What was life like before the transcontinental railroad?

What was life like before the transcontinental railroad?

Railroad track had to be laid over 2,000 miles of rugged terrain, including mountains of solid granite. Before the transcontinental railroad was completed, travel overland by stagecoach cost $1,000, took five or six months, and involved crossing rugged mountains and arid desert.

What was used before railroads?

At the beginning of the century, U.S. citizens and immigrants to the country traveled primarily by horseback or on the rivers. After a while, crude roads were built and then canals. Before long the railroads crisscrossed the country moving people and goods with greater efficiency.

How did the transcontinental railroad change America?

Just as it opened the markets of the west coast and Asia to the east, it brought products of eastern industry to the growing populace beyond the Mississippi. The railroad ensured a production boom, as industry mined the vast resources of the middle and western continent for use in production.

What led to the transcontinental railroad?

In 1865, after struggling with retaining workers due to the difficulty of the labor, Charles Crocker (who was in charge of construction for the Central Pacific) began hiring Chinese laborers. By that time, some 50,000 Chinese immigrants were living on the West Coast, many having arrived during the Gold Rush.

When did the transcontinental railroad come to America?

Wait for the Railroad: In 1851, a railroad crossing the U.S. seems like a dream. The dream comes true on May 10, 1869 with the completion of the transcontinental rail-road. The train takes only four days from Omaha, Nebraska, to San Francisco.

What did people need to travel before the transcontinental railroad?

You will need a wagon, horses or mules, and supplies. The journey can take months. Along the way people die from accidents, hunger, raids by Indians or outlaws, and–most of all–disease.

How much did it cost to build the transcontinental railroad?

Two companies were hired — the Central Pacific would build from the west and the Union Pacific from the east. Besides land grants along the right-of-way, each railroad was paid $16,000 per mile ($9,940/km) that was built over an easy grade, $32,000 per mile ($19,880/km) in the high plains, and $48,000 per mile ($29,830/km) in the mountains.

Who was the promoter of the transcontinental railroad?

Chief promoter of a transcontinental railroad was Asa Whitney, a New York merchant active in the China trade who was obsessed with the idea of a railroad to the Pacific. In January 1845 he petitioned Congress for a charter and grant of a sixty-mile strip through the public domain to help finance construction.