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Who was the three creaters to create the pony express?

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What was the cause of the gold rush? And were the miners nice to the indians?

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what are some struggles that the pony express riders had to face

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Visit www.ducksters.com and Lewis and Clark to find some more information about them

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What types of challenges did Lewis and Clark faced during their journey to explore the Louisana territory, how did they solve these problems? Did anyone help them?

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Here is a link to my new padlet: https://padlet.com/josefig1/Ponyexpress12

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How did the gold rush start

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Was anybody satisfied with the pony express company? Explain

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Here is another link to another padlet of mine: https://padlet.com/josefig1/TrailofTears12

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How did the gold rush begin, and how did everyone know about it?

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I know this is not the proper place for this but here is the link to my website: https://padlet.com/josefig1/LouisianaPurchase1803.

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Why did Thomas Jefferson buy Louisiana. (How did this affect the United States now??)

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What was the purpose of the gold rush?.

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If pioneers never thought about traveling to Oregon City, OR what effect would it have on the timeline?

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Did the Louisiana Purchase help or harm our nation

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If Lewis and Clark never went on the expedition then what would happen, would someone replace them? Explain your predictions.

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How long did it take to build the transcontinental railroad

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Why did the pony express end? Explain

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Why did the pony express end? Explain

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Maybe it would take less then

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Missouri, Idaho, Nebraska and more

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During the Oregon Trail which states were part of the stops?

For example: The Dalles (one of the stops on the Oregon Trail) is located in Oregon.

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Do you know think pioneers would survive on the journey without native Americans? Why or why not?

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If there was no harsh weather on the Oregon Trail, how long do you think it would take to get to Oregon City? Explain your predictions.

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http://www.henrystrobel.com/saintboniface/oregon-trail-diary.pdf
This website talks about pioneers on the Oregon Trail. Primary information.

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What year was the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty signed?

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How many people worked on the pony express?

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What type of people did the most work on the transcontinental railroad

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Contents

1. Dreams of a Transcontinental Railroad

2. Two Competing Companies: The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad

3. Danger Ahead: Building the Transcontinental Railroad

4. Driving Toward The Last Spike

5. Impact on The United States

6. Photo Galleries

In 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, tasking them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies would race toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

Dreams of a Transcontinental Railroad

Fotosearch/Getty Images

America's first steam locomotive made its debut in 1830, and over the next two decades, railroad tracks linked many cities on the East Coast. By 1850, some 9,000 miles of track had been laid east of the Missouri River. During that same period, the first settlers began to move westward across the United States; this trend increased dramatically after the discovery of gold in California in 1849. The overland journey-across mountains, plains, rivers and deserts-was risky and difficult, and many westward migrants instead chose to travel by sea, taking the six-month route around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, or risking yellow fever and other diseases by crossing the Isthmus of Panama and traveling via ship to San Francisco.

Did you know? Before the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, it cost nearly $1,000 dollars to travel across the country. After the railroad was completed, the price dropped to $150 dollars.

In 1845, the New York entrepreneur Asa Whitney presented a resolution in Congress proposing the federal funding of a railroad that would stretch to the Pacific. Lobbying efforts over the next several years failed due to growing sectionalism in Congress, but the idea remained a potent one. In 1860, a young engineer named Theodore Judah identified the infamous Donner Pass in northern California (where a group of westward emigrants had become trapped in 1846) as an ideal location for constructing a railroad through the formidable Sierra Nevada mountains. By 1861, Judah had enlisted a group of investors in Sacramento to form the Central Pacific Railroad Company. He then headed to Washington, where he was able to convince congressional leaders as well as President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Pacific Railroad Act into law the following year.

Two Competing Companies: The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad

The Pacific Railroad Act stipulated that the Central Pacific Railroad Company would start building in Sacramento and continue east across the Sierra Nevada, while a second company, the Union Pacific Railroad, would build westward from the Missouri River, near the Iowa- Nebraska border. The two lines of track would meet in the middle (the bill did not designate an exact location) and each company would receive 6,400 acres of land (later doubled to 12,800) and $48,000 in government bonds for every mile of track built. From the beginning, then, the building of the transcontinental railroad was set up in terms of a competition between the two companies.

