Events that Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later

Events that Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later PDF Author: Anyone Pierucci
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company
ISBN: 1620235528
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
In the 21st century, it’s easy to get from New York to California — take a road trip, board a plane, or hop on a train; you’ll be there in no time. The continental United States is separated by mere hours. But back in the 19th century, a journey from New York to California required voyaging around the entire continent by sea in disease- and vermin-infested ships or trekking across great stretches of unknown wilderness by covered wagon, a perilous journey that could take up to a year. But the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 changed everything. Travel was no longer relegated to the very rich or the very courageous. The average American could now make the coast-to-coast expedition in a matter of days for less than $150. It may seem like a railroad that spanned the massive continent was an obvious solution, but it wasn’t as simple as just laying some tracks. Such a feat was a high-risk business venture that most couldn’t envision ever being completed. The transcontinental railway was possible because of dreamers like Asa Whitney and Theodore Judah, the cutthroat businessmen who invested monetarily, and the millions of laborers who invested their own blood, sweat, and tears. into an unimaginably immense and momentous display of human ingenuity. Events That Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later follows the transcontinental railway’s history, from the creation of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies (and the backroom dealing that made them possible) to the Credit Mobilier scandal and strikes on the front lines that threatened to upend the entire project. The transcontinental railway changed the course of history, setting us on a path to expansion that opened the door to the West like never before. Take a journey and learn more about the unimaginably immense and momentous display of human ingenuity that forever changed American life.

Events that Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later

Events that Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later PDF Author: Anyone Pierucci
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company
ISBN: 1620235528
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
In the 21st century, it’s easy to get from New York to California — take a road trip, board a plane, or hop on a train; you’ll be there in no time. The continental United States is separated by mere hours. But back in the 19th century, a journey from New York to California required voyaging around the entire continent by sea in disease- and vermin-infested ships or trekking across great stretches of unknown wilderness by covered wagon, a perilous journey that could take up to a year. But the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 changed everything. Travel was no longer relegated to the very rich or the very courageous. The average American could now make the coast-to-coast expedition in a matter of days for less than $150. It may seem like a railroad that spanned the massive continent was an obvious solution, but it wasn’t as simple as just laying some tracks. Such a feat was a high-risk business venture that most couldn’t envision ever being completed. The transcontinental railway was possible because of dreamers like Asa Whitney and Theodore Judah, the cutthroat businessmen who invested monetarily, and the millions of laborers who invested their own blood, sweat, and tears. into an unimaginably immense and momentous display of human ingenuity. Events That Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later follows the transcontinental railway’s history, from the creation of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies (and the backroom dealing that made them possible) to the Credit Mobilier scandal and strikes on the front lines that threatened to upend the entire project. The transcontinental railway changed the course of history, setting us on a path to expansion that opened the door to the West like never before. Take a journey and learn more about the unimaginably immense and momentous display of human ingenuity that forever changed American life.

The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later

The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later PDF Author: Antone R. E. Pierucci
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group Incorporated
ISBN: 9781620235515
Category : Railroads
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"This book is an in-depth narration of the events leading up to and during the construction of the first transcontinental railway"--

A Timeline History of the Transcontinental Railroad

A Timeline History of the Transcontinental Railroad PDF Author: Alison Behnke
Publisher: Lerner Classroom
ISBN: 146778642X
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
"This book provides historical context on key events related to the construction of the American Transcontinental Railroad. The timeline format offers a visual overview to accompany the text"--Provided by publisher.

After Promontory

After Promontory PDF Author: Keith L. Bryant
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253039630
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
“Some of the most accomplished scholars of railroad history…tell the story of these enterprises which totally re-shaped the western landscape.”—The Michigan Railfan After Promontory profiles the history and heritage behind the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. Starting with the original Union Pacific—Central Pacific lines that met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, the book expands the narrative by considering all of the transcontinental routes in the United States and examining their impact on building this great nation. Exquisitely illustrated with full color photographs, After Promontory divides the western United States into three regions—central, southern, and northern—and offers a deep look at the transcontinental routes of each one. Included are contributions by such renowned railroad historians as Maury Klein, Keith Bryant, Don Hofsommer, H. Roger Grant, and Rob Krebs. Includes photos

Nothing Like It In the World

Nothing Like It In the World PDF Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780743203173
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.

