First Transcontinental Railroad

The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was built across North America in the 1860s, linking the railway network of the eastern U.S. with California on the Pacific coast. Finished on May 10, 1869 at the famous Golden spike event at Promontory Summit, Utah, it created a nationwide mechanized transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West, catalyzing the transition from the wagon trains of previous decades to a modern transportation system. Authorized by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 and heavily backed by the federal government, it was the culmination of a decades-long movement to build such a line and was one of the crowning achievements of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, completed four years after his death. The building of the railway required enormous feats of engineering and labor in the crossing of plains and high mountains by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad, the two federally chartered enterprises that built the line westward and eastward respectively. The building of the railroad was motivated in part to bind the Union together during the strife of the American Civil War. It substantially accelerated the populating of the West by white homesteaders, led to rapid cultivation of new farm lands, while contributing to the decline of the Native Americans in these regions. Much of the original right-of-way is still in use today and owned by the modern Union Pacific, which is descended from both of the original railroads. The Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroad combined operations in 1870 and formally merged in 1885; the Union Pacific originally bought the Southern Pacific in 1901 and was forced to divest it in 1913, but finally took it over for good in 1996.

Related Topics:
United States - North America - Railway - California - Pacific - May 10 - 1869 - Golden spike - Promontory Summit, Utah - American West - Wagon train - Pacific Railway Act - Federal government - Abraham Lincoln - Engineering - Labor - Union Pacific Railroad - Central Pacific Railroad - Union - American Civil War - Homesteader - Cultivation - Native American - Right-of-way - Southern Pacific Railroad

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