The Transcontinental Railroads

Impact of the Transcontinental Railroads on Cattle Traders and Homesteaders

• Cattle traders owned farms in Texas and before the railroads would've driven cattle North on foot because there was great demand for beef in the North.
• After the railroads were made, they wouldn't have had to drive cattle North- they could make the produce and send it away using the rail roads. This would have had a positive impact on them, but trains would've scared cattle (this was not a major issue though).
• It would've taken less time for homesteaders to travel to the West and it would get rid of the bad journey. They could also export wheat and other farmed produce by the rail roads.
• In the 1850s, the fastest ,mode of transport was the train.
• The 2 companies who constructed the rail roads were the Union Pacific Railroad Company and the Central Pacific Railroad Company.
• The companies were promised huge amounts of land and money in order to pull off the constructions.
• The rail roads had to go through the Sierra Nevada mountains- this was very tricky terrain to build on.
• The people who laid the track were labourers from Ireland and China.
• In order to build the rail roads, the government had to move Plains Indians off their land.
• Companies could lay 10 miles of track in one day.
• The rail roads made the journey West only 7 days long.
• The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 provided the incentive for transcontinental railroad building. The railroads made Western…