Railroads Helped Open the West

Perhaps the most significant factor in the settlement of the American West was the construction of the railroad, bridging the continent and connecting the cities of the East with California and the Pacific.

For years, efforts had been made to arouse Congress to the need of a transcontinental railroad. Some short railroads had been built in the West prior to the Civil War, but a transcontinental railroad was an enormous project required the government’s cooperation and financing.

Theodore Judah was the man who almost single-handedly pushed the Pacific Railroad act through Congress. He had unsuccessfully tried to get the legislation through several sessions. When the Civil War broke out lawmakers saw the need for such an enterprise, and on July 1, 1862, President Lincoln signed the act.

The legislation provided for the building and operating of a railway between Sacramento and the Missouri River. Two companies were given the contracts, the grants, and the financing for its construction; the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific.

Beginning in 1864, the two companies were to build simultaneously, Central starting from the west, Union from the east. For each mile built the railroad would get a loan for $16,000-$48,000, depending on the difficulty of construction in the specific area, and a grant of 10 alternate sections of land on both sides of the railway.

To augment the labor supplied, the Union Pacific brought west many Irishmen from New York as well as from Ireland. The Central Pacific found it easier to use Chinese laborers imported from China by way of San Francisco.

Workers from both companies faced enormous challenges and dangers. Imposing mountains and bad weather were just a few of the obstacles they met and overcame. During the course of construction across Indian lands there was some trouble, most notably with the Sioux. Many of the Union Pacific men were ex-soldiers, and were supplied with firearms. There were many raids and fights, but they were more like harassment than actual battles.

Indian viewing railroad from top of Palisades. 435 miles from Sacramento.

The competition was keen, ruthless and wasteful since no meeting point had been established; the company’s building after they had reached a point where they could have joined. Many miles of parallel track were built until the meeting point was agreed upon at Promontory Point near Ogden, Utah. This is where the famous last spike was driven on May 10, 1869, connecting the tracks of the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific - completing the first transcontinental railroad. At the time it was considered the world’s greatest engineering feat. Soon federal subsidies were provided to three other transcontinental railroads, the Northern Pacific, the Southern Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.

The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit. At center left, Samuel S. Montague, Central Pacific Railroad, shakes hands with Grenville M. Dodge, Union Pacific Railroad (center right).

Original drawing of men hunting buffalo from the back of a train. Unknown artist.

These were completed by the 1880s. A total of 174 million acres of public lands, representing an area larger than New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and all of New England, was granted to the railroads.

A fifth transcontinental, the Great Northern was refused government subsidies, but promoter James Hill managed to construct a line by 1893. By that time, numerous connecting lines had also been built.

As the west was crisscrossed by railroad tracks, buffalo migration was interrupted, greatly aiding in the annihilation of the bison and changing the Plains Indians way of life forever. Although a boom of some outlaws early on, the railroads also made it easier for lawmen to catch up to them as well as to other bandits, rustlers and murderers. In short, the railroads greatly contributed to the “civilizing” of the west.

The railroads instituted a nationwide campaign to promote emigration to the territory. Population, with its commerce and industry is the lifeblood of any railroad, the companies also had large tracts of real estate to sell or develop and one thing helped the other – – the more land sales, the more traffic, the more land was worth. The company used all sorts of promotions and inducements, not only in the East and the Midwest, but in Europe as well. There were special “emigrant” trains featuring fantastically low fares.

Where rail lines went, towns flourished. If the tracks missed a community, the town either moved or died. Farmers complained about exorbitant rates, but freight transportation invigorated the Western economy. Passenger trafficked throughout the west was revolutionized, and mail was delivered with far more frequency than ever before.

There was a sort of “national” or “foreign” colony character to the mass emigration. Scandinavians would settle in one area – – notably Minnesota, Germans in another – – notably Wisconsin, and so on. There was hardly a European country that did not have a “colony” somewhere in the west. In time, all the Europeans became assimilated as Americans, but many of the traditions and folk ways of the mother country lived on.

Without doubt, railroads played a major role in the conquest of the west. By drastically improving transportation and communication, the “iron horse” allowed Americans to impose a new level of settlement, business and industry, and law & order across the vast western landscape. The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit. At center left, Samuel S. Montague,

The painting depicts the ceremony of the driving of the “Last Spike” at Promontory Summit, UT, on May 10, 1869, joining the rails of the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad.