Shadowmana
02-27-2004, 07:46 PM
ME
Period 2
February 23, 2004
Transcontinental railroad
By: ME
The transcontinental railroad is a railroad that spans from the east coast to the west cost. It was part of the dream of manifest destiny that the United States was going to span from east cost to west. This dream was reawakened in the 1830's and 1840's at the beginning of the gold rush when thousand of people rushed to California. They wonted an easier way to get there and they soon realized that a transcontinental railroad would be the easiest way. A few years in to the gold rush around 1853 congress gave the OK to survey a possible rout for the transcontinental railroad to be built. In 1862 congress passed the pacific railroad act, the pacific railroad act says that it is ok to build a transcontinental railroad starting in two places. Starting from Omaha, Nebraska building west was the union pacific railroad company. Starting from Sacramento, California building east was the central pacific railroad. They received a lot of help building the transcontinental from immigrants that where coming to America at the time mostly Chinese.
Even though people dreamed of a transcontinental railroad started years before the official start of it wasn't until congress passed the pacific railroad act and approved the war department to do a survey of a possible rout to take in 1853. Later in 1862 congress approved the pacific railroad act that guaranteed that loans would be made during the building of the railroad including $16,000 in the great planes and $32,000 in the great basin and a whopping $48,000 for each mile of track laid in the great Rocky Mountains.
The central pacific railroad company was started by Theodore Judah and Doc Strong. Theodore found a path through the Sierra Mountains but they lacked the funds needed to start the railroad so they went out and got four investors Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Leland Stanford. These would later be known as "The Big Four" they each invested $15,000. But not all went as planed in the begin gin due to lack of workers and funds less than twenty miles were made because of Indian attacks and because they ran out of money. After inflation they where having trouble getting cash from the government and other investors. So they turned to the Chinese immigrants to work for them because they would work for so much less they employed over 10,000 Chinese people. But during the winter of 1866 There where many bad winter storms that killed many people. That wasn't the only thing the big 4 did they continued building railroads all along the western and southwestern United States.
The government in 1862 started the union pacific railroad. They appointed William B. Ogden to be the first president and Thomas Durant to be the vice president. but as with the central pacific railroad they had trouble raising money during the civil war after one year of raising money legally and illegally they had enough to get started. They started from Omaha, Nebraska and started to build west through the Rocky Mountains. They build about the same pace as the central pacific railroad through rougher terrain because they worked with military precision because John Casement the person put in charge of the construction of the railroad was a brigadier general of the United States army. They also encouraged workers to compete against one another to see who could work the fastest the union pacific railroad like the central pacific also use Chinese immigrants workers as well as Irish immigrants.
Period 2
February 23, 2004
Transcontinental railroad
By: ME
The transcontinental railroad is a railroad that spans from the east coast to the west cost. It was part of the dream of manifest destiny that the United States was going to span from east cost to west. This dream was reawakened in the 1830's and 1840's at the beginning of the gold rush when thousand of people rushed to California. They wonted an easier way to get there and they soon realized that a transcontinental railroad would be the easiest way. A few years in to the gold rush around 1853 congress gave the OK to survey a possible rout for the transcontinental railroad to be built. In 1862 congress passed the pacific railroad act, the pacific railroad act says that it is ok to build a transcontinental railroad starting in two places. Starting from Omaha, Nebraska building west was the union pacific railroad company. Starting from Sacramento, California building east was the central pacific railroad. They received a lot of help building the transcontinental from immigrants that where coming to America at the time mostly Chinese.
Even though people dreamed of a transcontinental railroad started years before the official start of it wasn't until congress passed the pacific railroad act and approved the war department to do a survey of a possible rout to take in 1853. Later in 1862 congress approved the pacific railroad act that guaranteed that loans would be made during the building of the railroad including $16,000 in the great planes and $32,000 in the great basin and a whopping $48,000 for each mile of track laid in the great Rocky Mountains.
The central pacific railroad company was started by Theodore Judah and Doc Strong. Theodore found a path through the Sierra Mountains but they lacked the funds needed to start the railroad so they went out and got four investors Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Leland Stanford. These would later be known as "The Big Four" they each invested $15,000. But not all went as planed in the begin gin due to lack of workers and funds less than twenty miles were made because of Indian attacks and because they ran out of money. After inflation they where having trouble getting cash from the government and other investors. So they turned to the Chinese immigrants to work for them because they would work for so much less they employed over 10,000 Chinese people. But during the winter of 1866 There where many bad winter storms that killed many people. That wasn't the only thing the big 4 did they continued building railroads all along the western and southwestern United States.
The government in 1862 started the union pacific railroad. They appointed William B. Ogden to be the first president and Thomas Durant to be the vice president. but as with the central pacific railroad they had trouble raising money during the civil war after one year of raising money legally and illegally they had enough to get started. They started from Omaha, Nebraska and started to build west through the Rocky Mountains. They build about the same pace as the central pacific railroad through rougher terrain because they worked with military precision because John Casement the person put in charge of the construction of the railroad was a brigadier general of the United States army. They also encouraged workers to compete against one another to see who could work the fastest the union pacific railroad like the central pacific also use Chinese immigrants workers as well as Irish immigrants.