He had not seen any part of the railroad. We will commence track-laying next Monday. November 6: After months of skirmishes known as "Red Cloud's War," the government suggests a treaty, but Native American leader Red Cloudwill not condescend to meet until the military have removed themselves from the Bozeman Trail. They never thought of the Chinese as having a family. In July, they built past the hundred mile mark; by fall past the 100th meridian. Addtional Art Direction, Chinese recreations October: Union Pacific crony Herbert M. Hoxie wins the Union Pacific construction bid, then signs the contract over to Durant's new company, Crdit Mobilier. Stanford, who was governor of California in 186263, saw to the companys financial and political interests in the West. Stephen Douglas owned property in the site of Chicago. The second principal though was the real center of energy for it, and that was the notion of limited liability. Donald Fixico, Historian:By the late 1800s, there is perhaps about 1,200 buffalo altogether. Wendell Huffman, Historian:Durant comes across to me as a scoundrel. By the spring of 1865, the company had received more than $2 million worth of federal and state bonds for track built -- and had revenues in both passenger and freight service for the 31 miles between Sacramento and Newcastle. Created by JosephRash Terms in this set (13) Transcontinental Railroad Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west Beginning of Central Pacific So if you protested that you were short-changed or someone was cheating at the cards, they were liable to follow you outside and do bodily harm to you or even kill you. And no one received over 100 shares of stock. It was very noisy, very crowded, and very rough. Dodge named the town Cheyenne. A. God Bless you and Keep you happy. 1867 ", In five years of construction, the Central Pacific had laid just more than a hundred miles of track; the Union Pacific had laid five times that. Chris Graves, Very Special Thanks: The Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village January 20, 1865: President Lincoln asks Massachusetts senator Oakes Ames to help to manage the Union Pacific. It was quite a high dividend and the congressmen got wind of it. months[5] = "Explore the interesting, and fascinating selection of unique websites created and produced by the Siteseen network. David Bain, Writer:They put out handbills all over northern California advertising they needed 5,000 workers immediately for good pay. The Camera Stand April 8: After months of increased tension, closed-door Washington lobbying, Congressional pressure, and aborted meetings between the two companies, Dodge and Huntington settle upon a meeting place for their two lines. . "; And it was Grenville Dodge and Collis Huntington in a meeting place in which there was a lot of stalking out and slamming doors, but they finally decided that what they would do would be that the two railroads would meet in the Promontory Mountains, at a place called Promontory Summit -- the most God-forsaken place that you could imagine. July: Casement crews add 60 miles of track to bring the Union Pacific line to the 100 mile mark. He knew that this was going to be a shortcut to Virginia City. As a result, President Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862 (Briggs 1974:7). Voice, reading letter from Mrs. Casement:My Dear Husband, I expect that you are bending all your energies to out-do everybody else and do the biggest thing that was ever heard of. These developments delay the arrival of Durant and Union Pacific dignitaries by two days. Maxine Chan Bonfield was inducted into Canadian Railway Hall of Fame in 2002 as the CPR first spike location. Building the Union Pacific Railroad | Wyoming History Day Thomas C. Durant had begun his professional career as a doctor of ophthalmology but found the world of business a more invigorating occupation for a man of his thrusting personality. Phil Roberts, Historian:It wasn't going to be like those other Hell on Wheels towns that were going to be there just as long as the tracklayers were coming in to buy their liquid refreshments, etc. The 1,776 mile long first transcontinental railroad, originally called the "Pacific Railroad" and later the "Overland Route," (690 miles built by the Central Pacific Railroad and 1,086 miles built by the Union Pacific Railroad) that started construction in 1863 and was completed with the joining of the rails at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10 . Mules died by the dozens, left to rot track-side as the crews moved on. The two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah, Q. And three or four weeks later, at the end of August, they're through on that side. Narrator:By the turn of 1866, the Central Pacific had 6,000 Chinese immigrants on the payroll, from ages 13 to 60. It was basically a big blank slate. As much as 80 percent of the CP work force was Chinese. They're too weak. February: Realizing the importance of increasing production, Durant hires General Jack Casement as the Union Pacific's construction boss. J. Scott Bronson Advancing from the east was the Union Pacific which built westward across plains and deserts, braving blizzards and raids by displaced Native Americans to complete the 1,086-mile journey from Omaha, Nebraska. October 29: The fed-up citizens of Laramie, Wyoming, form a Vigilance Committee to combat the town's lawless element. I am trying to be patient, but it is rather hard. And within a month, there were businesses that were established there. And only one company would get the valuable coal fields in western Wyoming and eastern Utah. And the end was not yet in sight. I love you dearly and it is so hard for me to live away from you. Crocker takes a hard line and strikers return to work within a week, Apr 8, 1869: Location of meeting of the railways agreed by Grenville Dodge and Collis Huntington