The Transcontinental Railroad-1869 A Symbol for America.

The Transcontinental The Transcontinental Railroad-1869Railroad-1869

A Symbol for AmericaA Symbol for America

Brainstorm- What important roles can you envision for

railroads in the future of the United States?

Antebellum Railroads

1. no organization

2. no set gauge

3. various profit-seeking owners

4. favored Northeast businesses with “connections”

5. Lincoln in favor of Transcontinental Railroad-“bind up the nations wounds”

What was needed What was needed to complete the to complete the

greatest greatest engineering feat of engineering feat of

its time?its time?

1. LandPacific Railway Act of 1862

A. Created 32nd Parallel as the rough route for railroad

B. Designated Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad companies to build RR.

C. 170 million acres worth $1,000,000,000 (1 billion

dollars) granted

D. Each company received 10 sq. miles of public land per mile of track in states (20 sq. miles/

mile of track in territories)

2. Loans to build

A.Union Pacific-

1 mile=$16,000 on flat prairie or $48,000 on mountainous terrain

B. Credit Mobilier Scandal--Stockholders created

construction company-Credit Mobilier

-overcharged government-$73 million for $50 million work

-donated shares of stock to reps. in Congress

-VP Colfax and prominent congressmen (Rep. James Garfield)

caught-No removals but hurt

Republican Party

3. Large, cheap, efficient labor force

A.CP-over 10,000 Chinese-100s lost their lives-Sierra Nevada-TNT and Nitroglycerine- C3H5N3O9

B.UP- over 8,000 Irish, German, and Civil War Vets

C.Illness, death, and “Hells on Wheels”

May 10, 1869 in Ogden, Utah; the

rails meet

*Stanford misses the golden spike*

Results of the Union: The

“Multiplier Effect”Speeding the pace of growth in many segments of the economy

A. Increase in track mileageA. Increase in track mileage

UP-1,086 miles of track

CP-698 miles of track

1870-1880-amount of track in U.S. doubled

1880-1890-almost doubled again

By 1900- 193,000 miles of track

B. A new concept of time1.Time of day = local matter-(12

minutes different from New York to Boston)- “High Noon”

2. Zones instituted by RR on November 18,1883

3. Became law in March 1918-Standard Time Act

C. Hastened the collapse of Native American life in the West

*took land used by Native Americans for millennia

*nearly extinguished the native buffalo herd (reduced to a few thousand)

*government troops used to kill and track down Native America war parties

*Native American culture a victim of “progress” and “manifest destiny”

“The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” General

Sheridan, former Civil War general

Two cultures collide