![]() ![]() During that same period, the first settlers began to move westward across the United States this trend increased. At noon on Novemat the 75 th meridian (Eastern Time) the railroads changed over to the new time standards to be known as 'Railroad and Telegraph Time.' When the transcontinental railroad tied the nation together physically, a regional. The legislative efforts that resulted in the Pacific Railway Act led to the successful completion of the transcontinental railroad, which reduced the travel time across the continent from several months to one week and is considered one of the greatest technological achievements of the 19th century. By 1850, some 9,000 miles of track had been laid east of the Missouri River. At the General Time Convention of October 1883, the new standards were unanimously approved. ![]() ![]() On May 10, 1869, workers drove in the ceremonial “Golden Spike” at Promontory, Utah, joining the two lines. Employing thousands of immigrant workers and facing enormous challenges including harsh weather, massive mountain ranges, and conflicts with Native Americans, each company made its way towards a meeting point that would complete the line. Authorizing the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad companies to construct the lines, the legislation provided government bonds to help fund the work, in addition to vast land grants. Before there were viral videos and trending hashtags, the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 was one of the first mass media events in US. The Pacific Railway Act, which became law on July 1, 1862, offered government incentives to assist “men of talent, men of character, men who are willing to invest” in developing the nation’s first transcontinental rail line. “I have thought it an achievement worthy of our age and of our people, to couple with bonds of iron the people of the Pacific with the valley of the Mississippi,” he declared, “and show that even snow-capped mountains intervening could not divide them.”Īfter Southern states seceded, Congress agreed on a northern route to the Pacific and to the use of federal lands to subsidize the construction of a railroad and telegraph line. Ironically, only days before bidding farewell to the Senate after Mississippi seceded from the Union, Senator Jefferson Davis expressed his support for the railroad as a symbol of national unity. Unfortunately, competition between northern and southern members seeking a route advantageous to their own region prevented the Senate from passing any proposed legislation for a transcontinental railroad. The rapid settlement of the western territories in the 1850s convinced most members of Congress of the need for efficient rail transport to the Pacific coast, but which route would the railroad follow? In the years leading up to the Civil War, Congress commissioned topographical surveys in an effort to identify the best route. Plus, enjoy a viewing of a new documentary titled Son of the Railroad will highlight the Honorable Judge Michael Kwans behind-the-scenes stories of the. In 1862, the Congress passed the first of several Railroad Acts, choosing a route which went from Omaha to Sacramento much of it an old pioneer trail- and naming the two companies to be. ![]()
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