USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Pacific Railroad Act stipulated that the Central Pacific Railroad Company would start building in Sacramento and continue east across the Sierra Nevada, while a second company, the Union Pacific Railroad, would build westward from the Missouri River, near the Iowa-Nebraska border.

Detailed explanation-2: -Beginning in 1863, the Union Pacific, employing more than 8, 000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, built west from Omaha, Nebraska; the Central Pacific, whose workforce included over 10, 000 Chinese laborers, built eastward from Sacramento, California.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1862, Congress hastily passed the Pacific Railroad Act. This act led to the creation of the Union Pacific, which would lay rails west from Omaha, and the Central Pacific, which would start in Sacramento and build east.

Detailed explanation-4: -Building was financed by both state and US government subsidy bonds as well as by company issued mortgage bonds. The Western Pacific Railroad Company built 132 miles (212 km) of track from the road’s western terminus at Alameda/Oakland to Sacramento, California.

Detailed explanation-5: -Oakes and Oliver Ames (of the Oliver Ames & Sons pick and shovel business, which amassed a large fortune during the gold rush), undertook the financing of the construction of the Union Pacific, coming to the assistance of Dr. Durant during a crucial money crunch in 1865.