Download
1 / 33
E N D
Extra, Extra! It’s finally happened! Scientists have created a machine that will allow people to transport to other places instantly! Travelers simply step into a box at their departure site and arrive in a box at their destination within seconds! Cities all over the world have purchased these machines, hoping that it will increase travel and tourism in their areas. • Where would you travel if this happened? • What would be a positive or negative consequence from this type of technology?
The Transcontinental Railroad • Railroads had already transformed life in the East, but at the end of the Civil War railroad tracks still stopped at the Missouri River. For a quarter of a century, men had dreamed of building a line from coast to coast. Now they would attempt to lay 1,775 miles of track from Omaha to Sacramento
Union and Central • In 1862, Congress gave charters to two companies to build these tracks. The Central Pacific was to push eastward from Sacramento, over the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Union Pacific was to start from Omaha Nebraska, cross the great plains and cut through the Rockies.
Why Build a Transcontinental Railroad? • Growth of West Coast • West Coast gold and silver • Shorter trip to move West • Connect East with West for business • Solidify the Union • Achieve Manifest Destiny
Getting Started… • Choosing a route • Congress ordered surveys in 1853 • Debates between north and south about route • No free-state politicians would approve funds for a railroad that would spread slavery • Northerners won when South seceded • Conquering the Sierra Nevada • Giant, rocky, snowy obstacle for the engineers • Found a route through Donner Pass in 1860
Getting Started…(cont’d) • Gaining government support • Needed government cooperation, money, and LAND • Government was on board, but occupied by Civil War • Who will pay? • Big Four (Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins, Crocker) • Created and chaired Central Pacific Railroad • Thomas Durant • Ames Brothers Bought most of the Union Pacific stock
Who Made it Possible? • The Pacific Central “Big Four” were Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker.
The Central Pacific Railroad made these four investors some of the wealthiest men in America. Stanford Huntington Hopkins Crocker
Workers • In 1865, Crocker, in charge of construction, found a solution to their work force problem. Besides hiring Irish immigrants who worked for low pay, the Central pacific Railroad employed over 10,000 Chinese immigrants.
Who Made it Possible? • Key Players • Theodore Judah • Grenville Dodge • Both understood the great benefits of a transcontinental railroad • Both devoted their lives to making sure the plan was carried out Railroad experts who conducted land surveys, worked with the government, and found investors for railroad Grenville Dodge
What Made it Possible? • Pacific Railway Act • Passed July 1, 1862 • Created Union Pacific to build road from the East and meet the Central Pacific • Provided companies 5 alternating plots of land on each side of the road for each mile along the route • Allowed $16,000 for each mile of flat land, $32,000 for hills, and $48,000 for mountain terrain • Revised in 1864 to allow companies more land and privileges
The Game Plan • Central Pacific Railroad • Begin in Sacramento, CA • Broke ground January 1863 • Union Pacific Railroad • Begin in Omaha, NE • Broke ground in late 1863 but no tracks laid until 1865 • Route along the 42nd Parallel • Meeting place: Promontory Summit, UT
Impact of the Railroads • Before the railroads, each town kept its own time, based on the position of the sun. Railroad companies, however, needed more exact time tables. They devised a system with four time zones – eastern, central, mountain and pacific time. Every place within the same time zone observed the same time.
The Impact of the Railroads • In 1864, George Pullman designed a railroad sleeping car.
The Impact of the Railroads • In 1869, George Westinghouse helped make railway travel safer and faster with the invention of a new air brake. On early trains, each railroad car had its own brakes and brake operator. If different cars stopped at different times, accidents resulted. The new air brake allowed an engineer to stop all the cars at once.
The Impact of the Railroads • The railroads spurred economic growth. Steel-workers turned millions of tons of iron into steel for tracks and engines. Lumberjacks supplied wood for railroad ties. Miners dug coal to fuel the engines. The railroads opened every corner of the country to settlement and growth.
Significance of the Railroad • Biggest and best engineering project of its time • Made the country smaller • Helped spur interest in Homestead Act • Improved communication • The beginning of the end for Native Americans • Led to other transcontinental railroads and shorter branches
Novinger Area • La Plata is serviced by Amtrak's Southwest Chief which runs along the BNSF Railway. • Kirksville once had two operational railroads that ran through town. • The east-west rail line became known as the Burlington Northern in 1970 and was later removed. • Kirksville’s other railroad, the Wabash Railroad, ran north to south, and In late September 1997, the tracks through Kirksville were torn down leaving the city without a rail line.
Novinger Area • Novinger history began at the time when the Pacific Railroad was extending westward from Kirksville. John C. Novinger, who owned the farm across which the railroad was to run. At first he objected to it's crossing his farm, but by a compromise with the officials of the railroad he agreed that it could do so, provided a depot would be built on his land and be called "Novinger."
Novinger Area • The station was soon to become more than a stop on the map. Forestry was the first industry of the Novinger area. Railroad ties, and other timber products were loaded on the trains at Novinger and shipped out by the trainload for several years.
Novinger Area • The O.K. Railroad was built through Novinger in 1878-1879. The Iowa & St. Louis Railroad was built in 1900-1901. At one time several coal trains loaded with tons and tons of coal left Novinger each day to markets all over the mid-west. The financial benefits from the sale of this coal was a major part of the prosperity of the whole area for years.
Novinger Area • The railroads had pulled out by 1950, and the last mine, Billy Creek Coal Mine southwest of Novinger, closed in January 1966.
Bibliography Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Build the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000. Cooper-Winter, Rebecca. Eastward to Promontory. 30 July 2007. CPRR.org. 12 Oct. 2008. http://cprr.org/Museum/Galloway_Judah_ASCE/index.html#006 “Grand TorchlightProcession and Illumination on Account of the Pacific Railroad Act.” San Francisco Bulletin. Vol. 14, Iss. 81, Pg 3. (11 July 1862) Pictures: http://west.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/pager.php?id=53 Map: http://www.tcrr.com/Transcontinental-Railroad-map-wiki.jpg
Let’s Build a Railroad! • Look at your index card • Go to the starting point for your railroad • Find the workers whose cards have the same color dot as yours • The person whose card is marked with an “S” is the supervisor • Supervisors • Hand out tasks at each stop • Read information aloud to other workers
Let’s Build a Railroad! • Stop at each city in order • Read information provided and use it to complete the tasks for that station • Each task sheet will act as a railroad tie • When finished, fold paper in half with colored dot on top and lay on the rails • After all ties are laid at a station, gather as a group for an “overnight camp” • Discuss the questions on your worksheet for that station
Keep in Mind… • You do not need to stay at the station to complete the tasks…use the room! • You will be graded on your answers, so take your time and do quality work • Make sure to lay ties how they are placed on actual rails (Hint: not piled on top of each other!)
