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A Record-Breaking Railway

Here are five amazing facts about the first transcontinental railroad. All aboard!

April 1, 2019
By Judy Dick

On May 10, 1869, one small act transformed our nation. As crowds watched, a railroad worker hammered the last spike into a track, connecting America’s eastern and western railways. The first transcontinental railroad was finished! That meant that it would take only a week to travel across the country instead of the four months or more it took horse-drawn wagons to make the 1,900-mile trip. 

Thousands of workers toiled for six long years building the railroad. With rivers, mountains, and deserts blocking their way, many doubted that the daring project could be pulled off. 

They were proved wrong when a telegraph operator tapped out the message “D-O-N-E” from Promontory Summit in what is Utah today. As the news spread, people celebrated from coast to coast.

Otto Herschan Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Rickety wooden bridges were quicker and cheaper to build than iron ones.

1. An avalanche almost ended the project. 

The weather didn’t always cooperate. One winter, an avalanche swept away a railway bridge in the Sierra Nevada mountains. After that, railroad workers built the world’s biggest snow sheds—wooden tunnels that protect tracks from avalanches and large snow drifts. That solved the problem in the Sierra Nevada mountains, although snowstorms delayed construction in other areas.

Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo

About 8,000 Chinese workers like this one tunneled through the Sierras.

2. Chinese teens blasted tunnels through mountains. 

Blasting tunnels by hand was the most dangerous work. Much of it was done by Chinese immigrants—many of whom were teens. They chiseled holes into granite mountains, filled the holes with explosives, and jumped out of harm’s way. Sadly, not all of them survived. But the brave workers bored many of the railway’s tunnels, including the longest one at Summit, California.

3. Its meeting point was a mystery.

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Two companies were pitted against each other in a race to build the most miles of track. The Central Pacific started in California, while the Union Pacific began in Nebraska. But no meeting point was chosen at first. As the companies raced across the country, the routes came closer and closer—and then went past each other! To fix the problem, Congress chose Promontory Summit as the meeting point.

4. A terrifying bridge had to be replaced.

Workers built towering wooden bridges over deep gorges, like the Dale Creek Bridge. At 125 feet high, it was the highest bridge in the world at the time. But it shook terribly when the first train steamed over it. Passengers did not enjoy the heart-pounding ride. The wooden bridge was later switched out for a more stable iron one.

5. Towns went boom or bust because of it.

The Granger Collection, New York

With 30,000 workers constructing the railroad, new towns sprang up almost overnight to house them. Small towns on the railway routes boomed. For example, Cheyenne’s tiny population shot up into the thousands within just a few months. But when workers moved on, towns went bust just as quickly. Many turned into ghost towns.

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