AP US History
The Transcontinental Railroad was a 1,912-mile continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 across the western United States to connect the Pacific coast at San Francisco Bay with existing Eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
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The Transcontinental Railroad refers to the first railway line that connected the Eastern United States with the Pacific Coast, completed in 1869. It was the culmination of a massive engineering endeavor primarily undertaken by two companies: the Union Pacific, building westward from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific, building eastward from Sacramento, California. Key figures include Leland Stanford, Thomas Durant, Grenville Dodge, and Theodore Judah.
Completing the Transcontinental Railroad revolutionized transportation and commerce in the United States. It marked a significant milestone in westward expansion and facilitated population movement, economic growth, and the rapid settlement of the American West. By linking remote areas with industrial centers, it also hastened the demise of Native American tribes' traditional ways of life and contributed to environmental changes across North America.