Transcontinental Railroad Research Paper

The Transcontinental Railroad was not only the first massive mode of transportation to connect coast to coast for the United States but it was a race, a major source of immigration, culture, and the livelihood for many who worked on it. Building the railroad wasn’t an easy feat, it had grueling trials on both the manual and non-manual side of the process. The financing for the railroad constituted finding loopholes to get the most government funding possible and finding investors. While the manual workers had to face, tough terrain, angry natives, dangerous explosives, long hours, low pay, hazardous weather conditions and many more. The Transcontinental Railroad was also one of the most committed engineering projects during the 19th century. There was a healthy amount of economic motive in the process and it would organize methods of transportation in the early United States. When in completion, the United States would be completely united from west to east. And as stated by a historian in the movie, “a trip that would have taken one month or longer, now would take only one week, maybe two.” This statement is absurd to think about, a trip usually by caravan is now 2-3 weeks shorter and not to mention safer, was absolutely …show more content…
The building plan emerged as an enormous challenge to those who were employed by the companies. The railroad’s way would extend almost seven hundred miles into unexplored country and desert. People had never dared to begin a journey so far west before where there were no official cities and no determining who they will come across on the way. Laborers had to set up campsites that were often unorganized and crowded with crime. These little “towns” were often made to be picked up and moved as quickly as they were set