Mileage meant money, power, and a fantastic business opportunity. Whichever line neared Salt Lake City, Utah first assured Mormon traffic on its route.
Thomas Durant hired himself to construct the railroad, paying Crédit Mobilier with money given to the Union Pacific by government bonds and risk-taking investors.
The project's contractor, raised the workers' monthly wages four dollars — to $35 a month — in hopes that news of the increase would attract more workers to the summit.
Massachusetts newspaper editor Samuel Bowles observed the peculiar representatives of American culture taking root in North Platte and christened what he saw Hell on Wheels.
Nitroglycerin was first synthesized in 1864 by chemist Ascanio Sobrero, who destroyed his notes for fear of the damage his highly unstable discovery might cause.
The transcontinental railroad's construction touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Some desired it, some built it, and some did everything in their power to stop it. Browse a photo gallery of settlers, Native Americans, and workers whose lives were affected by the railroad as it traversed the West.
Collis Huntington had a preternatural sense for buying and selling. He came to California in 1849 at news of gold. He found success vending supplies to men chasing their fortunes in icy streams. Despite a rough start, he established himself in Sacramento by the turn of the decade.
In 1863 the burgeoning railroad company, in which younger brother Charles Crocker had invested, recruited Edwin Bryant Crocker as its attorney. When Charles resigned his position on the Central Pacific board to oversee construction, E. B. took his place.
