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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.05.15 14:40l 56 Lines 2582 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 55418_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 10
Path: IZ3LSV<IW8PGT<IW7BFZ<I3XTY<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ
Sent: 150510/1332Z 55418@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1869
Transcontinental railroad completed
On this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a
ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their
railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible
for the first time in U.S. history. No longer would western-bound
travelers need to take the long and dangerous journey by wagon
train, and the West would surely lose some of its wild charm with
the new connection to the civilized East.
Since at least 1832, both Eastern and frontier statesmen realized
a need to connect the two coasts. It was not until 1853, though,
that Congress appropriated funds to survey several routes for the
transcontinental railroad. The actual building of the railroad
would have to wait even longer, as North-South tensions prevented
Congress from reaching an agreement on where the line would
begin.
One year into the Civil War, a Republican-controlled Congress
passed the Pacific Railroad Act (1862), guaranteeing public land
grants and loans to the two railroads it chose to build the
transcontinental line, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific.
With these in hand, the railroads began work in 1866 from Omaha
and Sacramento, forging a northern route across the country. In
their eagerness for land, the two lines built right past each
other, and the final meeting place had to be renegotiated.
Harsh winters, staggering summer heat, Indian raids and the
lawless, rough-and-tumble conditions of newly settled western
towns made conditions for the Union Pacific laborers-mainly Civil
War veterans of Irish descent-miserable. The overwhelmingly
immigrant Chinese work force of the Central Pacific also had its
fair share of problems, including brutal 12-hour work days laying
tracks over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On more than one
occasion, whole crews would be lost to avalanches, or mishaps
with explosives would leave several dead.
For all the adversity they suffered, the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific workers were able to finish the railroad-laying
nearly 2,000 miles of track-by 1869, ahead of schedule and under
budget. Journeys that had taken months by wagon train or weeks by
boat now took only days. Their work had an immediate impact: The
years following the construction of the railway were years of
rapid growth and expansion for the United States, due in large
part to the speed and ease of travel that the railroad provided.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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