Digital History
Digital History: The Kansas Nebraska Act
An explanation of how the Kansa-Nebraska Act in effect voided the Missouri Compromise, which had been the law that dictated the territories that could allow slavery. Read about the act proposed by Stephen A. Douglas, and see how a...
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Transcontinental Railroad
Details about the world's First Transcontinental Railroad that was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the Atlantic coast with the Pacific coast.
Cengage Learning
Cenage: Credit Mobilier Scandal
A very interesting excerpt from a book published in 1873, recounting the formation of the Credit Moblier Company, explaining who created it, and why the company was at the heart of a huge scandal in the building of the transcontinental...
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr Photographic History Museum: Tunnels of the Pacific Railroad
This site offers an abstract from Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine from 1870 from a paper by John R. Gilliss. A comprehensive look at the tunnels built along the route of the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific...
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr History Museum: Railway & Travel Guides and the Pacific Railroad
Ride the rails in the late 19th century by following these travel guides for railroads across the country. Find copies of the guides showing time tables, maps, and descriptions of the trips.
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...
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr History Museum: The Pacific Railroad Open: How to Go: What to See
Contains a guide for travel to and through Western America on the Central Pacific Railroad written by Samuel Bowles in 1869.
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr Photographic History Museum: The Postal History of the Pacific Railroad
This site deals mostly with the history of mail sent across the country in the late 19th century.
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...
Curated OER
Bureau of Land Management: Steel Rails and Iron Horses
Read about the building of the first transcontinental railroad and other railroads that came after. Find out how the checkerboard land ownership system affected the railroads. Includes lots of detailed lesson activities as well as a poster.
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...
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr History Museum: Chinese American Contribution to Transcontinental
In April of 1999, Representative John T. Doolittle delivered a speech before the United States House of Representatives commemorating the contribution of Chinese-Americans to the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. This site...
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Central Pacific Railroad History Museum: Transcontinental Railroad History
A brief discussion of the concept of a transcontinental railroad with hyperlinks to other articles on this large website.
Ducksters
Ducksters: History: First Transcontinental Railroad for Kids
Kids learn about the First Transcontinental Railroad. Fun facts about the route, the Union Pacific, and the Pacific Railroad Act are on this site.
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.
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Railroads in the 1800s
Learn details of the fascinating history of the early American railroads in the 1800s including their invention, their expansion, significance, and their impact on the transportation system of America.
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr Photographic History Museum: Builders of the Central Pacific Railroad
This chapter from "The First Transcontinental Railroad" by John Debo Galloway contains biographies of the important men who conceived of the railroad, found funds for the line, and engineered the construction.
University of Nebraska
U of Nebraska: Railroads and Making of Modern America: Railroad Work and Workers
Primary source materials related to employment by the railroads in the 1800s. Content includes letters, an employee database, blacklists that were shared between companies, payrolls, images, and more.
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr History Museum: Abstract From the 1862 Annual Report
Here is the explanation of how the land grants given to the railroads through the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 worked in the text from the General Land Office to the Department of the Interior.
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr Photographic History Museum: Locating the Central Pacific Railroad
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.
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: Rise of Industrial America: Railroads in the Late 19th Century
A compilation of primary source documents addressing building and running the railroad system in the late 19th century.
PBS
Pbs the West: Walking Pieces of Gold
A look at the role railroads played in the near-extermination of the American bison.