In the West, the Central Pacific would be dominated by the "Big Four"-Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington and Mark Hopkins. All were ambitious businessmen with no prior experience with railroads, engineering or construction. They borrowed heavily to finance the project, and exploited legal loopholes to get the most possible funds from the government for their planned track construction. Disillusioned with his partners, Judah planned to recruit new investors to buy them out, but he caught yellow fever while crossing the Isthmus of Panama on his way east and died in November 1863, soon after the Central Pacific had spiked its first rails to ties in Sacramento. Meanwhile, in Omaha, Dr. Thomas Durant had illegally achieved a controlling interest in the Union Pacific Railroad Company, giving him complete authority over the project. (Durant would also illegally set up a company called Crédit Mobilier, which guaranteed him and other investors risk-free profits from the railroad's construction.) Though the Union Pacific celebrated its own launch in early December 1863, little would be completed until the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Danger Ahead: Building the Transcontinental Railroad

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

After General Grenville Dodge, a hero of the Union Army, took control as chief engineer, the Union Pacific finally began to move westward in May 1866. The company suffered bloody attacks on its workers by Native Americans-including members of the Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes-who were understandably threatened by the progress of the white man and his "iron horse" across their native lands. Still, the Union Pacific moved relatively quickly across the plains, compared to the slow progress of their rival company through the Sierra. Ramshackle settlements popped up wherever the railroad went, turning into hotbeds of drinking, gambling, prostitution and violence and producing the enduring mythology of the "Wild West."

In 1865, after struggling with retaining workers due to the difficulty of the labor, Charles Crocker (who was in charge of construction for the Central Pacific) began hiring Chinese laborers. By that time, some 50,000 Chinese immigrants were living on the West Coast, many having arrived during the Gold Rush. This was controversial at the time, as the Chinese were considered an inferior race due to pervasive racism. The Chinese laborers proved to be tireless workers, and Crocker hired more of them; some 14,000 were toiling under brutal working conditions in the Sierra Nevada by early 1867. (By contrast, the work force of the Union Pacific was mainly Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans.) To blast through the mountains, the Central Pacific built huge wooden trestles on the western slopes and used gunpowder and nitroglycerine to blast tunnels through the granite.

Driving Toward The Last Spike

Buyenlarge/Getty Images

By the summer of 1867, the Union Pacific was in Wyoming, having covered nearly four times as much ground as the Central Pacific. The Central Pacific broke through the mountains in late June, however, and the hard part was finally behind them. Both companies then headed towards Salt Lake City, cutting many corners (including building shoddy bridges or sections of track that would have to be rebuilt later) in their race to get ahead.

By early 1869, the companies were working only miles from each other, and in March the newly inaugurated President Ulysses S. Grant announced he would withhold federal funds until the two railroad companies agreed on a meeting point. They decided on Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake; some 690 track-miles from Sacramento and 1,086 from Omaha. On May 10, after several delays, a crowd of workers and dignitaries watched as the final spike was driven linking the Central Pacific and Union Pacific in the "Golden Spike Ceremony."

The golden spike was made of 17.6-karat gold and was a gift of David Hewes, a San Francisco contractor and friend of "Big Four" member Leland Stanford. During the ceremony, Stanford took the first swing at the spike, but accidentally struck the tie instead. His attempt was followed by Union Pacific Thomas Durant's. Durant swung and missed - likely because of a hangover he was suffering from the previous evening's party in Ogden. A railroad worker ultimately drove the final spike at 12:47 p.m. on May 10, 1869. Telegraph cables immediately went out to President Grant and around the country with the news that the transcontinental railroad had been completed.

