To link the United States from east to west.
25b. In 1869, a golden spike linked the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah. The development of railroads was one of the most important phenomena of the Industrial Revolution. From the founding of the Central Pacific Railroad line to the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, this website has clear 1800s photographs, documents, and records of every aspect of railroad history. Enter Your Zip Code to Connect with a Lawyer Serving Your Area. The Pacific Railway Act -- signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 -- provided Federal support for the building of the first transcontinental railroad, stretching from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.  Transcontinental railroads in and near the United States (1887). A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. 1 One motive for the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico in 1853 was to obtain suitable terrain for a southern transcontinental railroad, as the southern portion of the Mexican Cession was too mountainous. 2  The Southern Pacific Railroad was completed in 1881. Central Pacific railroad. These two railroad companies built the first transcontinental railroad, a Railroad company that built 1,086 miles of railroad along a north central route westward from Omaha and linked up with the Central pacific, completed in 1869. transcontinental railroad. Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west, A railroad that stretches across a continent from coast to coast. Overview. Using a variety of maps, students assess the need for a transcontinental railroad in the 1860's. They then analyze two founding documents for the settlement of the West, the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act both passed by Congress in 1862. 1 understand the need for a Transcontinental Railroad, appreciate the effect the railroad had on American life from a variety of perspectives (promoters, settlers, Chinese immigrants, American Indians), and become astute analyzers of primary source material and effective writers in a variety of genres. Six years after the groundbreaking, laborers of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was here on May 10, 1869, that Leland Stanford drove The Last Spike (or golden spike) that joined the rails of the transcontinental railroad. From Ogden, the railroad went north of the Great Salt Lake to Brigham City and Corinne, Utah using Mormon workers, before finally connecting with the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory Summit in Utah territory on May 10, 1869. George J. Gould attempted to assemble a truly transcontinental system in the 1900s. The line from San Francisco, California, to Toledo, Ohio, was completed in 1909, consisting of the Western Pacific Railway, Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the Wabash Railroad. 1 One motive for the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico in 1853 was to obtain suitable terrain for a southern transcontinental railroad, as the southern portion of the Mexican Cession was too mountainous. 2  The Southern Pacific Railroad was completed in 1881. Introduction. In 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, and tasked them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Two Competing Companies. By the terms of the bill, the Central Pacific Railroad Company would start building in Sacramento and continue east across the Sierra Nevada, while a second company, the Union Pacific Railroad, would build westward from the Missouri River, near the Iowa-Nebraska border. Transcontinental Railroad summary: The First Transcontinental Railroad was built crossing the western half of America and it was pieced together between 1863 and 1869. It was 1,776 miles long and served for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States to be connected by rail for the first time in history. 
http://www.ushistory.org/us/25b.asp http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/content/pac-rr-act.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_railroad https://quizlet.com/4432224/apush-chapter-24-flash-cards/ http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/lesson01.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_railroad http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad http://www.historynet.com/transcontinental-railroad
what was the purpose of the transcontinental railroad