The Transcontinental Railroad: Blood, Sweat, Tears And An American Dream
...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...
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