The golden spike was removed after the ceremony and replaced with traditional iron spikes. Three other ties-one of gold, one of silver and gold, and one of silver, were also presented at the ceremony. The original golden spike is now part of the collection of Stanford University, which was founded by Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, in 1885 in memory of their only son.

Impact on The United States

The building of the transcontinental railroad opened up the American West to more rapid development. With the completion of the track, the travel time for making the 3,000-mile journey across the United States was cut from a matter of months to under a week. Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before. The railroad also facilitated westward expansion, escalating conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers who now had easier access to new territories.

Photo Galleries

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In 1862, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies began building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies raced toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

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How many men did it take to build the transcontinental railroad

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Contents

1. Dreams of a Transcontinental Railroad

2. Two Competing Companies: The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad

3. Danger Ahead: Building the Transcontinental Railroad

4. Driving Toward The Last Spike

5. Impact on The United States

6. Photo Galleries

In 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, tasking them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies would race toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

Dreams of a Transcontinental Railroad

Fotosearch/Getty Images

America's first steam locomotive made its debut in 1830, and over the next two decades, railroad tracks linked many cities on the East Coast. By 1850, some 9,000 miles of track had been laid east of the Missouri River. During that same period, the first settlers began to move westward across the United States; this trend increased dramatically after the discovery of gold in California in 1849. The overland journey-across mountains, plains, rivers and deserts-was risky and difficult, and many westward migrants instead chose to travel by sea, taking the six-month route around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, or risking yellow fever and other diseases by crossing the Isthmus of Panama and traveling via ship to San Francisco.

Did you know? Before the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, it cost nearly $1,000 dollars to travel across the country. After the railroad was completed, the price dropped to $150 dollars.

In 1845, the New York entrepreneur Asa Whitney presented a resolution in Congress proposing the federal funding of a railroad that would stretch to the Pacific. Lobbying efforts over the next several years failed due to growing sectionalism in Congress, but the idea remained a potent one. In 1860, a young engineer named Theodore Judah identified the infamous Donner Pass in northern California (where a group of westward emigrants had become trapped in 1846) as an ideal location for constructing a railroad through the formidable Sierra Nevada mountains. By 1861, Judah had enlisted a group of investors in Sacramento to form the Central Pacific Railroad Company. He then headed to Washington, where he was able to convince congressional leaders as well as President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Pacific Railroad Act into law the following year.

Two Competing Companies: The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad

The Pacific Railroad Act stipulated that the Central Pacific Railroad Company would start building in Sacramento and continue east across the Sierra Nevada, while a second company, the Union Pacific Railroad, would build westward from the Missouri River, near the Iowa- Nebraska border. The two lines of track would meet in the middle (the bill did not designate an exact location) and each company would receive 6,400 acres of land (later doubled to 12,800) and $48,000 in government bonds for every mile of track built. From the beginning, then, the building of the transcontinental railroad was set up in terms of a competition between the two companies.

In the West, the Central Pacific would be dominated by the "Big Four"-Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington and Mark Hopkins. All were ambitious businessmen with no prior experience with railroads, engineering or construction. They borrowed heavily to finance the project, and exploited legal loopholes to get the most possible funds from the government for their planned track construction. Disillusioned with his partners, Judah planned to recruit new investors to buy them out, but he caught yellow fever while crossing the Isthmus of Panama on his way east and died in November 1863, soon after the Central Pacific had spiked its first rails to ties in Sacramento. Meanwhile, in Omaha, Dr. Thomas Durant had illegally achieved a controlling interest in the Union Pacific Railroad Company, giving him complete authority over the project. (Durant would also illegally set up a company called Crédit Mobilier, which guaranteed him and other investors risk-free profits from the railroad's construction.) Though the Union Pacific celebrated its own launch in early December 1863, little would be completed until the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Danger Ahead: Building the Transcontinental Railroad

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

After General Grenville Dodge, a hero of the Union Army, took control as chief engineer, the Union Pacific finally began to move westward in May 1866. The company suffered bloody attacks on its workers by Native Americans-including members of the Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes-who were understandably threatened by the progress of the white man and his "iron horse" across their native lands. Still, the Union Pacific moved relatively quickly across the plains, compared to the slow progress of their rival company through the Sierra. Ramshackle settlements popped up wherever the railroad went, turning into hotbeds of drinking, gambling, prostitution and violence and producing the enduring mythology of the "Wild West."

