Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861 and signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862, which directed the construction of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. The railroad was built between 1863 to 1869 by thousands of Irish, Chinese, and black workers and connected the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska to the Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento, California. The completion of the railroad in 1869 transformed the United States by enabling mass migration westward and the growth of towns and cities along the rail line, including Cheyenne, Wyoming and San Francisco, California.

1. Jonathan Cooper
The Great Transcontinental Migration
Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861 in his Inaugural Address he said:
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous
issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You have no oath registered in
Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve,
protect and defend it."
The Civil War started April of 1861. During the civil war President Lincoln signs the
Pacific Railroad Act which directs 2 companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific to
build rail and to construct a transcontinental railroad. This act also gave control of existing
northern rail to the president which would be used to transport troops quickly and for the
resupply of soldiers, moving an average of eight hundred tons a day equivalent to eighty railroad
cars. The Union had twenty thousand miles of rail, while the Confederate has only nine thousand
miles and it remained under private control. In the four years the war lasted the north adds four
thousand miles of rail, while the south only adds four hundred.
After the war ended President Lincoln started to abolish slavery but, President Lincoln
was assassinated shortly thereafter for the role he played in the Civil War and for the
abolishment of slavery. However while slavery was being abolished the southern states began
enacting what was called “the black codes” in an effort to stop southern states the republican led
congress went to pass legislative laws supporting the end of slavery. However President Andrew
Johnson, vetoed the legislation but for the first time congress found the votes to negate the veto,
passing the civil rights act of 1866 which established blacks as full American’s and forbade

2. Jonathan Cooper
discrimination against them. A few months later congress passes the 14th amendment which
states “that no state should deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law."
Tomas Clark Durant was a born manipulator, educated to be a doctor, Doctor Durant
abandoned the pursuit for business in his pursuit of wealth. During the Civil War Doctor Durant
smuggled cotton from the south making himself very rich. While at the same time he owned a
rail line. Durant announced that the Union Pacific would connect to his own M&M line, causing
M&M stock to rise sharply. He sold his shares discreetly and bought stock in the competition. A
new announcement declared the connection would be the Cedar Rapids & Missouri line. Having
Investors flock to that company and taking a loss on M&M, which Durant bought back at low
cost, Durant and his friends made $5,000,000 off the scam. An article from the New York Times
wrote. "It is the smartest operation ever done in stocks and could never be done again."
Durant remained in control and, the chief architect of the Union Pacific railroad till its
completion and then he went on to other projects.
The people who built the railroads made up about one thousand to three thousand free
blacks. The bulk of the work was done by immigrating Irish workers; they numbered in at a little
over thirteen thousand. The Irish and free blacks built the rail east to west. While it is estimated
that than two thirds of rail workers were Chinese this amounts to approximately twenty three
thousand or more that were Chinese workers. The Chinese built the rail lines west to east. The
Chinese were treated like slaves in their own right and discriminated against just as blacks were.
As the railroad was built the government gave the rail companies 10 square miles of land per
mile of rail laid down as well as money grants in order to keep building the rail road. This land

3. Jonathan Cooper
that was to be given was occupied by plains Indians which were removed by soldiers when the
Indians got in the way of the railroad that was ordered by the Government.
"Go West, young man" Is often credited to author Horace Greeley concerning
America's expansion westward, which related to the popular concept of Manifest Destiny. One of
the driving factors for building the railroads from one coast to the other was to move people west
for the gold rush going on in California. Also to support and defend the rich territory that was
won from the Spanish, American war. Before the advent of the transcontinental railroad, a
journey across the continent to the western states meant a dangerous six month trek over rivers,
deserts, and mountains to get to California. Alternatively, a traveler could hazard a six week sea
voyage around Cape Horn, or sail to Central America and cross the Isthmus of Darien by rail,
risking exposure to any number of deadly diseases in the crossing. Interest in building a railroad
uniting the continent began soon after the advent of the locomotive.
Before the railroad it would cost $1000 to travel by wagon caravan, but after the railroad
was built it became possible to go from the east cost to the west for only $150. This would lead
to a great number of people migrating westward. As the railroad traveled along people that
worked for the rail would make permanent homes in the cities that sprang up.
As railroads moved west the Indians were displaced which helped rail towns grow and
expand. These towns would often absorb any smaller settlements that might be near as the
railroads offered daily benefits and a greater sense of safety from bandits and the local Indians.
These towns generally were lawless as they didn’t belong to a state of any kind; they had what
was called railroad law. The people in charge of the railroad paid the salaries of the workers so
they were judge, jury and, executioner. However with lack of progress and set backs on the

