It was on this day, May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah...that the greatest event in the history of transportation on this continent occurred...as the Union Pacific tracks joined those of the Central Pacific Railroad.
The impetus for the completion of the transcontinental railroad was provided by the energy and enterprise of four California entrepreneurs: Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins...or the "Big Four" as they came to be known.
The connection of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific bridged the 2000 miles from the Missouri to the 'Golden State.' and the four to six months time taken by overland pioneers was reduced to six days.
While the "Big Four" provided the vision and the money to the Transcontinental Railroad, it was the Chinese who lent their sweat, toil, and blood. Beginning with the Gold Rush, the Chinese saw California as the opportunity to escape the grinding poverty of their homeland. Paying $40 cash, thousands were packed into ships for the voyage to "Golden Mountain." Lying on their sides beneath the decks, in 18 inches of space, mortality ran as high as 25% on some of the ships.
By 1865, about 50,000 Chinese had arrived at "Golden Mountain." They could not vote, become citizens, own property...and lived in segregated communities. After the Central Pacific began building the Transcontinental Railroad eastward from Sacramento, the demand for Chinese laborers increased still further. Central Pacific hired all of the available Chinese workers in the state, and sent agents to Canton, Hong Kong, and Macao to find more willing immigrants.
For those of you who have ever driven I-80 over Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevadas, you will be familiar with the solid granite outcroppings of this fantastic mountain range. Imagine attempting to claw a railroad over this redoubtable terrain. The Chinese did. After the Cornish Miners who were imported by the Central Pacific gave up, the Chinese used pick, shovel, and black powder to progress at 8 inches per day. The Chinese worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from both ends of the Sierras. The winters were some of the worst on record, with over 40 feet of snow at the higher elevations. The Chinese had to dig tunnels from their huts to the work tunnels. Many didn't see daylight for months.
The World Grows Smaller. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad linked East and West, opened up vast areas to settlement, and provided easy access to new markets. The railroad ensured a production boom, as industry mined the vast resources of the middle and western continent for use in production. The railroad was America's first technology corridor.
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