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| The ceremony of the Golden Spike. |
The first concrete plan for a transcontinental railroad in the United States was presented to Congress by Asa Whitney in 1845. The world's First Transcontinental Railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States. Begun just preceding the American Civil War, its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, this served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Shipping and commerce could thrive away from navigable watercourses for the first time since the beginning of the nation. The coming of the railroad resulted in the end of most of the far slower and more hazardous stagecoach lines and wagon trains, and it led to a great decline of traffic on the Oregon and California Trail, which had helped populate much of the West. The transcontinental railroad provided much faster, safer, and cheaper transportation (one week from Omaha to San Francisco via emigrant sleeping car at a fare of about $65 for an adult) for people and goods across the western two-thirds of the continent. The sale of the railroad land grant lands and the transport provided for timber and crops led to the rapid settling of the "Great American Desert". Among the main workers on the Union Pacific were many Army veterans and Irish and Scots emigrants, and many Chinese. Most of the engineers were ex-Army men who had learned their trade keeping the trains running during the American Civil War. Indeed, the Central Pacific Railroad, facing a labor shortage in the more sparsely-settled West relied mostly on Chinese laborers, who did prodigious work building the line over and through the Sierra Nevada mountains and then across Nevada to their meeting in northern Utah. (Wikipedia) (Photo: Copyright Control)
Where would America have been without this engineering marvel?
(Video: Copyright Control)
You can also visit the Union Pacific site here: http://www.up150.com/
