The Transcontinental Railroad meant the country was finally united, coast to coast.
In the 1860s, it was decided the two major railroad companies of the U.S., the Central Pacific Railroad Company and the Union Pacific Railroad Company, were to connect their tracks and at last link the nation with one continuous route across the continent.
The project went on for nearly the entire decade, utilizing the skills of Chinese, Mexican and Irish immigrants, alongside Native Americans, who all endured the dry southwest air, harsh conditions, and endless days of taxing labor.
In the end, their work brought together a nation, and completed a feat of engineering the world had never seen before.
1
Railroad workers laying ties and rails by hand in Nebraska.
Circa 1860s
2
Trestle on Central Pacific Railroad.
1868
3
113 Falcon, a Danforth 4-4-0 locomotive, at Argenta, Nevada.
March 1, 1869
4
Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad gather on the 100th meridian, which later became Cozad, Nebraska.
1866
5
Rail bending crew at 10-mile Canyon, Humboldt River, Nevada.
Circa 1860s
6
Telegraph corps at work, Weber Canyon, Utah.
Circa 1860s
7
Union Pacific workers eat at their camp in Utah's Uinta Mountains.
Circa 1860s
8
Union Pacific rolling mill workers, Wyoming.
Circa 1860s
9
Mormon workers digging the Union Pacific's Deep Cut #1 through Weber Canyon.
Utah, 1868
10
Central Pacific workers laying rail at the end of track, Humboldt Plains, Nevada.
Circa 1860s
11
Chinese laborers at work in a cut.
Circa 1860s
12
A Chinese tea carrier outside the east portal of tunnel #8 through the Sierras.
Circa 1860s
13
Native American men and women of the Shoshone tribe pose near tepees in Wyoming Territory. Chief Washakie stands with a wooden shaft and a saw.
Circa 1860s
14
CPRR snow galleries allowed construction to continue in heavy snow.
1868
15
Construction crews tunneling westward on the Union Pacific at Utah’s Weber Canyon.
Circa 1860s
16
Central Pacific Railroad at Cape Horn.
Circa 1880
17
Dale Creek Bridge
Wyoming, 1864
18
The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad, Utah.
May 10th, 1869
19
The Central Pacific's engine Jupiter and the Union Pacific's engine No. 119 meet at Promontory Summit, Utah.
May 10th, 1869
20
A native American man looking over the newly completed transcontinental railroad in Nevada, 1869
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