Preview

The Transcontinental Railroad: Blood, Sweat, Tears and an American Dream

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3111 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Transcontinental Railroad: Blood, Sweat, Tears and an American Dream
The late 19th Century was a revolutionizing period in American History evident by the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War. However, it was the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad which profoundly changed the United States. The discovery of gold, the acquisition of Mexican territories and the continued settlement of the West increased the need for a primary railway system connecting the East and the West Coasts.
The Transcontinental Continental Railroad aided the settling of the west and closed the last of the remaining frontier, bringing newfound economic growth, such as mining farming and cattle ranching to our burgeoning country. On May 10, 1869, near Promontory Summit, Utah, a boisterous crowd gathered to witness the completion of one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th Century: the first Transcontinental Railroad. The breathtaking moment as the Golden Spike was driven in marked the culmination of six years of grueling work by ingenious entrepreneurs whose unscrupulous financing got the line laid, brilliant engineers who charted the railroad's course and hurdled the geological obstacles in its way, armies of workers who labored relentlessly on the enterprise and the lives of countless Native Americans which were destroyed in its wake. The First Transcontinental Railroad served as a vital link for trade, commerce and travel that joined the eastern and western halves of late 19th century America. The latter half of the 19th century was a time of expansion in America. The discovery of gold near Sutter's mill in California in 1848 resulted in a huge influx of people lured by the promise of "free gold" into California. During 1849, 55,000 people traveled along overland routes and another 25,000 voyaged the sea to California (Howard 65). With large numbers of people heading west, the deficiency of travel and trade across America shifted the focus of Congress. A transcontinental railroad was proposed. The railroad was considered the key to



Cited: Cooke, Alistair. Alistair Cooke 's America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. Gordon, Sarah H. Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life, 1829-1929. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Inc., 1996. Horn, Huston. The Old West The Pioneers. New York: Time-Life Books, 1974. Howard, Robert West. The Great Iron Trail -- The Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Bonanza Books, 1962. Klein, Maury. Union Pacific-The Birth of a Railroad: 1862-1893. New York: Doubleday, 1887. Merk, Frederick. History of the Westward Movement. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. Zwonitzer, Mark. Native Americans. American Experience: The Transcontinental Railroad. PBS Online. 15 July 2006. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tcrr/sfeature/sf_interview.html>

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America looks at the way that railroad owners found a way to turn that business into a big business and earn millions upon millions for themselves. A majority of the book shows how the railroad owners received lots of money for the corruption and other behind the scenes deals that went on. The railroad for how corrupt it was, unfortunately shaped the way America was built and became the superior power that it is in the present day.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gullman Strike DBQ

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The period from 1870 to 1900 was without a doubt one of the most important and influential chapters of American History characterized mostly by rapid industrial development. As large corporations grew during the late 19th century one grew faster and larger than the rest; railroads. The expansion of the American frontier required a means to better transport crops from isolated agrarian communities to larger cities and towns, as well as settle the western plains and the solution lay in railroads;…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Apush Chapter 17 Terms

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Transcontinental Railroad- the railroad business symbolized and advanced the new industrial order. Private companies took on huge and expensive job of construction, but the federal government funded the project, providing the largest subsidy in American history.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Railroads first began to appear in the 1830s and used largely as feed lines to the canals.1 Baltimore city was the site of the first railroad in the united sates and was know Baltimore and Ohio railroad.3 Since the city did not invest in canals they began to look at other ways to be more competitive with cities such as New York and the Erie Canal when it came to transporting people and goods.3 This sparked the idea of a railroad, which was a way of transportation used in Great Britain and soon enough all of America could not see their future without railroad transportation.3 The formation, construction and operation or railroads brought profound social, economic and political change to the United States at the time.3 Although the cost of a railway ticket were much higher then steamboats they were twice as fast and offered more direct route for people to go exactly were they…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever wondered how the Chinese’s life was like during the construction of the transcontinental railroad? Chinese in the 1800's faced many challenges in the process of building the transcontinental railroad. The Chinese faced discrimination, dangerous working areas, and long hours of work with little wage.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Lincoln approved a request to build the idea of a railroad. A machine that could transport people from one side of the country to the other. A journey that used to take six months would now take six days. Between 1860 and 1900 railroads opened many doors in American civilization, and also helped to settled the West. Railroads provide Americans new economic opportunities, by having people…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    • Railroads • Transcontinental Railroad • Manifest Destiny 4. Describe…

    • 1976 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hardship, accomplishment, and death are 3 words often used to elucidate the First Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad of 1869, or the first Transcontinental Railroad, was a 6-year long project starting in Sacramento California and ending in Iowa. The railroad soon turned into a race for money between the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad. While the factual account of the Transcontinental Railroad highlights engineering accomplishment, the personal accounts depict the hardship and struggle the crew members faced on their journeys.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing like It in the .World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Print.…

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gold Currency Analysis

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The increased demand for gold in California lead the production of railways across the United States. The Gold Rush lead to the completion of the Transcontinental Railway in 1869 which was built by Union Pacific and Central Pacific. The motivation for building of a nationwide railroads caused by the gold rush timeframe was a major factor in economic growth and lead to drastically increasing economic…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Transportation has played a significant part in the development of spurring economic and industrial growth in America. Between 1820 through 1860, the groundwork of transportation such as the highway system, railroads, and canals began to develop new aspects of American life. The development of transportation helped increase industrialization, sectionalism, and expansion.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever wondered how trains and railroads changed life in America? History argues over the impact of railroads. History claims that the contribution of railroads was crucial in American development. Others, such as Robert Fogel, maintain that the impact of railroad transportation was not as crucial in the development in America (Early American Railroads). The issue may be a controversial one, but the fact remains that train transportation, the building of trains, and the development of the railroad system changed America. The impact of the railroad changed jobs, towns, travel, lifestyles, as well as the physical face of the United States of America.…

    • 2808 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John P. Parker

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave And Conductor on the Underground Railroad.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Railroads have been around for almost two hundred years. During the Industrial Revolution, Railroads were one of the important factors. Railroads brought out only benefits to America, they brought political, economic and social change in only 50 years since they were brought to America. Trains and railroads were also an important factor during the civil war. Trains helped by carrying military supplies from one military camp to another. Over the next 50 years, America would come to build spectacular bridges and other things that would allow trains to run on. They would also come to see great depots, rail magnates, and the majesty of rail locomotives crossing the country. Railroads would also change the way you transport and the traveling time.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Dream is known as a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the United States. It’s the overall thought that one can self invent themself, being able to construct their own life by starting over and setting the past aside. In today’s society, the American Dream is categorized as either being something that is attainable or unattainable, but the three sources that I have chosen being Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Cory from Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Walter Mitty from The Secret life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, all explain how the American Dream is unattainable. Although satisfaction is never permanent…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays