Background Information
In the 1800's a recent surplus of both manufactured goods as well as raw materials demanded a need for more affordable transportation. The industrial revolution had recently boomed in the United States. There was now a surplus of manufactured goods a such as fabrics and metal. This as well as the California gold rush and other natural products such as crops, would need transportation that could be done in bulk amounts. Although steam locomotives had been invented and used in the early 1800s, no tracks had been laid to connect the east coast and the west coast. So in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway act, which authorized the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. This Railroad was built by two companies, the Central Pacific, building from the west, and the Union Pacific building from the east. Theodore Judah, founder of central pacific, had the vision to build a railroad across the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, and then to continue the railroad across the United States. The Central Pacific Railroad was financed by The Big Four; Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. Finally in 1883, The Southern Pacific Railroad was completed linking cities on the Pacific Ocean to major cities in the east such as Chicago, Saint Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans, Boston and many others. This railroad, and the spiderweb of railways off it, would provide transportation for both people and products alike, and helped shape how the United States in all aspects is today.