Transcontinental Railroad Research Paper

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Pages: 3

Bang! Bang! The sound of the heavy hammer hitting the metal ties rang in Will’s ears. He hated this job, pounding in spikes from sun-up to sunset. His father had decided to help build the Transcontinental Railroad and he had gotten pulled along. The day the two had arrived at the worksite Will had been assigned the job of pounding in the railroad ties because he was the “youngest, and spryest”. He shot a glare over at his father and in return he got a sympathetic smile. This was hard work, building a railroad. The sun was in full force and it was beating down mercilessly. The sun rays stung his eyes and he had to squint. It didn’t help any and the sweat was pouring from his head into his eyes and mixing with the dust that covered his sun-tanned face, creating a muddy mix. He took a drink from his canteen and started to sit down when the workman, Mr. Smith, hollered and told him to get back to work. Will heaved a heavy sigh and then reached …show more content…
Theodore Judah, a railroad surveyor, talked to Congress about the idea of building a railroad that would connect the east to the west.
The Transcontinental Railroad was a contiguous railroad reaching from San Francisco Bay to Central Bluffs, Missouri. Its main purpose was to connect the state of California to the rest of the Union during the Civil War. The railroad was built by three individual companies, the Western Pacific Railroad Company, the Central Pacific Railroad Company, and the Union Pacific Railroad Company. It took a total of six years to finish, from 1863 to 1869. On May, 10, 1869, in Tremonton, Utah, the last spike was pounded in and the Transcontinental Railroad was finished.
The key men involved with the building of the railroad were Theodore Judah, Grenville Dodge, Abraham Lincoln, Collis P. Huntington, Thomas C. Durant, Leland Stanford, Oakes Ames, and Charles