As early as 1830 politicians and others had talked about ways to build a transcontinental railroad linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts But many problems had to be solved first Just getting supplies including tons of timber and steel to the point of construction would be very expensive Much of the land the tracks would cross had few people aside from nomadic groups of Native Americans who followed the buffalo They could be expected to strongly resist any railroad across their lands They knew it could bring thousands of people and the eventual loss of their way of life and their land It would cost millions of dollars to find good workers to build the railroad feed them during the 6 to 10 year project and protect them and the railroad from attacks A steam-powered engine PUFFING BILLY From England came reports of steam propelled engines that were replacing horses An engine called Puffing Billy announced in 1813 could haul 10 coal wagons at 5 miles 8 kilometers an hour And in 1829 The Rocket was invented the first true Iron Horse It traveled an amazing 29 miles 47 kilometers an hour 6
An aerial view of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains shows the high mountains deep canyons and snow that created many challenges for construction crews Planners knew it would be a dangerous task to build a railroad to the West Coast Construction crews would have to cross high mountains thick forests burning deserts and deep canyons The most dreaded obstacle was the Sierra Nevada a mountain range that divides California from the rest of the country The granite mountains rise 4,000 to 7,000 feet 1,200 to 2,135 meters with 12 peaks higher than 14,000 feet 4,270 meters The mountain summits were covered with ice much of the year and snow drifted as deep as 60 feet 18 meters in winter Explorers and pioneers had frozen to death trying to cross those mountains 7
Government report about the impracticalities of building a railroad The debate was interrupted by the Civil War which divided North and South over the issue of slavery The war exploded across the country from 1861 to 1865 taking 618,000 lives ruining the South and destroying relations between them Still in spite of the war Congress managed to approve a transcontinental railroad select a route and build much of it When the last spike was driven on May 10 1869 national feelings of pride and triumph helped ease the bitterness and sadness left in the war’s wake WESTERN GROWTH BRINGS POWER During the 1880s more than 40,000 miles 64,360 kilometers of railroad track were laid west of the Mississippi River By 1900 the United States had 14 times as many people as in 1803 and 25 percent of them lived in the West Historians say that the American people’s greatest achievement in the 19th century was ending slavery But the next greatest achievement was building the transcontinental railroad which let the country complete its westward growth and emerge as the strongest economic power in the world 8
Chapter 2 RAILROAD BRINGS VISIONS OF MONEY AND SPEED After gold was discovered in California in 1848 building a railroad seemed ever more urgent It took months of land or sea travel just to get minerals and other goods to market or to bring supplies to miners and settlers To tap the rich resources of the West people were convinced everything would have to move much faster One of the early supporters of a transcontinental railroad was Asa Whitney a New England merchant who wanted to trade with China In 1845 he asked Congress to authorize a survey for a route between the 42nd and 45th parallels He offered to build the railroad himself if Congress would give him a strip of land 60 miles 96 5 kilometers wide reaching from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean Few at the time took him seriously Asa Whitney 1797 1872 9
