transcontinental rail line
Learn about this topic in these articles:
CanadaThe transcontinental railwayWith the addition of British Columbia, Canada extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. To maintain that vast area and to ensure its independence from the United States, it was necessary to build a railway to the west coast. In 1872 an effort…
Read MoreWith the addition of British Columbia, Canada extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. To maintain that vast area and to ensure its independence from the United States, it was necessary to build a railway to the west coast. In 1872 an effort…
Read More
railroadCanadian railroads… posed a serious obstacle to transcontinental planning. British Columbia, then a British crown colony, was concerned about the impact of an influx of gold prospectors from the United States, and it sought to join the Canadian confederation. In 1871 Prime Minister John A. Macdonald offered British Columbia a railroad connection…
Read More… posed a serious obstacle to transcontinental planning. British Columbia, then a British crown colony, was concerned about the impact of an influx of gold prospectors from the United States, and it sought to join the Canadian confederation. In 1871 Prime Minister John A. Macdonald offered British Columbia a railroad connection…
Read More
Central Pacific Railroad…part of the first American transcontinental rail line. The line was first conceived and surveyed by an engineer, Theodore Dehone Judah, who obtained the financial backing of the California group and won federal support in the form of the Pacific Railway Act (1862), which provided land grants and subsidies to…
Read More…part of the first American transcontinental rail line. The line was first conceived and surveyed by an engineer, Theodore Dehone Judah, who obtained the financial backing of the California group and won federal support in the form of the Pacific Railway Act (1862), which provided land grants and subsidies to…
Read More- railroadThe transcontinental railroad
The first public proposal for such a line was made by the New York City merchant Asa Whitney in 1844. At that time the United States did not hold outright possession of land west of the Rockies, though it exercised joint occupation of…
Read MoreThe first public proposal for such a line was made by the New York City merchant Asa Whitney in 1844. At that time the United States did not hold outright possession of land west of the Rockies, though it exercised joint occupation of…
Read More 
United StatesThe expansion of the railroads…together would provide the first railroad link between the Mississippi valley and the Pacific coast. One was the Union Pacific, to run westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa; the other was the Central Pacific, to run eastward from Sacramento, California. To encourage the rapid completion of those roads, Congress provided generous…
Read More…together would provide the first railroad link between the Mississippi valley and the Pacific coast. One was the Union Pacific, to run westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa; the other was the Central Pacific, to run eastward from Sacramento, California. To encourage the rapid completion of those roads, Congress provided generous…
Read More- Pacific Railway Acts
…for the construction of a transcontinental railroad across the United States.
Read More…for the construction of a transcontinental railroad across the United States.
Read More 
telegraphDevelopment of the telegraph industry…1861 it completed the first transcontinental telegraph line, connecting San Francisco to the Midwest and then on to the East Coast. After the Union Pacific Railroad was finished in 1869, much of the line was relocated to run along the railroad right-of-way to facilitate maintenance.
Read More…1861 it completed the first transcontinental telegraph line, connecting San Francisco to the Midwest and then on to the East Coast. After the Union Pacific Railroad was finished in 1869, much of the line was relocated to run along the railroad right-of-way to facilitate maintenance.
Read More
Union Pacific Railroad Company…build part of the first transcontinental railroad. Its original line extended 1,006 miles (1,619 km) westward from Omaha, Nebraska, to meet the Central Pacific Railroad, which was being constructed eastward from Sacramento, California. The two lines were joined at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, at what is now the…
Read More…build part of the first transcontinental railroad. Its original line extended 1,006 miles (1,619 km) westward from Omaha, Nebraska, to meet the Central Pacific Railroad, which was being constructed eastward from Sacramento, California. The two lines were joined at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, at what is now the…
Read More