Promontory Point Teacher Resources

In this everyday editing activity, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the "golden spike." The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first race-based restriction on immigration in American history. Why was the act passed after Chinese immigrants helped build the Transcontinental Railroad? A series of documents, including speeches and...

Meet me in the tunnels. Scholars choose a tunnel entrance and mark it on their side of the cardboard. They describe the location to their partners and see if they can guess each other's locations. Punching a hole through the cardboard...

Did the Transcontinental Railroad connect the nation or divide it? Learners demonstrate their knowledge of the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad in a written assessment. The assessment also uses an original photo as a prompt for...

Students explore the Transcontinental Railroad. In this geography skills instructional activity, students use map skills in order to locate legs of the Transcontinental Railroad on globes.

Students analyze creation of the Earth Art and examine differences between aesthetic work and work created for function. In this art analysis lesson, students analyze photographs from various projects for the art elements of line, shape,...

Students participation in a simulation of laying the track of Transcontinental Railroad starting from three different locations. They use toothpicks and coffee stirrers to build the rails. They evaluate which group laid the most track...

Fourth graders explore and refine the application of media, techniques, and artistic processes. They examine the environment of a landmark or place in Utah that was altered by the original settlers and determine how it was changed and...

From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the events that occurred as the Union Pacific and Central Pacific both reached the endpoint of the railroad at Promontory Point, California....

A map and brief description of the events at Promontory Point, Utah where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads joined to make the first transcontinental railroad.

In-depth look at the ceremony at Promontory Point upon the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The author discusses the preparation for the ceremony, the use of four ceremonial spikes, and what became of them. From an article in...

Library of Congress presents primary source documents, essays, photos and maps of historical events on May 10th including a ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah for the meeting of the Union Pacific and Central railways and the capture of...

From a book written by a civil engineer, John Debo Galloway, this article discusses the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad including construction methods, problems, and the eventual meeting of the rails at Promontory Point.

An overview of the construction of America's Transcontinental Railway, and its completion when the last spike was driven (after several misses) in Utah to connect the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways. Travel across the...

This resource provides information about the first transcontinental railroad, which was built by nearly 30,000 Irish, German, Italian, and Chinese laborers.

From Chapter 105 of R. M. Devens' 1878 book, "Our First Century" is this description of the building of the transcontinental railroad and the ceremony of driving the final spike.

If you are researching the Central Pacific Railroad or the importance of photography in the recording of our social and technological history, this site is for you. You will find plenty of topic photos and good information about the...

From a book "The First Transcontinental Railroad" by John Debo Galloway, a civil engineer, comes this comprehensive description of the topography of the route of the Central Pacific Railroad.

This site from the Central Pacific Railroad provides an extensive and comprehensive article about surveying the route for the railroad, the problems with construction, and the men behind the idea of the railroad. Hyperlinks to additional...

Homepage of the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Provides general information about the completion of the transcontinental railroad and contains links to other information.

A good summary of the history of the building of first transcontinental railroad and images of the transcontinental railroad. From the introduction to the PBS video, The Iron Road.

This page from the Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers is part of a larger railroad history site. Includes brief information about the history of the Union Pacific Railroad and other railroads, including a mention of the Pacific...

A brief discussion of the concept of a transcontinental railroad with hyperlinks to other articles on this large website.

Describes the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the subsequent celebrations.