![]() Mills, Samuel Bell, Louis McLal1e, George W. Armstrong Beatty, John Corby, of Missouri S. L'Hommedieu, John Brough, William Dennison, Jacob Blickinsderfer, of Ohio William M. Harker, of New Jersey John Edgar Thompson, Benjamin Haywood, Joseph H. Wilson, of New York Ephraim Marsh, Charles M. Tilton, John Anderson, Azariah Boody, John S. Bushnell, Henry Hammond, of Connecticut Isaac Sherman, Dean Richmond, Royal Phelps, William H. Cheever, Charles Fosdick Fletcher, of Rhode Island Augustus Brewster, Henry P. Congress eventually authorized four transcontinental railroads and granted 174 million acres of public lands for rights-of-way.īegun and Held at the City of Washington in the District of Columbia on Monday the second day of December one thousand eight hundred and sixty oneĪn Act To aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes.īe it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Walter S. The completion of the transcontinental railroad shortened a journey of several months to about one week. ![]() On May 10, 1869, the last rails were laid and the last spike was driven in during a ceremony at Promontory, UT. Each company faced unprecedented construction problems, severe weather, and conflict with American Indians, whose ancestral lands were transected by the railroads. Beginning in 1863, the Union Pacific, employing more than 8,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, built west from Omaha, NE the Central Pacific, whose workforce included over 10,000 Chinese laborers, built eastward from Sacramento, CA. The legislation authorized two railroad companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to construct the lines. The Act aided in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and secured the use of that line to the government. In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act, which designated the 32nd parallel as the initial transcontinental route, and provided government bonds to fund the project and large grants of lands for rights-of-way. ![]() In the 1850s, Congress commissioned several topographical surveys across the West to determine the best route for a railroad, but private corporations were reluctant to undertake the task without Federal assistance. The question of "internal improvements" was frequently before Congress in the 19th century: Should Congress assist in improving the country’s transportation system? One such improvement was the dream of constructing a railroad that would cross the entire country. ![]()
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