USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The rail line, also called the Great Transcontinental Railroad and later the “Overland Route, ” was predominantly built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (CPRR) and Union Pacific (with some contribution by the Western Pacific Railroad Company) over public lands provided by extensive US land grants.

Detailed explanation-2: -John Stevens is considered to be the father of American railroads. In 1826 Stevens demonstrated the feasibility of steam locomotion on a circular experimental track constructed on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey, three years before George Stephenson perfected a practical steam locomotive in England.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Transcontinental Railroad was built by many thousands of workers from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, which created a blend of people that continues to define the nation to this day. One of the groups that literally took on the brunt of the work, were the Chinese laborers.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Central Pacific had to run train track through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Working three shifts around the clock, Chinese immigrants hand drilled holes into which they packed black powder and later nitroglycerine. The progress in the tunnels through the mountains was agonizingly slow, an average of a foot a day.