[108], The joining of the Union Pacific line with the Central Pacific line in May 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, was one of the major inspirations for French writer Jules Verne's book entitled Around the World in Eighty Days, published in 1873.[109]. Supplies were normally offloaded at the Sacramento, California docks where the railroad started. Some tunnels were designed to bend in the middle to align with the track bed curvature. Under Durant's guidance, Crédit Mobilier was charging Union Pacific often twice or more the customary cost for track work (thus in effect paying himself to build the railroad). [90]:85. Progress on the tunnel sped up to over 1.5 feet (0.46 m) per day per face when they started using the newly invented nitroglycerin—manufactured near the tunnel. financier. The road's rail terminus was moved two months later to the Oakland Long Wharf, about a mile to the north, when its expansion was completed and opened for passengers on November 8, 1869. ", "Report of the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph", "PBS American Experience – Transcontinental Railroad – Whitney Biography", "Thomas Clark Durant - American Experience - Official Site - PBS", "An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes, "Financing the Transcontinental Railroad", "PBS American Experience – Transcontinental Railroad – Durant Biography", Lewis Metzler Clement: A Pioneer of the Central Pacific Railroad, "Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific", Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad, "Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery, Photographic Collection", "PBS – General Article: Workers of the Central Pacific Railroad", "CPRR Summit Tunnel (#6), Tunnels #7 & #8, Snowsheds, "Chinese" Walls, Donner Trail, and Dutch Flat Donner - Lake Wagon Road at Donner Pass", "Period construction images of snowsheds at Cisco and Donner Summit", "People & Events: Thomas Clark Durant (1820–1885)", "Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed: The Transcontinental Railroad connected East and West—and accelerated the destruction of what had been in the center of North America", "See the "Lost" Golden Spike at the Museum", "People & Events: Oakes Ames (1804–1873) – American Experience Transcontinental Railroad", "Everlasting Steam: The Story of Jupiter and No. The scandal was to implicate Vice President Schuyler Colfax (who was cleared) and future President James Garfield among others. The Federal donation of right-of-way saved money and time as it did not have to be purchased from others. Time was not standardized across the United States and Canada until November 18, 1883. From North Platte, Nebraska (elevation 2,834 feet or 864 metres), the railroad proceeded westward and upward along a new path across the Nebraska Territory and Wyoming Territory (then part of the Dakota Territory) along the north bank of the South Platte River and into what would become the state of Wyoming at Lone Pine, Wyoming. [56], At the end of 1865, Peter A. Dey, Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific, resigned over a routing dispute with Thomas C. Durant, one of the chief financiers of the Union Pacific. Specialized bridging, explosive and tunneling teams were assigned to their specialized jobs. In 1849 Whitney published a booklet to promote his scheme entitled Project for a Railroad to the Pacific. The Union Pacific's 1,087 miles (1,749 km) of track started at MP 0.0 in Council Bluffs, Iowa,[7] on the eastern side of the Missouri River. On June 18, 1868, the Central Pacific reached Reno, Nevada, after completing 132 miles (212 km) of railroad up and over the Sierras from Sacramento, California. • The Trans-Asian Railway is a project to link Singapore to Istanbul and is to a large degree complete with missing pieces primarily in Myanmar. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images It authorized creation of two companies, the Central Pacific in the west and the Union Pacific in the mid-west, to build the railroad. In mid-1860, local miner Daniel Strong had surveyed a route over the Sierra for a wagon toll road, which he realized would also suit a railroad. They were then loaded on ships which either sailed around South America's Cape Horn, or offloaded the cargo at the Isthmus of Panama, where it was sent across via pad… How far did The Transcontinental Railroad run? Durant had initially come up with the scheme to have Crédit Mobilier subcontract to do the actual track work. Huang Annian, trans. The rails just in front of the rail car would be placed first, measured for the correct gauge with gauge sticks and then nailed down on the ties with spike mauls. Alternatively, cargo was offloaded and reloaded, a time-consuming effort that delayed cargo shipments. Letter from Charles F. Conant, Assistant Secretary, US Department of the Treasury, to US Rep. William Lawrence (R-OH8), March 9, 1876, Letter from Z.B. It was through Judah's efforts and the support of Abraham Lincoln, who saw military benefits in the lines as well as the bonding of the Pacific Coast to the Union, that the Pacific Railroad finally became a reality. [citation needed] The railroad companies were intent on completing the project as rapidly as possible at a minimum cost. The 1962 film How the West Was Won has a whole segment devoted to the construction; one of the movie's most famous scenes, filmed in Cinerama, is of a buffalo stampede over the railroad. June, 1870, Tables 215, 216, "Report on the Pacific Railroads", US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, House Ex. The California Gold Rush and Nevada Silver Rush pushed U.S. Americans further and further west with the promise of economic prosperity. The Transcontinental Railroad was constructed: ... Moses Brown helped Samuel Slater start his mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Depending on the material the tunnels penetrated, they were left unlined or lined with brick, rock walls or timber and post. To speed completion of the Kansas Pacific Railroad to Denver, construction started east from Denver in March 1870 to meet the railroad coming west from Kansas city. In August 1870, the Kansas Pacific drove the last spike connecting to the Denver Pacific line at Strasburg, Colorado and the first true Atlantic to Pacific United States railroad was completed. Equipment needed to begin work was initially delivered to Omaha and Council Bluffs by paddle steamers on the Missouri River. The acquisition of California following the Mexican War opened the way for other routes to the coast. [73] Costing about $300,000 and a years worth of work, this toll road wagon route was opened over much of the route the Central Pacific railroad (CPRR) would use over Donner Summit to carry freight and passengers needed by the CPRR and to carry other cargo over their toll road to and from the ever-advancing railhead and over the Sierra to the gold and silver mining towns of Nevada. 