The Obstacles and Hardships While Building the Transcontinental Railroad - Term Paper Example

The Obstacles and Hardships while Building the Transcontinental Railroad The Transcontinental Railroad is a train route across the US built between 1863 and 1869. The Transcontinental rail line was constructed by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad, California. The railroad connected the Eastern terminus with the Pacific Ocean. The connection at the Eastern Terminus was at Nebraska through the Ogden, Utah while the connection at the Pacific was at Oakland, California, opposite San Francisco. On the eastern of the United States, there were already existing railway lines. The Transcontinental railroad, therefore, linked with the existing rail lines connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts. This railway line was referred to as Overland Route (Burger 126). The China immigrant, Celestials, constructed the Central Pacific line. They were perceived weak to work in this line, but they proved that they could work perfectly in the railroad construction. They were employed to work in the construction of the Central Pacific line. Most of the Chinese were miners, or worked in kitchens and did laundries in service industries; others were imported in large numbers from China. The Chinese laborers went on strike because the three dollars a day wage was too little compared to the work that was being done on the railway (Uschan 241). The Irish laborers and the veterans of the Confederate armies and Unions built the Union pacific line. Brigham Young who was the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints yearned that the railway to be completed so that it could promote immigration and promote the growth of population in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden. Brigham and the Union Pacific made a labor contact that saw the Mormons have the sole responsibility of building the Union Pacific rail in Utah. They were also allowed to blast and tunnel across the canyon in Weber River (Cooper). The construction work of the transcontinental railway was manually done using black powder, used as explosives, horses, wheelbarrows that were used to ferry materials for construction, shovels, axes and mules. The construction work involved operations like tunneling, building bridges, engineering, masonry, surveying, blacksmithing, track laying, telegraphing and cooking. After completing the work, some Chinese went back to China; others settled in Western nations and got occupations as laundrymen, miners and restaurateurs. The Chinese that opted to settle in the States got land and settled along the Pacific Coast and San Francisco Bay (Cooper). The transcontinental railroad was completed in May 10 1869, when the last spike was put by the two companies and then a telegraph message saying, ‘done’ was sent and the entire country knew that the railroad has been completed. Building of the transcontinental railway line has made navigation easier and faster. Traveling overland took a long time like six months, and it was very expensive, $1, 000. The journey before the construction of the transcontinental railroad was so dangerous to travel. Passing the rugged mountain terrains and arid deserts were dangerous and time consuming. Travelling by sea was too far, a distance of 18, 000 miles. Travelling took months. Transcontinental railway construction has made navigation easier. Travelling the long distance took five days and it cost $ 150 (American Experience). The transcontinental construction opened up the upgrading of construction projects. Roads, stronger bridges that had heavier and stronger rails in the railways were developed. Communication between states improved. This was enhanced by the development of the telegraph. Workers could communicate through the telegraph. Western products like coal and agricultural products could reach the Eastern States. This opened up trade between the West and East States. Communication continued to upgrade due to the telegraph that was used during the transcontinental line construction. Better communication was developed thanks to the transcontinental track construction (Dootle). Immigration was influenced by the construction of the transcontinental railway line. The importation of the Chinese workers who participated in the railway construction ended up settling in the Pacific shores. Population in major towns and along the railway increased rapidly. This led to development of trade which further opened up the Western and Eastern States for the world. Migration of other nations to the US increased. They came in search of jobs that were created from the construction of the railway line. This promoted interaction between US and other countries (Blashfield 30). Traffic on the road reduced. Transcontinental railway construction absorbed the high traffic that was caused by people and vehicles. Fewer roads were available before the railway construction. This led to congestion of the traffics. But the traffic was reduced after the railway construction. The railway transportation was an alternative method of transport. Most travelers used the rail to travel. The construction also led to the development of better roads, upgrading of existing railway networks and development of sea transport thus reducing traffic. The development of alternative transport improved infrastructure and improving transportation. The construction of the transcontinental railway had many obstacles. The geographical terrain slowed down the construction of the transcontinental railway line. The ragged terrain gave the constructors a difficult