Jacob+Essay

The Transcontinental Railroad Facts and Quotes
by Jacob Hilker

When the project of building a transcontinental railroad was taken up in the 1860s, the legend of the Great American Desert still flourished.

The Central Pacific laid 690 miles (1,110 km) of track, starting in Sacramento, California, and the Union Pacific laid 1,087 miles (1,749 km) of track, starting in Omaha, Nebraska. The two lines connected at Promontory Summit, Utah.

It was after passing Auburn early that year that the first Chinese were employed apparently because Central Pacific was unable to fill its ranks.

“More than a dozen [|tunnels] were blasted through the granite mountains.

“What Clement planned and the [|Chinese] made became one of the grandest sights to be seen along the entire Central Pacific line. The Chinese could, if not as a matter of course, then quickly and — at least they made it look this way — easily. Young [|Lewis Clement] did the surveying and then took charge of overseeing the railroad engineering at Cape Horn.

[|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-R31Yjs28k]