The First Transcontinental Railroad

Paul Shin

Comparative Literature 60AC

Professor Masiello / GSI Tara Phillips

November 26, 2016

The First Transcontinental Railroad

The late 18th to early 19th century could be argued to be one of the most socially dynamic periods of American history. At the time, many Americans left their rural lives into cities in search of industrial work. With the influx immigration, overall population of the country grew more ethnically diverse (history.com). And with the development of new entertainment technologies like the radio, the concept of popular culture began to have significant impacts on social norms and identity (Media, Understanding). However in the midst of all the vibrant societal changes, Modernists contemplated and struggled to find meaning in it all. These modern era avant guards wanted to somehow define the new identity of the United States. They wanted to find the new voice of America. For modernist Dos Pasos, he believed that the voice can be found by following the lives of class symbolic characters that travelled across the nation for new opportunities and wealth. And the single transportation development that had the most effect on enabling the characters to move throughout the nation was the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

During the early to mid 19th century when railroads were being laid all over of the east, talks of creating a railway line that connected the wild west and the urban east were prevalent (history.com). However only until the discovery of lucrative gold reserves in the west did politicians and businessmen take the transcontinental railroad seriously (history.com). Some of the incentives for the project included allowing the growing populations in the west access to lively goods and industrial material from the east and the mined gold to be brought back to the east. With the executive support of President Lincoln who believed that the transcontinental railroad would be a positive development for the country, Congress passed a series of acts known as the 1862 and 1864 Pacific Railway Acts that financially incentivized companies to invest into the project (history.com). The acts provided private railroad companies the opportunity to receive huge government subsidized cash rewards and land grants for laying tracks across the nation. But before companies could embark on the task, the issue companies had to solve first was to identify what route to take. On the western end, the “Big Four” which included investors Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins of the Central Pacific decided upon using the route Theodore Judah found after surveying the land (lindahall.com). On the eastern end, the Union Pacific decided on using the route that Greenville Dodge and Peter Dey surveyed (lindahall.com). Combined, the first transcontinental railroad route had been finalized to pass through Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.

Both companies faced many challenges along the way. The Union Pacific main workforce comprised mainly of Irish immigrants and Civil War Veterans. The Union Pacific faced series of attacks from Native Indians and lawless bands and harsh winter conditions while laying tracks westward through the American plains and deserts (lindahall.com). The Central Pacific had more trouble initially finding workers. Unlike the Union Pacific, the eastern Irish workers were too far east to bring to the west for work. Thus the company managers at various points tried to hire freed African Americans, Mexican immigrants, and even Confederate prisoners. After seeing all attempts at hiring these groups fail, the company decided to hire Chinese immigrants (lindahall.com). While the company doubted the physique of the Chinese in enduring the type of labor demanded, the Chinese ended up showing exceptional endurance and dedication to the often dangerous job . This caused the Central Pacific’s workforce to be comprised up to 80% of Chinese workers that managed to face daunting tasks of setting tracks eastward through mountains, ravines, and winter blizzards (lindahall.com).

After arduously pushing through their respective difficulties for six years, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met at Promontory, Utah (history.com). A Golden Spike was used to finally complete the first transcontinental railroad that totalled to 1,912 miles of railroad line (pbs.org). With the completion of the first transcontinental railroad the vast nation was made more connected than ever before and spurred unprecedented growth. Travelling across the United States could only take a few days rather than couple of months (history.com. Resources from East and West could expediently be transported for development. Immigrants and unemployed in the east started to move in vast numbers to the west in search of greater opportunities (pbs.oeg). However with understanding that the country was now connected with thousands of miles of steel, a new sense of optimism of unity spread throughout the United States. The May 11, 1869 New York Times issue described that moment as “The long-looked-for moment has arrived. The construction of the Pacific Railroad is un fait accompli. The inhabitants of the Atlantic seaboard and the dwellers on the Pacific slopes are henceforth emphatically one people.” In the end while the tracks did not provide modernists such as Dos Passos the answer to what the singular voice of the nation was, the railroads did manage encourage modernists to continue looking for the it. The sheer symbolism of the newly connected United States gave the sense that while the nation’s people was diverse with various ethnic, cultural, and even political backgrounds there still existed a mutual desire to find unity amongst it all. This desire in this case seemed to have been expressed through the momentous completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

Questions:

1. Other than connecting more people in the country, what other social effects might the completion of the transcontinental railroad have on the country’s population?
2. Do you think the new transportation mediums such as the transcontinental railroad encouraged or discouraged the development of individuality in the growing mass of the United States?

Works Cited

American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

History.com. “First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed.” history.com (2009): n.pag. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

History.com Staff. "U.S. Immigration Before 1965." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

Library, Linda Hall. A brief history of the pacific railway - the transcontinental railroad. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

Media, Understanding, et al. 7.3 Radio’s Impact on Culture. N.p.: Flat World Knowledge, 2007. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.

Network, The Learning. “May 10, 1869 | First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed.” The Learning Network. The Learning Network, 10 May 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

org, CPR R. First transcontinental railroad - central pacific railroad photographic history museum. 1999. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.