Union Pacific Railroad Teacher Resources

Students examine the effects the Transcontinental Railroad had on the regions through which it passed. They analyze and discuss maps, view and describe online images, and use photos and documents to develop a cause-and-effect ladder.

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...

Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...

Students investigate the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad. In this Transcontinental Railroad lesson, students research Internet and print sources regarding the effect of the railroad on Chinese immigrants and American Indians,...

In this gold rush learning exercise, students utilize a word bank of 10 terms or phrases to answer 10 fill in the blank questions about the nation during the time period. A short answer question is included as well.

Fourth graders explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power. They trace the transformation of the California economy in its political and cultural development since the 1850's.

Read this very detailed description of the Rock Springs Massacre and the circumstances that led up to it. Find out why Chinese immigrants became the focus of hatred and discrimination.

Find out about a Chinese immigrant who, after laboring on the Central Pacific Railroad, became a wealthy miner in Colorado. From the Colorado Historical Society.

Read the description of the Rock Springs massacre written by the Chinese workers who lived through the massacre and presented to the Chinese Consul in New York. Included is a report of an investigation of those who died in the massacre....

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