time in construction. Navigation through the large desert was not any easy. The constructors had food problems in the desert. They lacked food and water in the desert. The Mississippi River was a hindrance to the construction of the railway. The canyon was difficult to navigate through, slowing down the railway construction. The mountain regions were hard to pass. The constructors used explosives to construct tunnels through the mountains. They also dug the tunnels. This was hectic and time consuming (Blashfield 36). The weather conditions hindered the construction of the railway. The sandy storms of the desert hindered the construction. During the sandy storms, the constructors ran for shelter for safety till the storm had capsized. Some of the constructors were swept away by the storm, killed or handicapped. This slowed the construction of the railway (Burger 129). The extreme sunny conditions gave the constructors a hard time during the railway construction. They got sunburns they made them weaker by the day. The freezing weather, snow and rainy conditions, hindered the railway construction. The ever changing weather conditions made the constructors fall ill. Some succumbed to the illness. The snow conditions have made the railway construction difficult. Clearing the snow was tiresome and time consuming. The freezing conditions posed threats to the constructors. The frozen water gave the railway constructors’ hard times. Many workers died in the freezing waters (Blashfield 45). The war for workers slowed down the completion of the railway construction. The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were parallel construction units. The war for workers made the units start the construction at different times. The Central Pacific started the construction in 1863, while the Union Pacific started the construction work in July 1865. The Central Pacific imported its labor force from China. The Chinese worked in the railway construction. Irish laborers and Veterans from the war worked in the Union Pacific unit. Getting this manpower was hectic thus the slow completion of the railway line (Dootle). The project cost a lot of money. The project ran out of money during the construction. This made purchasing of rails and other raw materials difficult. The strike of the Chinese workers due to the low wages slowed down the construction. Inadequate financial sources led to the slow construction of the railway. Housing the workers, feeding them and paying them were costly. The workers needed high wages and good working conditions which were at time difficult for their employees to provide. The workers were not satisfied, and they either did not work, or they worked slowly in the construction (Dootle). The construction work was made difficult when the locals of the land where the railway was passing refused to sell their land. The construction firms needed the permission of the locals to allow them construct the railway across their land (Uschan 169). Some locals agreed to sell their land while some refused. The locals took advantage and sold their land so expensively. The agreement between the land owners and the railway construction units took a long time to come to terms. This slowed down the construction and completion of the transcontinental railway track (Blashfield 28). The workers of the railway line were attacked by hostile natives. The hostile natives attacked the railway constructors. They killed the workers, caused serious injuries to the workers and even stole their food supplies. The construction workers feared for their lives. The hostile natives stole the raw materials that the constructors used in the construction of the railway line. Peace agreement between the natives and the railway constructors took a long time, slowing down the railway construction. The workers were attacked by wild animals like bears and lions. The wild animals killed many workers injuring most of them. Building of safe perimeter walls and searching for alternative protection methods took a long time. The workers diverted their attention to looking for protective ways from being attacked by wild animals. This slowed the construction of the railway (American Experience). The tools used during the construction slowed the completion of the transcontinental railway line. Use of black powder as explosives to dig tunnels, wheelbarrows to ferry materials and use of shovel and axes to dig the hard terrain slowed the railway construction. The use of explosives was an unhealthy for the workers. The explosions caused health threats for the workers. Some died when stoned tumbled on them while some workers were affected by the dusty air. The wheelbarrows that were used were not effective and efficient. The workers had difficulty in ferrying heavy rail materials. This slowed the construction and complexion of the railway construction (Uschan 178). Despite all these difficulties, the transcontinental railway was completed on May 10 1869, and it has brought success to the people of America and the entire world. Works Cited American Experience. 8 September 2002. 4 May 2012. . Blashfield, Jean F. The Transcontinental Railroad. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2001. Print. Burger, James P. The Transcontinental Railroad. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. Cooper, Bruce C. Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. 9 June 2004. 4 May 2012. . Dootle, John. Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. 7 April 1999. 4 May 2012. . Uschan, Michael V. The Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Gareth Stevens Pub, 2004. Read More