First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was the line completed on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific tracks met, linking the eastern US rail network with California.
What happened and why it matters
The transcontinental railroad turned a coast-to-coast journey of months by wagon or ship into about a week by train, creating the first national freight market in the US. The Central Pacific built east from Sacramento, largely with Chinese laborers, and the Union Pacific built west from Nebraska, meeting at Promontory Summit after laying about 1,776 miles of track between them. The news went out by telegraph as a single word, done. Western farms, mines, and towns could now ship goods east and receive manufactured goods in return, the base of today's rail intermodal corridors that carry imported containers inland from West Coast ports.
People
Related events
Sources
- Transcontinental railroad britannica.com
- First transcontinental railroad en.wikipedia.org
- Utah: Golden Spike National Historic Site nps.gov