The Transcontinental Railroad

By Martin Ji

The Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad that revolutionized Utah.

It brought an easier way to transport people and supplies.

This report will tell you more about this railroad.

What was the Transcontinental Railroad?

A path of the railroad

So they could send people and supplieseast and west quicklyand efficiently.

Why did they want to build a giant rail-road?

Because of the lack of workers that could be hired due to mining, the union used mostly immigrants from different countries.

The union had around 8,000 to 10,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants working for them.

What kind of people worked for the Union Pacific?

Like the union, they used mostly immigrants.

They hired over 10,000 Chinese men.

What kind of people worked for the central pacific?

They slept on a special room on the train. The room was filled with beds that the workers slept on.

They also slept in tents near the track.

They also ate in a room on the train.

Where did the workers sleep and eat?

They didn’t have a lot of problems with food since they were near towns with many supplies.

They also didn’t have problems with building until the very end when they had to pass the mountains.

They also had to deal with Indians who disliked the railroad in their territory.

What problems did the Union Pacific have?

A long list of problems:1. Lack of supplies2. The Sierra Nevada Mountains3. The cold winters of the mountains4. Indians5. And much more

What Problems did the Central Pacific have?

Indians. They tried many things to stop the railroad.

They even uprooted tracks so the train would crash.

Who disliked the railroad?

A town that followed the railroad like a traveling circus.

The rules were:1. As long as it doesn’t bother the

building of the railroad, it’s okay.

What was “Hell on Wheels”?

A lot of violent, unsanitary people, like:

1. Gamblers2. Saloon Keepers3. Petty Merchants4. Etc.

What kind of people lived in “Hell on Wheels”?

On May 10th, 1869, on Promontory Summit, two trains faced each other.

One was Jupiter of Central Pacific. One was No. 119 of Union Pacific. On, that day, the two railroads were

united, and the railroad was finally done.

When and where did the two teams meet?

The two teams meet!

The last spike that was given by David Hewes.

It had telegraph wires connected to it so that when it was driven in, it would send a message across the U.S.

No one knows who drove in the golden spike.

What was the Golden Spike?

The Golden Spike

Yes, there were three other spikes that represented something:

1. A silver spike represented Nevada2. A second golden spike represented

San Francisco News Letter3. A spike that was mixed with many

metals represented Arizona.

Were there any other spikes?

One simple word: DONE

What did the telegraph say when the golden spike was driven in?

The spikes were removed and re-placed by normal iron spikes.

The trains Jupiter and No. 119 were scrapped for iron.

What happened after?

Because of the faster way of trans-porting ores, the interest of mining greatly increased.

Why did the interest of mining grow?

Why is this important to Utah?

Because the railroad let people and supplies in and out of Utah very quickly.

It also made many stores close down because of the cheap prices of the Train’s merchandise.

But it brought mostly good things.

Conclusion

Utah State Historical Society. “Transcontinental Railroad”. http://historytogo.Utah.gov. State Gov. Web. February 14th-23rd

Uschan, Michael V. “The Transconti-nental Railroad”: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009, Print

Bibliography