The Transcontinental Railroad - Mrs. Rahn's Classjrahn.weebly.com/.../communication_and_transconrr.pdf · 2019-09-28 · Created by Brittany Green 2009 The Transcontinental Railroad

Communication in

the West and the

Transcontinental

Railroad!!!

Created by Brittany Green 2009

What was communication

like during Westward

Expansion?


If people wanted to get letters from the

West back to the East, the fastest way was

the ____________Express.

The Pony Express was able to deliver a

letter in 10-14 days by using a system of

horse riders who would ride for a short time

and pass the letters off to each other!


Better technology comes along…

A new technology came along that made it

much faster to get messages back and forth

between the East and West coasts.

This new technology was called a

_____________________ machine.

It used ____________________ as a way

to communicate. It was a system on lines,

dots, and dashes that meant different letters.


The telegraph moved

messages quickly, but

we needed a way to

move people

quickly…



Break it down…


Transcontinental

Trans=across

Continental=the USA



The Transcontinental

Railroad It was 1,775 miles from Omaha, NE to Sacramento, CA.

(Page 130 in textbook)



Railroad Railroads had already transformed life in the East, but at the end of the Civil War railroad tracks still stopped at the Missouri River. For a quarter of a century, men had dreamed of building a line from coast to coast. Now they would attempt to lay 1,775 miles of track from Omaha to Sacramento.

Slide #1



Railroad A path would have to be cut through mountains higher than any railroad-builder had ever faced; span deserts where there was no water anywhere; and cross treeless prairies where anxious and defiant Indians would resist their passage.



Railroad In 1862, Congress gave charters to two companies to build these tracks. The Central Pacific was to push eastward from Sacramento, over the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Union Pacific was to start from Omaha Nebraska, cross the great plains and cut through the Rockies.

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1860_1870.htm#1862



Railroad The Union Pacific and Central Pacific were soon locked in a race to see who could lay the most track -- and therefore get the most land and money. Somewhere in the West -- no one knew exactly where -- the two lines were supposed to meet.

Slide #5



Railroad

In 1862, Congress loaned the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads $16,000 per mile of level track and $48,000 per mile of mountain track. Congress also promised each company 6,400 acres of federal land for every mile of track it laid.

Slide #13



Railroad In 1865, Crocker, in charge of construction, found a solution to their work force problem. Besides hiring Irish immigrants who worked for low pay, the Central pacific Railroad employed over 10,000 __________________immigrants.

Slide #14



Railroad In 1866, the CPR had 44 blizzards while trying to tunnel through the Sierras. In 1869, the CPR laid 360 miles of track. On April 28, 1869, the CPR crew set a record of laying 10 miles in twelve hours.

Slide #15


Negative Aspects of the

Transcontinental Railroad

When the railroads crossed the plains they

affected the herds of ________________

that had freely wandered there.

The RR tracks were usually trampled on by

the herds.


Disadvantages of the


The Railroad owners hired _________________to

shoot them so they wouldn’t mess up the railroad.

Soon the population of bison and buffalo began

to______________________.

The Native Americans were very, very unhappy

because they relied on the buffalo to live!

Aside from the buffalo problem, the smoke from

the coal engines began to ________________ the

air.


The Advantages of the


Traveling by RR was __________________ so many people used it. If they couldn’t afford the train, they still traveled by covered wagon.

The RR attracted many new ____________ to the US!

The settlers moved West to try to make money by farming. The RR provided a way for getting their ______________to the markets.


More Advantages of the


The RR transported agricultural products to

processing centers and helped major

industries such as flour milling and meat

processing develop in large cities like

Chicago.


The Impact of the

Railroads The railroads spurred economic growth. Steel-workers turned millions of tons of iron into steel for tracks and engines. Lumberjacks supplied wood for railroad ties. Miners dug coal to fuel the engines. The railroads opened every corner of the country to settlement and growth.



Railroad Finally, on May 10, 1869, The CPR and UPR met at___________________________________, Utah. The presidents of both railroads, Stanford and Durant, swung at the last gold spike.

Slide #16


Here are your notes:

The Pony Express and Telegraph were helpful for getting news across the country, but the Transcontinental Railroad was built to get people across the country.

In 1862, Lincoln decided to build the RR.

Two Companies started building the RR on each side of the country.

They were racing to get the most land and money from the government.

The RR companies had African-Americans and Immigrants work for them.

People were able to make the trip on a train in only 3 days!


Let’s create a chart of all of the

advantages and disadvantages the RR

brought.

Advantages

Quick Travel Time

Move Crops

Able to Make more $

More immigration

Transfer Supplies

Cheap

Disadvantages

If the track broke, the

train could crash

Killed Buffalo

Pollution

What was it like???

Turn to page 129 in your SS book!

We are going to become the picture and you

will be interviewed as if you are the people

in the picture!


Documents

The Transcontinental Railroad - Mrs. Rahn's Classjrahn.weebly.com/.../communication_and_transconrr.pdf · 2019-09-28 · Created by Brittany Green 2009 The Transcontinental Railroad