The Story of the First Trans-continental Railroad

The Story of the First Trans-continental Railroad PDF Author: William Francis Bailey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description


The Transcontinental Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad PDF Author: Michael V. Uschan
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC
ISBN: 1420513001
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
This colorful and easy-to-read volume presents background of the Transcontinental railroad, including the increasing demand for land and the partnership between government and wealthy individuals. It tells the tale of how more than 1,700 miles of track were built through mountains and deserts by using mere shovels and picks. The book explains the impact of the railroad on the nation's settlement and how Native Americans lost their land to white homesteaders. Readers will learn about the technical challenges and huge scale of the task overcome by the hard labor of thousands of workers to connect the nation across itself.

The Transcontinental Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad PDF Author: Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781544894102
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts written by newspapers, railroad workers and executives *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "The necessity that now exists for constructing lines of railroad and telegraphic communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of this continent is no longer a question for argument; it is conceded by every one. In order to maintain our present position on the Pacific, we must have some more speedy and direct means of intercourse than is at present afforded by the route through the possessions of a foreign power." - 1856 report made by the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph of the U.S. House of Representatives The Transcontinental Railroad, laid across the United States during the 1860s, remains the very epitome of contradiction. On the one hand, it was a triumph of engineering skills over thousands of miles of rough terrain, but on the other hand, it drained the natural resources in those places nearly dry. It "civilized" the American West by making it easier for women and children to travel there, but it dispossessed Native American civilizations that had lived there for generations. It made the careers of many men and destroyed the lives from many others. It was bold and careless, ingenious and cruel, gentle and violent, and it enriched some and bankrupted others. In short, it was the best and worst of 19th century America in action. As settlers pushed west and the Gold Rush brought an influx of Americans to California, the need for something like the Transcontinental Railroad was apparent to the government in the 1850s, and with the help of private companies, government officials conducted all kinds of land surveys in order to plot a course. Of course, even once a route was chosen, the backbreaking work itself had to be done to connect railroad lines across the span of nearly 2,000 miles. This required an incredible amount of manpower, often consisting of unskilled laborers engaging in dangerous work, and the financial resources poured into it were also extreme. J. . O. Wilder, a Central Pacific-Southern Pacific employee, described a typical scene: "The Chinese were as steady, hard-working a set of men as could be found. With the exception of a few whites at the west end of Tunnel No. 6, the laboring force was entirely composed of Chinamen with white foremen and a 'boss/translator'. A single foreman (often Irish) with a gang of 30 to 40 Chinese men generally constituted the force at work at each end of a tunnel; of these, 12 to 15 men worked on the heading, and the rest on the bottom, removing blasted material. When a gang was small or the men were needed elsewhere, the bottoms were worked with fewer men or stopped so as to keep the headings going." Ultimately, the project was considered so important that work on it progressed throughout the Civil War, and it took the better part of the 1860s before it was finally completed. Once the railroad was in place, it proved a boon to building up the American West, especially the Southwest and Pacific Northwest in places like Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. The Transcontinental Railroad chronicles the construction of the railroad that connected America's coasts. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Transcontinental Railroad like never before, in no time at all.

The Transcontinental Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad PDF Author: Michael Rajczak
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group
ISBN: 1482405989
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
The transcontinental railroad didnt really cross North America. In fact, the famed rail building that took place in the 1860s only completed the stretch from Nebraska to California! Readers will learn many new facts about the transcontinental railroad to augment what they learn in the social studies classroom. Historical images drive home the reality of a 12-hour workday, poor treatment of Chinese immigrant workers, and the dangerous tunneling through the Sierra Nevada. Fact boxes will further fascinate readers with one of the greatest industrial marvels of US history.

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow PDF Author: Dee Brown
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453274200
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
“A fascinating story” of the railways that linked America from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (The Washington Post). Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blow unspools the history of the beginnings of the American railroad system. By the mid-nineteenth century, settlers in Missouri and California were separated by a vast landscape that dwarfed and isolated them, conquerable only by “the demonic power of the Iron Horse and its bands of iron track.” Although the building of the great railroad is commonly known as a story of romance, adventure, and progress, it also has a dark side, as profiteers decimated American Indian tribes, exploited workers, and destroyed ecosystems. Despite this, by the turn of the twentieth century, five major railroads would span the continent. This account vividly illustrates the railroad builders’ breathtaking skill, ambition, and ingenuity. . Brown compellingly tells a high-stakes tale, an exhilarating history that still holds lessons for today. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dee Brown including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.