#3: The muscle that built the rail

1. Describe the obstacles and challenged faced by railroad workers.

 The obstacles and challenged faced by railroad workers were that they had to blast through mountain ranges and lay track across broad deserts, to fend off attacks by Native Americans and to face difficult winters.

2. Discuss President Abraham Lincoln's involvement in the transcontinental railroad.

President Abraham Lincoln was involved in the transcontinental railroad when he signed the Pacific Railroad Act into law in 1862.

3. Explain how the railroad was funded.

The railroad was funded by government loans and land giveaways thanks to the work of thousand of men, with the goal of linking the U.S. population and commerce from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

4. What groups provided labor for the railroad's constructions? Describe the role of Chinese workers in its construction.

The labor for the railroad's constructions was provided from Chinese. Their role was to pick and blast the railroad's way through the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains.

 5. Explain why Native Americans were angered by the transcontinental railroad.

Native Americans were angered by the transcontinental railroad because they lived there before the arrival of whites and they thought they had the right to live there and because the railroad was trespassing across their prime hunting grounds.

6. Identify the place where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met.

The Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met at Promontory Summit to drive in the final ceremonial spikes.

7. Assess why the government played such a large role in the building of the transcontinental railroad.

The government played such a large role in the building of the transcontinental railroad because it paid loans to the railroads as they completed sections of track and also they granted the railroads federal lands on either side of the tracks that could subsequently be sold to settlers to help pay for the project.

8. Assess the importance of the transcontinental railroad. Describe how it changed the country.

The transcontinental railroad was very important and changed the country for many reasons:
1) In 1852 there had been only 5 miles of track west of the Mississippi, while in 1890 they changed into 72 000 miles.
2) Passenger cars brought settlers to Western lands in record numbers
3) Freight cars carried Western agricultural and mineral wealth back.

As regard the economy changing: in 1867 only 20 freight cars of cows were shipped east to Omaha or Kansas City for slaughter, while four years later that number had swelled to 7000, carloads.