Trans-Continental Railroad

The Trans-Continental Railroad was one of the most famous and spectacular creations of our country's past history. Congress came together and tried to to discover a strategy for building some sort of transportation that could be used in a transcontinental fashion for the country. They eventually passed an efficient trans-continental plan known as the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, shortly following the beiginning of the Civil War, and happily signed by President Abraham Lincoln. I will attempt to explain the monumental importance of this major construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
There were truly only four men, known as the "Big Four" who really brought this incredible idea together. These men were Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins. These men were also all merchants. It was soon recognized by those who saw the great dedication of these men to the construction of this railroad. They used most of their own money to fund this creation, and themselves worked on it. Without these four brave men, this railroad would have never been built.
California, before the building of the railroad, sat apart of the rest of the country. There was no real way for anyone to be transported there without the railroad. This shows that this building was absolutely monumental to the linking of California to the rest of the country.
The linking of these numerous states did not just help transportation but also economy. With people not having to pay as high for the various needs of transportation, the value of the dollar went up again. This railroad was a enormous aid to the economy as well as the transportation. "By linking with the existing railway network of the Eastern United States, the road thus connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail for the first time. Opened for through traffic on May 10, 1869, with the driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, Utah, the road established a mechanized transcontinental transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West."
Finally, the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was a great achievement. These men and the many that supported them demonstrated bravery and dedication to this work which is what made it successful. Without this railroad, not only would there be no link for the states, but the way we see the rest of the country would be utterly different.
Blashfield, Jean F. Transcontinental Railroad, The. Compass Point Books. 2001. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Houghton, Gillian. Transcontinental Railroad: A Primary Source History of America's First Coast-To-Coast Railroad, The. The Rosen Publishing Group. 2003. New York.