First Transcontinental Railroad

Examples of First Transcontinental Railroad in the following topics:

• The Transcontinental Railroads

  • Completed in 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel between the East and West of the United States.
  • The First Transcontinental Railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States.
  • Shipping and commerce could thrive away from navigable watercourses for the first time since the beginning of the nation.
  • The Transcontinental Railroad provided much faster, safer, and cheaper transportation for people and goods across the western two-thirds of the continent.
  • Workers celebrating the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869.

• The Mormon Exodus

  • The well organized wagon train migration began in earnest in April 1847, and the period (including the flight from Missouri in 1838 to Nauvoo) known as the Mormon Exodus is, by convention among social scientists, traditionally assumed to have ended with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.
  • Wagon train migrations to the far west continued sporadically until the 20th century, but not everyone could afford to uproot and transport a family by railroad, and the transcontinental railroad network only serviced limited main routes.
  • Sidney Rigdon was the First Counselor in the LDS First Presidency, and as its spokesman, Rigdon preached several controversial sermons in Missouri, including the Salt Sermon and the July 4th Oration.
  • During the first few years, the emigrants were mostly former occupants of Nauvoo who were following Young to Utah.
  • The trail was used for more than 20 years, until the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

• Oregon and the Overland Trails

  • By 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho.
  • Use of the trail declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, making the trip west substantially faster, cheaper, and safer.
  • The stage line operated until 1869, when completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad eliminated the need for mail service via stagecoach.

• The Mormons

  • This harsh treatment caused the body of the Church to move—first from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri, and then to Illinois, where church members built the city of Nauvoo.
  • The period (including the flight from Missouri in 1838 to Nauvoo) known as the "Mormon Exodus" is, by convention among social scientists, traditionally assumed to have ended with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.
  • Wagon train migrations to the far west continued sporadically until the twentieth century, but not everyone could afford to uproot and transport a family by railroad, and the transcontinental railroad network only serviced limited main routes.

• The Western Frontier

  • The steamboat, first used on the Ohio River in 1811, made inexpensive travel using the river systems possible.
  • The completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 dramatically changed the pace of travel in the country, as people were able to complete in a week a route that had previously taken months.
  • Money was a constant concern, as the cost of railroad freight was exorbitant, and banks were unforgiving of bad harvests.
  • Although the town was far from any railroad, 20,000 people lived there as of 1876.
  • The first gold prospectors in the 1850s and 1860s worked with easily portable tools that allowed them to follow their dream and try to strike it rich (a).

• Education and the Professions

  • The Gilded Age in America was based on heavy industry such as factories, railroads and coal mining.
  • The iconic event was the opening of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, providing six-day service between the East Coast and San Francisco.
  • The demand for skilled workers increased relative to the labor needs of the First Industrial Revolution.
  • Railroads invented complex bureaucratic systems, using middle managers, and set up explicit career tracks.
  • Identify several key technological innovations from the First and Second Industrial Revolutions

• The Transformation of the West

  • The West was most notably transformed through the railroads, increase in crime rates, and the rise of industry during the Gilded Age.
  • The Pacific Railroad Act was passed in 1862, which authorized construction of both the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroad lines.
  • In the first year of operation, 1869–70, 150,000 passengers made the long trip.
  • Six transcontinental railroads were built in total during the Gilded Age.
  • The Golden Spike united the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad lines.

• Government During the War

  • The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 promoted the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the United States.
  • The government provided land grants to railroad companies and issued government bonds for financing.
  • Railroads were also encouraged to sell tracts for family farms at low prices with extended credit.
  • For the first year of the war, a provisional Confederate Congress functioned as the Confederacy's legislative branch.
  • The permanent Confederate Congress began its first session on February 18, 1862.

• Transportation: Roads, Canals, and Railroads

  • New and improved transportation technology made it easier and faster to transport goods: first national roads, then canals, and finally the railroad revolution.
  • First proposed in 1807, the Erie Canal waterway was constructed from 1817 to 1825 and was the first transportation system between New York City and the western interior of the United States.
  • Railroads provided a quick, scheduled, and year-round mode of transportation.
  • The most prominent early railroad was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), which linked the port of Baltimore to the Ohio River and offered passenger and freight service as of 1830.
  • Celebration of completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869

• Territorial Government

  • The federal government first acquired western territory from other nations or native tribes by treaty, then it sent surveyors to map and document the land.
  • Then surveyors would create detailed maps marking the land into squares of six miles on each side, subdivided first into one square mile blocks, then into 160-acre lots.
  • The law was especially important in the settling of the Plains states, although many farmers purchased their land from railroads at low rates.
  • The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 provided for the land needed to build the transcontinental railroad.
  • The land given to the railroads alternated with government-owned tracts saved for distribution to homesteaders.