Transcontinental Railroad

The Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads raced to span the continent, each laying as many miles of steel rail as possible to gain more government money, and in the rugged Sierra this required 15 tunnels cut through solid granite with black powder, nitroglycerine, and hand labor. In 1866 the railroad reached Summit Valley, where 8,000 Chinese workers and a few white workers toiled on grading, rail laying, and tunnel building, supported by camps along the route. Theodore Judah was confident he could conquer the Sierra and laid out the route, and the railroad was built despite labor shortages, strikes, accidents, floods, geography, fire, avalanche, and severe winter weather. Judah misjudged the snow over Donner Summit, and after 44 snowstorms in the winter of 1866 and snowfall that could average 35 feet on the summit and reach 60 feet, 40 miles of snowsheds were built to protect the tracks. The Central Pacific also secured higher construction fees by shifting the official beginning of the Sierra westward. When the railroad was completed in 1869, a ribbon of steel joined the nation, encouraged migration to California, allowed its bounty to be shared more widely, and cut travel from New York to San Francisco to $140 and 6 days, 20 hours instead of the six months once required by wagon trains.

California · United States