274, 1878 U.S. LEXIS 1556 – CourtListener.com", "Proposal for a Charter to Build a Railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean", "Dr. Hartwell Carver's Proposal to Build a Railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean", "Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, made under the direction of the Secretary of War, in 1853-4. The tunnels were all made with the new dangerous nitroglycerine explosive, which expedited work but caused some fatal accidents. Most of the capital investment needed to build the railroad was generated by selling government-guaranteed bonds (granted per mile of completed track) to interested investors. [45], After 1864, the Central Pacific Railroad received the same Federal financial incentives as the Union Pacific Railroad, along with some construction bonds granted by the state of California and the city of San Francisco. The elevation change from Sacramento (elev. 4. Working and living in winter in the presence of snow slides and avalanches caused some deaths. Water for the steam locomotives was provided by wells, springs, or pipelines to nearby water sources. When this was only partially successful, an extensive process of building snow sheds over some of the track was instituted to protect it from deep snows and avalanches. transcontinental railroad Throughout the expansion westward and the Industrial Revolution, it became clear that the rail system was the ticket to a more unified and advanced society. Where a proper railbed had already been prepared, the work progressed rapidly. To communicate easily up and down the line, the railroads built telegraph lines alongside the railroad. In June 1864, the Central Pacific railroad entrepreneurs opened Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road (DFDLWR). Initially, Central Pacific had a hard time hiring and keeping unskilled workers on its line, as many would leave for the prospect of far more lucrative gold or silver mining options elsewhere. This line later merged with the Southern Pacific. Their start point in the new city of Omaha, Nebraska was not yet connected via railroad to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific raced to get as much track laid as possible, and the Central Pacific laid about 560 miles (900 km) of track from Reno to Promontory Summit in the one year before the Last Spike was driven on May 10, 1869. Within a few years, nearly all railroads converted to steel rails. The Linda Hall Library Transcontinental Railroad website was created with generous support from the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Foundation. Maintenance depots had to be built to keep all of the equipment repaired and operational. Theodore Judah, a civil engineer who helped build the first railroad in California, promoted a route along the 41 st parallel, running through Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. [citation needed] Once the machinery and tools reached the San Francisco Bay area, they were put aboard river paddle steamers which transported them up the final 130 miles (210 km) of the Sacramento River to the new state capital in Sacramento. Part of the reason the government was able to entice British Columbia to join the nation was based on the promise of the completion of a transcontinental railway within 10 years. Major repairs and maintenance on the Central Pacific rolling stock was done in their Sacramento maintenance yard. The First Transcontinental Railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route") was a 1,912-mile (3,077 km) continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. [91], To carve a tunnel, one worker held a rock drill on the granite face while one to two other workers swung eighteen-pound sledgehammers to sequentially hit the drill which slowly advanced into the rock. The detailed survey work that made these tunnel digs as precise as required was nearly all done by the Canadian-born and -trained Lewis Clement, the CPRR's Chief Assistant Engineer and Superintendent of Track, and his assistants.[38]. In the ensuing Congressional investigation, it was recommended that Ames be expelled from Congress, but this was reduced to a censure and Ames died within three months. The most northerly survey, between the 47th and 49th parallels, was under the direction of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, governor of Washington Territory. Durant and its financing arrangements were, unlike those of the CPRR, mired in controversy and scandals.[31]. Subsequent to the railhead's meeting at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, the San Joaquin River Bridge at Mossdale Crossing (near present-day Lathrop, California) was completed on September 8, 1869. They were delayed by difficulties obtaining financial backing and the unavailability of workers and materials due to the Civil War. The route down the eastern Sierras was done on the south side of Donner Lake with a series of switchbacks carved into the mountain. The two companies took advantage of these weaknesses in the legislation to manipulate the project and produce extra profit for themselves. [35] Durant enticed other investors by offering to front money for the stock they purchased in their names. [28] Congress did not immediately act on Whitney's proposal. [30][clarification needed] Curtis tried and failed again in 1861. To finance the project, the act authorized the federal government to issue 30-year U.S. government bonds (at 6% interest). In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Bill and several grants that allowed financial support for the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad companies. Due to the lack of transportation alternatives from the manufacturing centers on the east coast, virtually all of their tools and machinery including rails, railroad switches, railroad turntables, freight and passenger cars, and steam locomotives were transported first by train to east coast ports.