First Transcontinental Railroad Engineering Accomplishment

Hardship, accomplishment, and death are 3 words often used to elucidate the First Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad of 1869, or the first Transcontinental Railroad, was a 6-year long project starting in Sacramento California and ending in Iowa. The railroad soon turned into a race for money between the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad. While the factual account of the Transcontinental Railroad highlights engineering accomplishment, the personal accounts depict the hardship and struggle the crew members faced on their journeys. The Transcontinental Railroad was an amazing engineering accomplishment for its time that pathed the pathway for many other builds after it. The Transcontinental Railroad, Abe Lincoln's
Economic History) . Once the shopkeepers found a quick working group of Chinese immigrants and hired Crazy Judah and James Harvey Strobridge to plan the route “the Central Pacific were able to lay the 40 miles of track unlocking millions in government aid” (History.com 2). The Union Pacific were fast they were able to “place 40 miles of track every month” (Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History). To catch up to the Union Pacific the Central Pacific began using nitroglycerin instead of gunpowder to break through rock faster but it was no good “by this time the Union Pacific had laid 250 miles while the Central Pacific had laid 80” (Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History). On December
The factual account and the personal accounts have many similarities within them but the idea wanting to be conveyed are completely different. The factual accounts wanted to highlight the good times during this project and the personal accounts wanted to highlight the good and bad times. With the factual accounts, we are able to learn the struggle the workers faced back then and even today. We are able to have an idea of what a bad work environment looks like and we can stop it from happening today. Even though a bad work environment like this is very unlikely with all the new technology and laws it is still