RECONSTRUCTION 1865 1877
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Travelers sailed around Cape Horn or prod over land across deserts, mountains, and Indian territory.
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Travelers took the train going west and a train going south
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Travelers took their vehicles and horses to travel deserts, mountains, and Indian territory.
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Travelers took their horses and vehicles to travel deserts, mountains, and Indian territory.
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Detailed explanation-1: -The alternatives were to travel by sea around the tip of South America, a distance of 18, 000 miles; or to cross the Isthmus of Panama, then travel north by ship to California. Each route took months and was dangerous and expensive.
Detailed explanation-2: -The building of the transcontinental railroad opened up the American West to more rapid development. With the completion of the track, the travel time for making the 3, 000-mile journey across the United States was cut from a matter of months to under a week.
Detailed explanation-3: -One year into the Civil War, a Republican-controlled Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act (1862), guaranteeing public land grants and loans to the two railroads it chose to build the transcontinental line, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific.
Detailed explanation-4: -The railroad, which stretched nearly 2, 000 miles between Iowa, Nebraska and California, reduced travel time across the West from about six months by wagon or 25 days by stagecoach to just four days.