at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1869: Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah. From the collections of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, Union Pacific Collection. Donald Fixico, Historian:The buffalo is a great symbol and great being to the Plains people because it's really their staff of life and even more than that. Wendell Huffman, Historian:The country was empty essentially. Conductors carried timetables, but they had to wait for telegraph orders at every station before they could proceed with their 50-ton locomotives pulling hundreds of tons worth of iron. But on the other side of this coin, is how this did bind the nation together and it signaled a new era. David Bain, Writer:They were being paid by the mile, so why not make the line longer? July: Engineer and enthusiast Theodore Judahsolves the great riddle of the Pacific Railroad when he reaches Donner Pass (named for the ill-fated emigrantof 1846). Narrator:Up on Donner Summit in the summer of 1867, the Central Pacific crews were still fighting through the Summit Tunnel. Behind them, the Union Pacific tracklayers were choking in western Wyoming's alkali desert. California had basically been in a depression for five years. The transaction allows Thomas Durant to pay himself for construction, generating giant profits without congressional oversight. It was the idea of a railroad company being able to borrow money on the land that they didn't even own yet but would if they actually built the railroad. Learn more. Despite six years of campaigning, the issue dies as increased sectionalismand self-interest distract the legislature. October 6: Casement and his crews pass the 100th Meridian line on the prairies of Nebraska, thus guaranteeing the Union Pacific the irrevocable right to continue westward, as stipulated in the Pacific Railroad Act. Work began in 1863, and six years later the two projects met at Promontory in north-central Utah, northwest of Ogden. // cutting the mustard Hastily built, these settlements, known as "Hells on Wheels," flourished for a few weeks, then were deserted as the railroad moved on. But they wanted a piece for themselves, a piece for the families. Narrator:From its inception, all that slowed the Union Pacific was bad management and politics. And the tribal leaders were inclined to wait to see what the whites were going to bring to the peace table. And for whatever reason, Charles Crocker was the man that became the contractor initially. So he chose as the eastern terminus Council Bluffs, Iowa. But for CP construction boss Charley Crocker, eight years of work and worry were finally coming to an end. Peace was fragile; settlers rarely tried to distinguish between friendly and unfriendly Indians. Wylie Anderson It was a difficult, two-day ride to the summit, but on top, when Judah looked east -- out along an immigrant trail largely abandoned after the Donner Party's ugly demise -- the engineer understood immediately what he saw. Your wife, Frank. Mary Risser, Rick Wilson, Richard Carroll and the staff of Golden Spike National Historic Site Jade learns starting over sometimes means finding a brand new restarting point. The government would withhold nearly 20 percent of the bonds until theentireline was in working order, and it would not release a single dime to either company until it had built 40 miles of working railroad. Charlie Crocker suggested to their labor boss, James Harvey Strobridge, "Let's try some of the Chinese from down in the Valley and see if they work out." He was saying, what are we doing getting involved in this railroad? They eventually held an eight-day strike in June of 1867. Transcontinental Railroad: The Pacific RailroadsThe Transcontinental Railroad was one of the Pacific Railroads. .adslot_1 { width: 300px; height: 250px; } Schedules rarely held. But Crockers plan hit opposition amid anti-Chinese sentiment, stemming from the California Gold Rush, that gripped the state, Obenzinger told NBC, noting that construction superintendent James Strobridge didnt think the immigrants were strong enough to do the job. April 14: President Lincoln is assassinated. It hauled the promise of new wealth to the filthy rich, the landless poor, and everybody in between. Many in Congress were wondering if they should simply cut losses and withdraw support from the Union Pacific Railroad. Chris McAuliffe and Boreal Mountain Resort But there was absolutely no way they were going to go down the same path together from that point on. The Honorable Sweat and his colleagues passed a revised railroad bill in the summer of 1864. Within a week, there were people locating there. The Eugene Arundel Miller Collection of the Photographs of Arundel C. Hall, Mill Valley, CA Lydia Tanji, Consultants With the North and South reunited, the nation had finally turned its attention to the joining of East and West. The vice president of the new Union Pacific Railroad Company was heavily invested in real estate just across the river, in Omaha, Nebraska. Phil Roberts, Historian:There were people coming out on the train that were shooting buffalo from the train as they were passing through the plains. And there's this tremendous feeling of accomplishment which redoubles their effort in the eastern face. At A Glance Southern states immediately began to secede, starting with South Carolina on December 20, 1860. They only took bodies. They would have pork, and chicken and abalone. We want two or three hundred cows for next summer, are building a large ice house, have built a good slaughter house and Blacksmith shop, wash house and corral, so you see we are getting quite a ranch. And the people who worked under him knew that. Frank Chin:I don't think they saw the West as a white country. Their charred bodies were soon on display at the Plum Creek station. