Laying nearly 1,900 miles of track across the nation’s frontier was an incredibly difficult job. Workers used picks and shovels to level the land. They chopped down trees. Then they laid out the heavy metal rails and hammered in spikes to hold them in place.
“Workers were out there from sunrise to sunset,” says Lucas Hugie, a park ranger at Promontory Summit’s Golden Spike National Historical Park. “It was heavy labor all done by hand,” he explains.
Most of the people working on the Central Pacific line were Chinese. Many of them—or their parents—had arrived during the California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. Victims of racism, the Chinese were banned from almost all jobs. With limited options, up to 20,000 Chinese people agreed to take the grueling, dangerous railroad work that few white Californians would accept. Even so, they were routinely paid less for longer hours than white workers.
As they progressed eastward, these laborers were confronted with an incredible challenge: the Sierra Nevada mountains. The workers had to dig 15 tunnels through the peaks, most at high elevations and almost completely with hand tools. To loosen the rock, they would chisel holes into it, fill the holes with explosive black powder, then light a fuse and rush to take cover.
While blasting was risky work, the Central Pacific crews were in even more danger from avalanches, which could strike in the mountains at any time. When the snow thawed after the especially hard winter of 1867, bodies of workers who’d been swept up in snowslides were found with their tools still in their hands.
The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869; completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. At center left, Samuel S. Montague, Central Pacific Railroad, shakes hands with Grenville M. Dodge, Union Pacific Railroad [center right].
National Archives
By 1881, it was routine to travel by train from eastern cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to San Francisco. The round trip that took Lewis and Clark two-and-a-half years in 1803 was now a nine-day journey. The consequences of this new technology were profound. Nothing in the West would ever be the same again.
Analyzing archival material such as photos, documents, and posters, students can truly appreciate the phenomenon of the Transcontinental Railroad. They can begin to answer some important questions: Why was the Transcontinental Railroad built? How did it affect Native Americans? Other minorities? How was the environment affected? What were the advantages of railroad travel? Who used the railroads, and why? Who built the railroad?
Help your class make connections between the arrival of the railroads and many of the changes occurring in the United States and its territories.
Guiding Questions
How did the Transcontinental Railroad change the U.S. economy?
How did the Transcontinental Railroad affect immigration, labor, and the environment?
Learning Objectives
Examine the short and long term effects of the Transcontinental Railroad on the regions through which it passed.
Analyze archival documents to illustrate the effect of the Transcontinental Railroad on the U.S.
Evaluate the competing perspectives on the construction of the railroad.
- Google Classroom
Subjects & Topic: A More Perfect UnionHistory & Social Studies U.S. History
Grade: 6-8
Content Standards NCSS.D2.His.1.3-5. Create and use a chronological sequence of related events to compare developments that happened at the same time. NCSS.D2.His.2.3-5. Compare life in specific historical time periods to life today. NCSS.D2.His.3.3-5. Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities. NCSS.D2.His.4.3-5. Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives. NCSS.D2. His.5.3-5. Explain connections among historical contexts and people’s perspectives at the time. Preparation Lesson Activities To heighten student anticipation for learning about the railroads, share railroad-related poems and songs, or read a book aloud to the class. Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Page offers many terrific suggestions on its Trains Page, including "Death of the Iron Horse," by Paul Goble, which tells of the arrival of the rails from the point of view of the Native Americans.Lesson Plan Details
Activity 1. There's a Train a-Comin'
Activity 2. When Is That Train a-Comin'? Where Is It Going?
Share with the class an image of an 1881 Through Train Schedule.
Give students the chance to review the schedule and make observations. Which cities were connected by the railroad? What information can be ascertained from the schedule? Which cities are served?
Give the students a map of the U.S. on which they can indicate the cities being served and the connections between them. A printable map of the 50 states is available through the EDSITEment resource National Geographic Xpeditions.
To emphasize the entry of new states into the Union after the growth of the railroads, students could use instead—or additionally, for comparison purposes—a map of the United States in 1880, available through a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed New Perspectives on The West. If desired, compare the 1880 map to a map from 1900 to demonstrate how many states were admitted to the Union in the interim.
If desired, have students compare contemporary train routes with those of 1880:
- Transcontinental Railroad Lines, 1880s: This map shows clearly the many connections from Chicago and other points in the East to points in the West, little more than 10 years after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
- Maps of current Amtrak passenger routes from Chicago to the West Coast, each available through a link from the EDSITEment resource American Memory:
- California Zephyr: Chicago, Ill., to Emeryville, Calif. [San Francisco, Calif.].
- Empire Builder: Chicago, Ill., to Seattle, Wash., or Portland, Ore.
- Southwest Chief: Chicago, Ill., to Kansas City, Mo., to Los Angeles, Calif.
Activity 3. Because of the Train a-Comin'?
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad led to an era of change for the U.S. Read and discuss with the class the following background on railroads and the West from the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory:
- The first two paragraphs of the essay Railroads in the Late 19th Century
- The first three paragraphs of the essay The American West 1865–1900.
Prepare copies of an appropriate number of the following documents, all accessible through EDSITEment resources. Distribute them among individual students or student groups as desired. [Note: The documents are listed here in approximate chronological order. Chronological order should be maintained as the documents are displayed to further highlight cause-and-effect relationships between different events.] As you assign the documents to groups or individuals, make sure that any that require reading [most are photographs] are distributed appropriately. Choose only those documents best suited to your class that demonstrate the various effects of the railroad's arrival. Captions provided [for example "Railway Post Office"] should be shared with the students. The notes are for the teacher to aid in selecting documents and guiding discussion.
