1 / 7

Railroads

Railroads. Linking the Nation. Pacific Railway Act. Signed in 1862 Union Pacific and Central Pacific, two railroad companies, would create a transcontinental railroad Each company offered land along the route as incentive. Union Pacific Begins Construction. Grenville Dodge- engineer

erol
Download Presentation

Railroads

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Railroads Linking the Nation

  2. Pacific Railway Act • Signed in 1862 • Union Pacific and Central Pacific, two railroad companies, would create a transcontinental railroad • Each company offered land along the route as incentive

  3. Union Pacific Begins Construction • Grenville Dodge- engineer • Laborers faced dire circumstances • Workers came from all walks of life • Veterans, immigrants, frustrated miners and farmers, adventurers, ex-convicts, etc. • Rough life with drinking, gambling, and fighting

  4. Central Pacific Begins Construction • Big Four • Leland Stanford, Charley Crocker, Mark Hopkins, and Collis P. Huntington • Invested in CP Railroad Company • Made LOTS of money • Also hired many immigrants • 10,000 workers from California

  5. Impact on Industrialization • Railroad encouraged industrialization • Increased the size of markets for many products • Helped economy by spending loads of money on steel, coal, and timber • Railroad consolidation • Lots of unconnected lines to single rail transportation • Cornelius Vanderbilt- first line from NY to Chicago

  6. Other Impacts • Four time zones • Pacific, Mountain , Central, and Eastern • Helped unite Americans from dif. regions • Sped up long-distance travel • Cheaper travel

  7. Robber Barons vs. Captain of Industry • Many accused of making their fortunes dishonestly • Bribing govt., cheating contracts, swindling taxpayers, etc. • Jay Gould • Insider trading- used inside info about the railroad to manipulate stock prices to his benefit • Others gave back to the community • James J. Hill- Great Northern Railroad

More Related