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. By 1880, the Pacific railroad carries $50 million worth of freight annually. But that would prove more difficult than anyone imagined. ", Few Americans bought into these dreamy projections. David Bain, Writer:After about a week of running out of food, the Central Pacific managers brought what looked very much like a posse of whites up to just make sure that there wasn't any rioting going on up there on the mountainside, on this empty mountainside. April 16: A nitroglycerinexplosion destroys the Wells Fargo Office in downtown San Francisco. Few others were willing to invest in such a dicey project. In one episode he made $5 million in one week pushing the stock of one railroad down and the stock of another railroad up and then going back into the original stock. This assemblage and the others like it that follow the westward press of empire are named "Hell on Wheels" towns. A town council was established, and a public school. Narrator:By the summer of 1867, the Ames and their Boston counting-house friends had gained controlling interest from Durant and installed Oliver Ames as president; the Doctor had begun what would become a blizzard of lawsuits against the board, but remained as vice-president, director, and major stockholder. Narrator:Jack Casement wasn't about to go home, not now that America was watching. The railroad is credited, for instance, with helping to open the West to migration and with expanding the American economy. It's almost magnified. And a number of the more unruly members of the community took over -- Con Wagner, Asa Moore, Big Ed Wilson, and some of their cronies. The Dale Creek Crossing . Fireworks went off. The gold rush had been over. If you don't take hold of it, no one will, and it's not going to get done. Peter Dey figured it would cost half that. The history dates back to 1769 when James Watt patented his idea for a steam engine which heralded the Industrial Revolution. And they also didn't come down with dysentery the way that the Irish workers did because of this boiled tea. The Great Race to Promontory - Union Pacific And they were able to do more than twice the amount of work with nitroglycerin. When they began issuing contracts to local construction firms, it proved a mess. He's like someone that would bet on the other team. ", Narrator:Day after day, Durant wired his crew-bosses in Nebraska: "Do you or do you not want more men to lay 60 miles this fall, if so what kind? On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, a boisterous crowd gathered to witness the completion of one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century: the building of the transcontinental railroad. Workers, including the Irish, receive little attention. Narrator:In October of 1860, a local storekeeper named Daniel Strong invited Judah to have a look at a place where he thought a railroad could cross the Sierras. Transcontinental Railroad The term "Transcontinental" means going across a continent and the transcontinental railroad enabled a journey on the transcontinental railroad from the Eastern part of the United States all the way to the Western part of the United States. They were clubbed, stabbed, shot. The Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad provided a railroad route connecting New York on the Atlantic coast with San Francisco, California on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Promontory Point | Encyclopedia.com document.documentElement.className += 'js'; Simon Miya The point of beginning is a surveyor's mark at the beginning location for the wide-scale surveying of land.. An example is the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey that led to the opening of the Northwest Territory, and is the starting point of the surveys of almost all other lands to the west, reaching all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They had very little opportunity for baths or bathing, personal hygiene. American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming Secrets, lies, and old wounds drive Jade into new adventures and new relationships. It unleashed a tidal wave of growth as immigrants moved west. As the pace of construction quickened, the toll increased for both companies. It tends to blow up on its own. David Bain, Writer:Looking at a map was one thing. He said, "They can't be good workers. Phil Roberts, Historian:It did connect the East with the West Coast and it did, in essence, provide us with a continental culture. Jeff Hansen And they basically tell Judah either you buy us out or we'll buy you out. Crucial to their success were the efforts of Chinese laborers who risked their lives to blast their way through granite cliffs. Judah sails East to look for new investors. That real estate would be much more valuable if the railroad west began there. Thomas C. Durant had good instincts for self-preservation, and he understood it was now in his interest to startbuildinga railroad. When the Civil War came to an end in March of 1865, the UP had not spiked a single length of track. The original Pacific Railway Act (1862) authorized the Central Pacific to build eastward from California and the Union Pacific to build westward to the western Nevada boundary. Jack. The Collection of the B&O Railroad Museum, Inc. July 1, 1862: Congress passes and President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railroad Bill. That was the first principal. "The truth is," opined the New York Herald, "there is cheating on the grandest scale in all these railroads." But Strobridge had constant problems finding dependable men to fill grading and track-laying crews; California still had a small population; and most laborers preferred work nearer the comfort of town, or out in the gold fields. California Historical Society The Hoxie contract called for building the railroad up the Platte Valley at $50,000 per mile. They built the Great Wall. Mrs. H.A. Chris Ruedy They advertised for 5,000 and 200 showed up, and they were absolutely