In 1865, after struggling with retaining workers due to the difficulty of the labor, Charles Crocker (who was in charge of construction for the Central Pacific) began hiring Chinese laborers. By that time, some 50,000 Chinese immigrants were living on the West Coast, many having arrived during the Gold Rush. This was controversial at the time, as the Chinese were considered an inferior race due to pervasive racism. The Chinese laborers proved to be tireless workers, and Crocker hired more of them; some 14,000 were toiling under brutal working conditions in the Sierra Nevada by early 1867. (By contrast, the work force of the Union Pacific was mainly Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans.) To blast through the mountains, the Central Pacific built huge wooden trestles on the western slopes and used gunpowder and nitroglycerine to blast tunnels through the granite.

Driving Toward The Last Spike

Buyenlarge/Getty Images

By the summer of 1867, the Union Pacific was in Wyoming, having covered nearly four times as much ground as the Central Pacific. The Central Pacific broke through the mountains in late June, however, and the hard part was finally behind them. Both companies then headed towards Salt Lake City, cutting many corners (including building shoddy bridges or sections of track that would have to be rebuilt later) in their race to get ahead.

By early 1869, the companies were working only miles from each other, and in March the newly inaugurated President Ulysses S. Grant announced he would withhold federal funds until the two railroad companies agreed on a meeting point. They decided on Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake; some 690 track-miles from Sacramento and 1,086 from Omaha. On May 10, after several delays, a crowd of workers and dignitaries watched as the final spike was driven linking the Central Pacific and Union Pacific in the "Golden Spike Ceremony."

The golden spike was made of 17.6-karat gold and was a gift of David Hewes, a San Francisco contractor and friend of "Big Four" member Leland Stanford. During the ceremony, Stanford took the first swing at the spike, but accidentally struck the tie instead. His attempt was followed by Union Pacific Thomas Durant's. Durant swung and missed - likely because of a hangover he was suffering from the previous evening's party in Ogden. A railroad worker ultimately drove the final spike at 12:47 p.m. on May 10, 1869. Telegraph cables immediately went out to President Grant and around the country with the news that the transcontinental railroad had been completed.

The golden spike was removed after the ceremony and replaced with traditional iron spikes. Three other ties-one of gold, one of silver and gold, and one of silver, were also presented at the ceremony. The original golden spike is now part of the collection of Stanford University, which was founded by Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, in 1885 in memory of their only son.

Impact on The United States

The building of the transcontinental railroad opened up the American West to more rapid development. With the completion of the track, the travel time for making the 3,000-mile journey across the United States was cut from a matter of months to under a week. Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before. The railroad also facilitated westward expansion, escalating conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers who now had easier access to new territories.

Photo Galleries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1862, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies began building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies raced toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

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who built the first transcontinental railroad

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At Promontory, Utah, California Governor Leland Stanford pounds in a ceremonial golden spike that completes the nation's first transcontinental railway. After failing to hit the spike on his first attempt, Stanford raised the heavy sledgehammer again and struck a solid square blow. For the first time in American history, railways linked together east and west, the realization of a dream that began two decades earlier.

Americans had been enthusiastic railroaders long before the transcontinental line was built. In 1850, more than 9,000 miles of track covered the United States. By 1860, the number had risen to over 30,000 miles, more miles of rail than the rest of the world altogether. Initially, most of the construction had been in the nation's growing industrial centers in the Northeast, but by 1860, railways were rapidly expanding into the upper Midwest.

Congress began considering how best to support the building of a transcontinental line in the late 1840s. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 made the issue all the more urgent: only a transcontinental railway could effectively tie that far-off region to the rest of the nation. Northern and southern politicians, however, disagreed over where the line should be constructed, and the project stalled for more than a decade.