4. Jonathan Cooper
building of the railways and the distress caused by Indians, caused the government to step in and
provide military assistance to the settlers moving westward. The railroads that were built created
a new source of commerce. This provided businesses with a new market to sale their goods;
which meant they could now ship and sale their goods nationally rather than locally. Some of
the cities that were built along the way include: Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Promontory Summit,
Bear River City, all the way to Sacramento just to name a few.
The city of Cheyenne was one of the most major cities that would come to be built; in
1867 fort D. A. Russell was built to stabilizer the area. Which led to a town charter being
accepted by the Dakota Territorial Legislature in 1867 and Cheyenne was thereupon
incorporated. By the end of 1867 Cheyenne had rose to hold a population of 4,000. Lots of land
was selling for $2500, as the town had more than 300 businesses that were in operation, and the
diverse citizenry included engineers, lawyers, artists, Native Americans, trappers, hunters,
laborers, gamblers, and gunslingers. General Grenville M. Dodge named it the gambling center
of the world and some dubbed it "Hell on Wheels." Mayhem and violence were a way of life.
Once the railroad moved on pass the city of Cheyenne a bit of peace returned to the city and by
1869 Cheyenne became the state capital for the new Wyoming territory. By 1875 gold was
discovered in the Black Hills and the city of Cheyenne became I transit hub for people, cattle,
sheep, and gold by the 1890s the population was ten thousand or more. Cheyenne was so
important by the end 1890s it was named for being the wealthiest city per capita in the world.
Into the twentieth century Cheyenne became an industrial and manufacturing center, and the
Francis E. Warren U.S. Air Force Base was established at Fort Russell. Over the past century the
extensive development has kept the state's largest cities (one out of five Wyoming residents lives

5. Jonathan Cooper
in Cheyenne) booming just as it did in its early years and to this day the city remains as a
commercial, industrial, and transportation hub for the state and for the country.
The last great city I wish to talk about would have to be San Francisco. In 1849 gold dust
is discovered which is reported by Brannan and he publicized the new gold discovery. In less
than a year there was over fifty thousand people that migrating to California’s San Francisco
with the hopes and dreams of striking it rich. “It was bedlam, pandemonium and hell rolled
into one” Recorded being said by a wealth merchant. The city of San Francisco was burnt to
the ground twice and rebuilt each time, a city built for economic division. “God took the
beauty of the Bay of Naples, the Valley of the Nile, the Swiss Alps, and the Hudson River
Valley, rolled them into one and made San Francisco Bay (Fiorello La Guardia)”.
Inspiration and pride for your city can be seen not giving up and mustering the drive to start over
to rebuild and to fix what was broken a testament that these early American mustarded to keep
fighting for their city. The Chinese that helped build the transnational railroad would also settle
down to build a big cultural and illogical foundation in San Francisco. Chinese immigrants even
build a nook within San Francisco called Chinatown; Chinatown is .2 square miles and holds
11,000 people within its community. After the great fire of 1906 the politicians looked to remove
the Chinese as they were seen as an eyesore but; Chinese leaders convinced municipal leaders
and the neighborhood's white landlords that the "New" Chinatown should be rebuilt in a
distinctive Oriental style that would attract more tourism and business. The results were the
familiar curved eaves, colorful street lanterns, recessed balconies, and gilded facades that we
associate with Chinatown today.
Many factors started the migration across what is called the United States. There were
many dangers during the travel that took place while traveling across the great unknown

6. Jonathan Cooper
wilderness. Many people didn’t know what the future held for many died before they got to see a
dream realized but for the people who fought and survived they made their own dreams and
desires come true fighting tooth and nail every step of the way. A culture, was a way of life lost
in today’s terms of fighting spirit. The spirit to survive life on your own terms, most people
today would not be able to last or cast a shadow to that their forefathers.

7. Jonathan Cooper
Books.
Book:By earth quake andfire,
Book:Klein,Maury. “UnionPacific:Birthof a Railroad”,1862-1893. Garden City,NY:Doubleday&
Company,1987.
Websites.
Americanhistory,copyrighted1994, 9/20/14,
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/1801-1900/the-iron-horse/railroad-towns.php
Christine K. Kimbrough,Encyclopedia,copyright2003, accessed9/20/14,
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Railroads.aspx
Workersof the UnionPacificRailroad,Americanexperience, PBS,copyrighted1996,9/20/14
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-uprr/
TRANSCONTINENTALRAILROAD,historychannel,copyrighted2014,9/20/14
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad
BuildingAmerica,unionpacific,9/20/14
http://www.up.com/aboutup/history/chronology/index.htm

8. Jonathan Cooper
THE migration of people in but a piece
of what happened!