![Uen: Comparing Travel Before and After the Transcontinental Railroad [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://static.lp.lexp.cloud/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Uen: Comparing Travel Before and After the Transcontinental Railroad [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Utah Education Network
Uen: Comparing Travel Before and After the Transcontinental Railroad [Pdf]
Students will compare two primary accounts of overland travel in the 1860s,one by stagecoach, the other by railroad, to see how travel changed upon completion of the transcontinental railroad.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Social Studies: Grade 4: The Transcontinental Railroad
This sample task contains a set of primary and authentic source documents about the Transcontinental Railroad and the migration of settlers to the West.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Binding the Nation by Rail
Read about the explosive growth of railroad track across the United States after the Civil War. Find out about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, the men who made fortunes from the railroads, and the first American regulatory...
Read Works
Read Works: Building a Railroad to Cross the Country
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the building of the transcontinental railroad. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
PBS
Pbs: New Perspectives on the West
This in-depth resource presents a history of the American West from pre-Columbian times until World War I with profiles, documents, and images. It encourages visitors to link these into patterns of historical meaning for themselves....
PBS
New Perspectives on the West: The Sierra Nevadas
A brief description and map of Sierra Nevada Mountains. Describes the struggle of Charles Crocker to build the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevadas.
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: Conquest of the American West
This PowerPoint presentation will thoroughly illustrate the significant role the transcontinental railroad played in the economic and cultural development of the nation as it expanded west. What did the political leadership of the nation...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Central Pacific and Union Pacific
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the competition between Union Pacific and Central Pacific to complete the transcontinental railroad. Workmanship was often shoddy and...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Asa Whitney
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes what Asa Whitney did to promote the idea of a transcontinental railroad in the North. His efforts provoked the South into campaigning for...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Conflicting Personal Interests
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the efforts of Jefferson Davis and others to survey lands for the best route for a transcontinental railroad. It also discusses the...
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Hazardous Business: The Railroads Come to Texas: Railroad Regulation
Read about regulations that kept the early Texas railroad system safe, and check out an "Inspection report for the Houston & Great Northern, 1871." Also, learn how the Civil War affected the railroad and how it was rebuilt following...
Curated OER
National Park Service: Golden Spike National Park: The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862
Short description of the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 from the National Park Service.
PBS
New Perspectives on the West: Promontory Point, Utah
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.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Surveys
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the surveys that were done to determine where to route the transcontinental railroad, and where it was finally built. These surveys provide...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: North and South
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes how the debate over where to place the transcontinental railroad line - in the North or in the South - began to take shape. It began with...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Indian Policies
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section briefly explains how Commissioner George W. Manypenny visited native tribes in 1853 in order to negotiate treaties that would take away their land so...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: The Meeting at Promontory Point
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....
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Other Transcontinentals
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes the other railroad companies that were competing to build a transcontinental line.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Early American Railroads
Read about the growth of railroads throughout the eastern part of the United States, which greatly reduced transportation costs. See why there was opposition to railroads from many groups. Be sure to look at the stereograph of the...
Digital History
Digital History: The Industrial Revolution [Pdf]
This site covers both the initial Industrial Revolution in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the second revolution that highlighted new inventions and the businessmen who financed industry. Read brief...
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Hazardous Business: Line and Lands of the Texas & Pacific Railway, 1873
Here's a map showing the Texas & Pacific Railway. Click on link to get larger version which shows the route across Texas as well as an inset which shows how the railway connected to other railroads in the U.S.
Curated OER
Mountain Scene on the Pacific Railroad
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.
Curated OER
Completion of the Pacific Railroad
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.
Other
The Story of the Canadian Pacific Railway (Pdf) [Pdf]
This site has an excellent 24-page children's booklet on the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway.