First Transcontinental Railroad

The iron road that stitched together the American continent/Infrastructure

The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was completed on May 10, 1869, when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met at Promontory Summit, Utah, and a ceremonial golden spike was driven. The route spanned approximately 3,069 kilometers from Council Bluffs, Iowa (connecting to existing eastern railroads) to Sacramento, California. Construction employed roughly 20,000 workers, many of them Chinese and Irish immigrants, who laid track across prairies, deserts, and the Sierra Nevada mountains. The railroad reduced cross-country travel time from months to about a week.