USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In order to build the Transcontinental Railroad, the railroad companies needed to gather the right building materials for a project this size. They used timber for railroad beams, iron and steel for tracks and spikes, and black powder and nitroglycerin to blast through rocks and mountains.

Detailed explanation-2: -The transcontinental railroad was built in six years almost entirely by hand. Workers drove spikes into mountains, filled the holes with black powder, and blasted through the rock inch by inch. Handcarts moved the drift from cuts to fills.

Detailed explanation-3: -The first passenger train on the line took 102 hours to travel from Omaha, Nebraska to San Francisco, and a first-class ticket cost $134.50-the equivalent of about $2, 700 today.

Detailed explanation-4: -Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before. The railroad also facilitated westward expansion, escalating conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers who now had easier access to new territories.