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Talk of the Continental Railroad Starts
One of the first promoters of the railroad was a man named Asa Whitney. Asa tried hard for countless years to get Congress to pass an act to build the railroad, but failed. Shortly after steam powered railroads were invented in Great Britain and began to be introduced into the United States. -
Asa Whitney went to congress to propose a railroad
He Wanted to have a railroad that went from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Then run westward towards the Rocky Mts. It would then cross the range north of the South Pass. It would continue to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. He claimed "It would bring all our immensely wide-spread population together as one vast city; the moral and social effects of which must harmonize all together as one family, with but one interest-the general good of all." -
Carnegie Starts working for Scott
Thomas Scott a railway owner hires Carnegie for $4 a week. -
Theodore Judah "Crazy" Judah started advocating for the Transcontinental Railway.
Judah wrote "A Practical Plan for Building the Transcontinental Railroad",a pamphlet he published and distributed to generate interest in the railway idea. -
Theodore Judah found a way to pass through the Sierra Nevadas
Judah found the Donner Pass (famous for being the location for a group that was trapped during a winter and turning to cannibalism to survive). The railroad could pass through the pass and the problem was solved. -
Juda gained the support he needed finantially.
Judah printed "Confident of the existence of a practical route across the Sierra Nevada Mountains" Because of that he gained the support of people that wanted to give him money. -
The Pacific Railroad Act was signed into law.
Abraham Lincoln signed the act said that there were two main railroad lines. The Central Pacific Railroad would come from California and the Union Pacific Railroad would come from the Midwest. The two railroads would meet somewhere in the middle (to be determined later on). -
The Central Pacific Railroad broke ground
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The US Civil War ended
The North won the American Civil War. -
The Union Pacific broke ground
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USA signs treaties with the Natives for the railroad.
In order to help stop the attacks from the natives. The treaties that were made were: The Sioux were to stay north of the Platte River, in return the US promised all of modern day South Dakota as well as most of North Dakota and west of Mississippi River Nebraska. The US promised that the Natives could keep modern day Oklahoma forever. -
The two railroads finally met at Promontory Summit
The last spike was drove into the ground. Therefor connecting the Pacific and the Union lines together. The Midwest was now connected to the west coast. -
Rockefeller founded Standard Oil
Rockefeller puts faith in his own ambitions and "standardizes" the oil refinery business. -
Vanderbiit Shuts down the Albany bridge.
When Vanderbilt closed the brige to Albany. That caused the rival railroads to start selling their shares. Then Vanderbilt bought all of the shares and became the owner of the largest railway in the country. -
The Sherman Act passed in court.
The first anti trust law in american history. The Act prohibits monopolies and trusts. -
Carnegie Steel is bought by J.P. Morgan.
J.P. Morgan buys Carnegie Steel for $480 million and turns it into US Steel Corp. -
Standard Oil vs The USA (Sherman Act)
The Sherman act was used to split up Standard Oil into smaller companies across the US that eventually had to compete with each other.