The_Railroads_Interactive_Part_T

The Opening of the West

The Railroads

The Pacific Railway ActProvides land for railroads who build in the

west.

Requires reduction in rates and services for the government.

Saved the government several billion dollars by the time the rate reduction was eliminated.

Awarded the contract to the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific.

What Was At Stake?Control of the East-West trade across the

continent.

Three routes to the west and California:The land route by Wagon – 6 months of

hardship.The Panama Route – 4-6 weeks but illness

and death are a problem.The Sea Route around South America-storms

are ever present at Tierra del Feugo and time is at least 2-3 months.

What was at stake?The railroad would reduce travel time to a

week of hot, dusty, bumpy travel.

The railroad would control the movement of goods and people.

A fortune could be made in the construction of the railroad even if the railroad failed.

The Land Grant Railroads

The Central Pacific’s Big FourLeland Stanford, Charles Crocker, C.P.

Huntington, and Mark Hopkins were the primary forces behind the construction of the Central Pacific.

Without their tireless efforts the construction of the railroad would have failed.

Leland Stanford

Charles Crocker

C.P. Huntington

Mark Hopkins

The Land GrantAlternating sections of land in the amount

of 640 acres.

It was a good deal for the government.

By letting the railroads build, it made worthless land valuable and accessible.

The Money$16,000 a mile for construction over flat land.

$32,000 a mile for construction over hilly land.

$48,000 a mile for construction over mountains.

Money was a loan in the form of bonds that could be sold. The government was repaid by a reduction of rates.

The DangersIndian Attacks were common for the Union Pacific on the open

plains.

The DangersConstruction conditions were difficult and

dangerous.

Large projects had to be done by hand or with only the help of mules, horses, and crude homemade tools.

The Equipment Was DangerousLink & Pin couplers were in use.

There were no air brakes.

Brakemen had to ride on the top of the cars and set the brakes by hand.

The cars were made of wood and would catch fire or shatter if under too much strain.

Bloomer Cut

Bloomer CutBloomer Cut was 63

feet deep and 800 feet long.

The Central Pacific built this cut with hand tools and black powder.

Horse drawn carts were used to carry away the rubble.

Sailor’s Spur On The Central Pacific

Living Conditions Were ToughThe workers for both railroads lived in temporary

towns or movable trains that were their home on wheels.

The railhead for the Union Pacific was a dangerous place to live. It was frequented by professional gamblers and “Dance Hall Girls.”

Jack Casement, the Supt. of Construction, cleaned up the camps finally by “deputizing” several workers and killing the gamblers and “Shady Ladies.”

The Union Pacific mobile living quarters for the construction crews.

“Hell on Wheels” and location of the massacre

Who Built The Railroads?The Union Pacific was built by the Irish.

The U.P. recruited Irish immigrants to build its railroad.

The Central Pacific was built by Chinese.

There was a shortage of white labor in California. The Chinese were more dependable.

The C.P. literally imported Chinese to do the job.

Who Built The Railroads?The Central Pacific’s practice of importing

large numbers of Chinese “Coolies” to build their railroad is one of the reasons that California has such a large Asian population today.

A Labor Contract For A Chinese Worker On The Central Pacific

The ScandalThe Credit Mobilier was a construction

company owned by speculators who owned the Union Pacific.

They planned to make huge profits on the construction of the Union Pacific.

They used government money to award huge contracts to themselves to build the railroad.

The ScandalEven if the Union Pacific failed as an

economic enterprise, they would make a huge profit from the construction of the railroad.

The officers of the Credit Mobilier bribed members of Congress to avoid having their financial practices examined.

The RaceAs the railroads drew closer and closer, a race

developed to see who could build the most track.

At stake was control of “territory” for charging freight and passenger rates.

Also at stake was land grants and government money for each mile of track completed.

Ten Miles In A Single DayThe Union Pacific laid 8 miles of track in a

single day.

Charles Crocker of the Central Pacific bet the U.P. contractors his “Chinamen” could do ten.

Crocker won his bet.

Ten Miles In A Day

10 Miles Of Track In A Single Day

On April 28, 1869, the Central Pacific track crew laid ten miles of track in a single day. The track moved forward at a rate of one mile per hour.The Chinese workers, with 8 Irish rail layers, laid a total of 3,520 rails that day.The record challenges engineers and construction crews to this day.

The Mormons of UtahThe Mormons were farmers and many were

wealthy.

They had moved to Utah to avoid religious persecution, primarily due to their practice of polygamy.

Both railroads desired them as a source of traffic.

The Race Comes To An EndThe nation watched with great interest as

the two railroads competed with each other to lay the most track.

The Central Pacific had been at a disadvantage because of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California while the Union Pacific had an easy time crossing the plains.

The Race Comes To An EndCongress does not want to fund duplicate

construction.Names Promontory Point in Utah as the

place where “the tracks meet.”

The Golden SpikeAs the nation listened by telegraph, a

symbolic “golden spike” was hammered home to complete the railroad.

In actuality, the real gold spike was removed and a polished iron was used in its place.

The railroad officials were so drunk a construction worker had to actually drive the final spike.

It Is Done!

Promontory Point Is A National Landmark TodayThe Union Pacific no longer uses the route

through Promontory Point.

A land bridge was built across the Great Salt Lake to shorten the route.

The site is a National Park now and the Golden Spike Ceremony is recreated daily with exact replicas of the Jupiter and the 119.

The Transcontinental RailroadsFour were built between 1869 and 1883:

The Union Pacific/Central Pacific (1869)The Southern Pacific (1883)The Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe (1883)The Northern Pacific (1883)

The Denver & Rio Grande was stopped in the “Railroad War” from building a North/South transcontinental Railroad.

The Northern PacificThe Marent Gulch

Trestle was built west of Missoula, Montana, by Northern Pacific workers.

It was 226 feet high.

Photographed in 1883 by F. Jay Haynes.

The Denver & Rio GrandeBuilt as a narrow gauge railroad instead of

standard gauge.

The Pacific Railroad Act had set the gauge for the transcontinental railroad at 4’8.5”

The D&RG used track with its rails set three feet apart to save on construction costs because it was being built in the Rocky Mountains.

General William PalmerFounder of the D&RG.

Had a vision of a north/south transcontinental railroad linking Denver with Mexico City.

Was stopped from achieving this goal by the “Royal Gorge War” with another transcontinental railroad, the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe.

The Royal Gorge WarBoth railroads wanted to use the Royal

Gorge to advance their railroads.The Gorge was only wide enough for one.They literally built military emplacements

and shot at each other.The dispute was settled in court.The Rio Grande got the Gorge but had to

agree not to build to Mexico.

The reason for the war

The Royal Gorge WarThe Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe went on to

become a transcontinental railroad.

The Denver & Rio Grande built a spider web like rail system to control the mining and logging traffic in Colorado and eastern Utah.

It built the famous Silverton Branch which is still in operation today.