desperate. Transcontinental Railroad: Summary, Year, Facts & Timeline December 2: In a gala ceremony, the Union Pacific breaks ground in Omaha, Nebraska, although it is some time before the railroad will go anywhere. Officially, Judah was still carried as chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, but Judah sailed east, for the East Coast in the fall of 1863. He just wanted to make as much money along the side as he could. Wendell Huffman, Historian:Huntington kept saying, build faster. David Bain, Writer:The winter of 1865 and 1866 had been a very brutal one. Transcontinental Railroad Flashcards | Quizlet 1882 Ferguson noted 45 men killed by Indians, six drowned, one construction worker killed falling off a bridge, 10 shot dead in robberies or fights and one killed by a stray bullet, while sitting in his tent. And they've linked the two western shafts together. The line was first conceived and surveyed by an engineer, Theodore Dehone Judah, who obtained the financial backing of the California group and won federal support in the form of the Pacific Railway Act (1862), which provided land grants and subsidies to the Central Pacific and Union Pacific. Union Pacific Railroad Company | Definition & History Salt Creek Wagon Works 1864 Narrator:When Judah's ship docked in Manhattan, the 37-year-old engineer was carried off the boat on a litter and deposited in a sickbed in the Metropolitan Hotel. Q. David Bain, Writer:The only way to get the railroad line across was to start slow, to carve out a narrow shelf just wide enough for a man to walk. And up until that time, he had never been in the Sierra Nevada looking for railroads. On January 1, 1863, ground was broken at Sacramento, California for the building of the first transcontinental railroad; the Central Pacific from Sacramento and the Union Pacific from Omaha Nebraska (Elliot 1928:2). Central Pacific Railroad, American railroad company founded in 1861 by a group of California merchants known later as the Big Four (Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker); they are best remembered for having built part of the first American transcontinental rail line. What Hoxie did was hold the contract for a short period of time, sell it to Durant for $10,000 so the Credit Mobilier would build the road and then charge the Union Pacific. The First Transcontinental Railroad: Central Pacific, Union Pacific. Central Pacific the railroad company based on the West Coast that helped build the transcontinental railroad; starting point was Sacramento, California Promontory Point, Utah Place where Union Pacific RR tracks connected to the Central Pacific tracks Pacific Railroad Act Casement spends the winter at Omaha, preparing the rolling dormitories his crews will use in the coming year. More Chinese immigrants began arriving in California, and two years later, about 90 percent of the workers were Chinese. Gaffers National Archives Narrator:On the Union Pacific side, the surveyors out front had it worst. So when white settlers began streaming across the plains toward gold in California and then nearby Colorado, Indians regarded them as a new force of nature -- and an increasingly dangerous one. Eugene Hepting Collections, Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center There was no way of guaranteeing that California would remain in the Union. Your wife, Frank. Matthew R. Isenburg Narrator:"'Tis Finished!" Q. Three separate UP bridges collapsed under their own weight, before a locomotive had a chance to test them. Narrator:As gold-rich veins of ore were cracked open in California, the U.S. Army began to worry about protecting this valuable but far-flung state -- and safeguarding both the people and precious goods flowing east and west. October 26: The Central Pacific spikes its first rails to ties. He would manipulate the market against his own company just for his own personal fortune. July 1, 1864: Congress revises the Pacific Railroad Bill to double land grants, pass control of all natural resources located along the lines to the railroads and remove the existing limitations on individual stock ownership. Tediously, cut by hand. The train ferries had to be replaced by sleighs each winter. Narrator:Even before construction began, the Transcontinental Railroad had precious freight to bear: the hopes and dreams of an entire nation. Before the news of the event reached him, Theodore Judah was dead. 1850 The two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah, The last tie was laid and hammered together with a bronze and gold spike - called the Golden Spike, Interesting facts about the Transcontinental Railroad are detailed below. November 2: Taken ill on his journey, Theodore Judah dies in New York City. The United States was a young republic but already possessed of big ideas for itself. The Central Pacific. January 8: Newly-elected California governor Leland Stanford shovels the first load of dirt at the Central Pacific groundbreaking ceremony in Sacramento. ' It takes two days' worth of tempestuous argument, but the men negotiate convergence at Promontory Summit, Utah. June 18: The first passenger train rumbles across the Sierras into Reno. David Bain, Writer:Up the Platte River Valley, the railroad is going up right through the center of this place. Illinois. In a remarkable feat of strength and organization, his Central Pacific crews lay an unheard-of 10 miles of rail between sunrise and sunset. Meanwhile, Credit Mobilier was paying out huge sums to Durant, the Ames brothers, and other stockholders -- including the wife of Union Pacific's grasping chief engineer, Grenville Dodge. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Transcontinental Railroad: Across the ContinentThe Transcontinental Railroad was one of the Pacific Railroads. To meet its manpower needs, the Central Pacific hired thousands of Chinese labourers, including many recruited from farms in Canton.