The outbreak of the Civil War finally broke the stalemate. Unencumbered by southern objections, northern legislatures approved a central route from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento, California. More importantly, in 1862 and 1864 Congress passed acts that gave huge cash subsidies and land grants to private companies that agreed to build the tracks across the continent.

Recognizing a moneymaking opportunity, two companies took up the challenge. The California-based Central Pacific began laying tracks eastward from Sacramento. The eastern-based Union Pacific began in Omaha and built west. The laborers working for the Central Pacific faced the greater challenge-building across the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains. As a result, their progress was naturally slower than that of the work force of the Union Pacific, who managed to average a mile a day over mostly flat terrain. The Central Pacific crew was primarily Chinese immigrants, while Irish immigrants dominated the Union Pacific. Toward the end of the project, the two sides engaged in a bitter rivalry that at times took on unpleasant racist overtones. Both groups, however, labored heroically in difficult and frequently dangerous conditions, often working as long as 15 hours each day.

When the two lines connected at Promontory in northern Utah, it was the beginning of a dramatic transformation of the West. A 3,000-mile journey that had previously taken months to complete could now take only days by rail. More importantly, the abundant resources of the West could be shipped quickly and profitably to insatiable eastern markets, greatly spurring the development of the western economy. In years to come, thousands of emigrants rode the rails westward to homestead land, encroaching on Native American territories and hastening the demise of their way of life. Perhaps more than any other single event, the completion of the transcontinental railroad enabled the American conquest and settlement of the West.

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First transcontinental railroad is completed

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At Promontory, Utah, California Governor Leland Stanford pounds in a ceremonial golden spike that completes the nation's first transcontinental railway. After failing to hit the spike on his first attempt, Stanford raised the heavy sledgehammer again and struck a solid square blow.

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Who found gold in the California gold rush?

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Which States Became Part Of The United States During This Time Period?

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Did Lewis and Clark keep records of their journey, if they did why?

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Here is a link to all the information on the pony express...
www.ducksters.componyexpress.com

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How many months did the Pony Express run for?

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Why did they build the transcontinental railroad?

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What was the cost of the first letter carried by the Pony Express?

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Did Westward expansion start because of the Louisiana Purchase or The Lewis & Clark expedition? Give 3 reasons why.

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If Thomas Jefferson never bought the Louisiana Territory from France what would be the impact on the Westward Expansion and the United States of America? Explain.

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Did the lousiana purchase harm or help our nation?

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Did the lousiana purchase exapend our nation?

# data[].attributes.body
Why did Thomas Jefferson buy Louisiana territory?

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Who wanted to form the Pony Express?

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Whose idea was it to invent the pony express?

# data[].attributes.body
Why did the gold rush start

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http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/oregon_trail.php If there was never a Westward Expansion how would it affect the United States of America?

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Why did Thomas Jefferson send Meriwether Lewis & William Clark on the Lewis & Clark expedition? Explain.

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Did the Oregon Trail lead a better life for pioneers. Did it harm our nation or did it help our nation? Explain.

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http://www.ducksters.com/biography/explorers/lewis_and_clark.php
How did Sacagawea help Lewis and Clark on their journey?

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Why did Clark join the voyage of discovery?

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How did the pony express start?
What was the reason.

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How did Westward Expansion start? What was the cause.

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Why did french explorers want to claim Louisiana and claim just that part in America in 1682

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Why did Thomas Jefferson want the country to expand west

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How did the Lewis and Clark expedition lead to the Louisiana Purchase

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How did the Louisiana Purchase effect our country?

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Who was president when gold was discovered?

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How long was the pony express in business?

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Did most pioneers find a better life in the west?

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Did Lewis and Clark change the world for pioneers?

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How can I create interesting subtitles to include in my report?

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How has westward expansion helped shape our nation? Why is this important to incorporate in our research reports?