- Essay: Biography of Leland Stanford—1824–1893—Stanford's life extended throughout the railroad era. Some entrepreneurs became phenomenally wealthy as a result of the railroads. The wealth that was created helped spur investment in new technologies. Available on the EDSITEment resource New Perspectives on the West.
- Photograph: Pony Express Rider Circa 1861—Trains would soon replace horses as the fastest way to move mail over great distances. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Document: Homestead Act, May 20, 1862 [first sentence only]—Population growth in the West enabled the construction of the railroad. Necessary support services were provided in towns that grew up along the tracks. Once the trains actually arrived, they could bring more settlers, carry goods to market, and calm fears about the frontier as an inhospitable wilderness. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Document: Pacific Railway Act, July 1, 1862 Sections 2 and 3—The Homestead Act and Railway Act, passed the same year, show how the U.S. government promoted and supported the construction of railroads. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Picture Essay for Young Readers: The First Known Train Robbery in the U.S., October 6, 1866—Available on America's Library, a link from American Memory.
- Photograph: Group of mounted Pawnee warriors, October 1866
- Photograph: Silver Mine 1868—Mining became much more profitable once railroads could deliver the minerals to market. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Document: Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868 Articles VII, XI—The desire to promote railroad construction accelerated efforts to control the Native population and eventually led to the demise of the Native lifestyle. Available on New Perspectives on the West
- Photograph: Stage coaches leaving Ogden for Salt Lake City Circa 1869—The railroad was a more efficient means of transportation than the stagecoach.
- Photograph: Laying the Golden Spike May 10, 1869 / Full Page Photo—Available on the EDSITEment-reviewed The Digital Classroom.
- —Available through a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Documents of Civil War Women. The railroad was creating a national market for goods that could now be shipped great distances economically.
- Photograph: Groceries, Produce, Provisions, etc. Large 2-story brick building [Lucas Groceries] Circa 1870—Towns were required to supply the needs of those associated with the railroad and those the railroad attracted to the West.
- Photograph: Lumber camp, Cottonwood Canyon, Utah—Natural resources could be tapped more easily once the railroads had arrived. Natural resources were often used inefficiently.
- Document Cover: Railroad Bond Prospectus: Central Pacific Railroad 1870—The wealth acquired through the railroad boom and the business ventures the railroads enhanced triggered a sharp increase in investments in the stocks and bonds of corporations. As businesses prospered, people eager to share in the profits invested heavily. Their investments provided capital that companies needed to expand.
- Photograph: Dodge City 1872–1885—"Established in 1872, Dodge City began as a center of the buffalo trade, but after 1876, Texas cattle and cowboys were the town's economic mainstay. Dodge kept them coming up the Western Trail with a free-for-all attitude that soon made it one of the most violent towns in the West. Local farmers finally closed the area to cattle drives in 1885, and the 'Queen of the Cowtowns' passed into legend." From New Perspectives on the West.
- Photograph: "Trail of the Hide Hunters"—The railroad accelerated the demise of the West's great buffalo herds, and therefore the demise of the Native Americans who depended on the buffalo. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Photograph: Rath and Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for shipment. Dodge City, Kansas, 1878—Railroads enabled the delivery of mass quantities of buffalo hides. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Document: —A decline in railroad building, the fear of competition for jobs, and prejudice based on race led to the exclusion of Chinese immigrants. Most Chinese immigrants were by this time refused entry to the United States. Available on New Perspectives on the West.
- Cover: 1905 Catalog of Women and Children's Clothing for Immediate Delivery—The railroads meant that goods from almost anywhere could be delivered to your hometown. Mass production meant that goods could be produced in quantity; fewer goods were being made in the home. Available through a link from the EDSITEment resource Documents of Civil War Women.
It is the student's or group's responsibility to describe the image or document. After it is described, each document should be displayed.
When all the images have been revealed, challenge your students to create cause-and-effect connections based on the documents. Explain that railroads brought many changes and that significant change in one aspect of our society often has a "ripple" effect that changes other aspects. Give each group the opportunity to use photos and documents to create cause-and-effect ladders. The connections the students make are hypotheses based on the evidence at hand.
An Example of a Cause and Effect Ladder:
- The student[s] would say, "Because the railroads came ..." and then display Laying the Golden Spike, May 10, 1869.
- Then the student[s] would post an arrow pointing to the next image—Rath and Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for shipment. Dodge City, Kansas, 1878 and say, "Buffalo hides could be shipped to the East."
- The student[s] would say, "Because buffalo hides could be shipped to the East, hunters shot many buffalo," and then post an arrow and display Trail of the Hide Hunters, which shows buffalo lying dead in the snow in 1872, one with the hunter's rifle propped against its carcass.
Students can show cause and effect using as few as two photos or documents, or as many as they can justify through their explanations. Proceed from one group to the next, as each makes a different cause-and-effect connection.
Activity 4. Because of the Train a-Comin'!
After the students have created their cause-and-effect ladders, they will work with the Timeline of Events in the West, on the EDSITEment resource New Perspectives on the West, for the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s to look for events that validate student cause-and-effect hypotheses suggested in Activity 3.
Divide the class into six groups, each assigned events as shown on the timelines provided. [You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view timelines.] Make sure each group has at least one strong reader. Give the students time to look over the list. Proceed chronologically as each group names one or more events that relate to the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Students should explain the connection based on the discussion in Activity 3. Further research on any of these events would make a good extension of the lesson.