Transcontinental Railroad Historical Timeline
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The Transcontinental Railroad
By Liane Hicks
The first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was a feat of ingenuity and engineering. It opened up the way for new cities, industries, and opportunities for immigrants and settlers. However, it also led to the decimation of Native American nations and the environment as well as a racist backlash against immigrants. Engage students with Storyboard That premade activities!
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Storyboard Description
Create a timeline of how the Transcontinental Railroad came to be! Highlight important events like the gold rush, and more.
Storyboard Text
- GOLD RUSH BEGINS
- "GOLD, BOYS, GOLD!"-James Marshall
- U.S. TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
- Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill, California by James Marshall, sparking the Gold Rush. By 1849, around 90,000 "forty-niners" moved to California to find gold!
- CALIFORNIA BECOMES A STATE
- California is officially admitted to the Union as the 31st state. It is a "free state" where slavery will be illegal.
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- THEODORE JUDAH FINDS ROUTE
- "I am going to California to be the pioneering railroad engineer of the Pacific coast!"
- Theodore Judah was an engineer who believed in building a railroad to connect the eastern and western United States. He discovered the ideal route for the Pacific Railroad through the Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains. "Crazy Judah" was a central figure in the establishment of the railroad. He found investors for what became the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR).
- PACIFIC RAILWAY ACT
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- "There is nothing more important before the nation than the building of the railroad to the Pacific."
- President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act which authorized the Central Pacific Railroad Company to build a line of track from Sacramento and mandated the Union Pacific Railroad Company to build west from the Missouri River. No meeting point was set. The bill promised each company 6400 acres of land and $48,000 in government bonds for each mile built.
- Pacific Railway Act
- A. Lincoln
- CENTRAL PACIFIC BEGINS
- UNION PACIFIC BEGINS
- The Central Pacific Railroad Company began work building the railroad from Sacramento eastward. On Oct. 26, 1863, it spiked its first rails to ties.
- CHINESE WORKERS EMPLOYED ON CENTRAL PACIFIC
- It is backbreaking work but I can slowly save for my family to join me and have a better life.
- The Union Pacific Railroad Company began work building the railroad from Omaha Nebraska westward. On Dec. 2, 1863, the company held a groundbreaking ceremony in Omaha, Nebraska.
- CPR began to employ people who were Chinese immigrants as laborers in addition to their predominantly Irish immigrant labor force. It is estimated that 12,000 Chinese immigrants and 10,000 Irish immigrants worked on the transcontinental railroad. Chinese people were paid less than people of European descent.
- CIVIL WAR VETERANS SEEK WORK ON RAILROADS
- It is backbreaking work but I can slowly save for my family to join me and have a better life.
- After the Civil War ended, thousands of veterans headed west to seek work on the railroads. Many found work on the Union Pacific Railroad company along with many Irish immigrants.
- GOLDEN SPIKE AT PROMONTORY POINT
- On May 10, 1969 the first transcontinental railroad was officially completed as the Union Pacific line from the east and the Central Pacific line from the west joined their 1,700 miles of track. Representatives from both companies took turns driving the final golden spike into the ground during a ceremony at Promontory Point in Utah.
- CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
- On May 6, 1882, the United States Congress passed the racist Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited any further immigration of people from China. This Act was particularly egregious in that it ignored the heroic and crucial role Chinese people played in the construction of the transcontinental railroad.
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