a transcontinental railroad for

decades, but every time a piece of legislation was placed before Congress it was voted down,

usually by the Southern States which didn't want their slave labor to leave for greater freedom

and greener pastures ("Historic Construction" 1). However, with the South's defeat in the Civil

War and the discovery of gold in California there was a new push to build a national railroad

system. In 1863, the first tracks of the Transcontinental Railroad were laid down. The Central

Pacific Railroad was commissioned to start building in Sacramento, California, going east, while

the Union Pacific broke ground near Omaha, Nebraska, going west ("Historic Construction" 1) .

It could be argued that the Central Pacific Railroad was charged with the harder task. In

1863 there wasn't a way to get construction supplies to the West Coast by land, so any materials

the Central Pacific needed had to be shipped from the East Coast, around the southern tip of

South America, dropped off in San Francisco, and then ferried up to Sacramento and the

mountains beyond. There was also the problem of terrain. Anyone who has visited the area east

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of Sacramento knows that it's a long climb up the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The normal

difficulties of hauling tons of metal and laying down miles of track were magnified by steep

cliffs, the cold and snow of winter, and dangerous working conditions. To make matters worse,

a huge labor shortage occurred in 1865. In order to fill the ranks, the railroad company was

forced to hire Chinese immigrants, even to the point where they were recruiting from China itself

("Historic Construction" 1). Without the back-breaking work of these immigrants, it's probable

that the Central Pacific Railroad never would have gotten over the mountain ranges of Eastern

California.

In contrast to its western brother, the progress of the Union Pacific Railroad was faster

and faced fewer obstacles. The land was generally flat and open and resources could be obtained

rather quickly from a transportation system that already existed. Nevertheless, Union Pacific ran

into its own unique set of problems, most notably the need to push through the land of Native

Americans. Native American tribes continuously hampered the progress of the construction,

either by harassing the crews or sabotaging their work. In 1867, for example, a party of

Cheyenne warriors damaged the tracks and caused the train to crash ("Historic Construction" 1).

In response, the Union Pacific slowed its progress in order for the government to build forts that

could protect the railroad line.

On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point Utah, representatives from both railroad

companies "drove in a golden spike to link the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific tracks"

(Boyer, et. al. 374). The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad had significant effects on

the US economy. The earlier Homestead Act of 1862 allowed settlers wishing to move west to

obtain 160 acres of land in exchange for $10, a five-year commitment, and the promise to

cultivate it and improve it (Boyer, et. al. 376). Now that it was easier and faster to travel west,

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droves of homesteaders began farming the frontier, creating an agricultural region that produced

enough food for a rapidly expanding population and today is known as the "breadbasket of the

world". In addition to food, the railroad was able to take the wealth (e.g. gold and silver) and

resources (e.g. ore and wood) found in the West and use it to feed the industry of the East. The

resulting increase in production, combined with expanded trade into markets within the United

States and to other parts of the world, brought unprecedented wealth to this country, fostered the

industrialization of the West Coast, and turned the United States into the superpower that it is

today. Perhaps the effects of the Transcontinental Railroad were best summed up by the

observations of one Grenville Dodge in his Final Report to United States Government, February

1st, 1869:

Its future is fraught with great good. It will develop a waste, will bind

together the two extremes of the nations as one, will stimulate intercourse

and trade and bring harmony, prosperity, and wealth to the two coasts. A

proper policy, systematically and persistently followed, will bring to the

road the trade of the two oceans, and will give it all the business it can

accommodate, while the local trade will increase gradually until the mining,

grazing, and agricultural regions through which it passes will build up and

create a business that will be a lasting and permanent support to the country.

(Lorence, 40)

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Works Cited

Boyer, Paul S. et al. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. New York:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

"Historic Construction Projects." Bob Moore Construction, Inc. 21 Aug. 2009

<http://www.generalcontractor.com/resources/articles>.

Lorence, James J. Enduring Voices. Toronto: D.C. Heath and Company, 1996.