A NATIONAL NETWORK
By 1856, the railroads extended
west to the Mississippi River, and three years later, they
crossed the Missouri. Just over a decade later, crowds across
the United States cheered as the Central Pacific and Union
Pacific Railroads met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.
A golden spike marked the spanning of the nation by the first
transcontinental railroad. Other transcontinental lines
followed, and regional lines multiplied as well. At the start of
the Civil War, the nation had had about 30,000 miles of
track. By 1890, that figure was nearly six times greater.
ROMANCE AND REALITY
The railroads brought the
dreams of available land, adventure, and a fresh start within
the grasp of many Americans. This romance was made possi-
ble, however, only by the harsh lives of railroad workers.
The Central Pacific Railroad employed thousands of
Chinese immigrants. The Union Pacific hired Irish immi-
grants and desperate, out-of-work Civil War veterans to lay
track across treacherous terrain while enduring attacks by
Native Americans. Accidents and diseases disabled and killed
thousands of men each year. In 1888, when the first railroad
statistics were published, the casualties totaled more than
2,000 employees killed and 20,000 injured.
RAILROAD TIME
In spite of these difficult working condi-
tions, the railroad laborers helped to transform the diverse
regions of the country into a united nation. Though linked
in space, each community still operated on its own time,
with noon when the sun was directly overhead. Noon in
Boston, for example, was almost 12 minutes later than
noon in New York. Travelers riding from Maine to
California might reset their watches 20 times.
In 1869, to remedy this problem, Professor C. F. Dowd
proposed that the earth’s surface be divided into 24 time
zones, one for each hour of the day. Under his plan, the
United States would contain four zones: the Eastern,
Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones. The railroad
companies endorsed Dowd’s plan enthusiastically, and
many towns followed suit.
Finally, on November 18, 1883, railroad crews and
towns across the country synchronized their watches. In
1884, an international conference set worldwide time
zones that incorporated railroad time. The U.S. Congress,
however, didn’t officially adopt railroad time as the stan-
dard for the nation until 1918. As strong a unifying force
as the railroads were, however, they also opened the way
for abuses that led to social and economic unrest.
Opportunities and Opportunists
The growth of the railroads influenced the industries and businesses in which
Americans worked. Iron, coal, steel, lumber, and glass industries grew rapidly as
they tried to keep pace with the railroads’ demand for materials and parts. The
rapid spread of railroad lines also fostered the growth of towns, helped establish
new markets, and offered rich opportunities for both visionaries and profiteers.
A New Industrial Age 443
CHINESE IMMIGRANTS AND
THE RAILROADS
Although the railroads paid all
their employees poorly, Asians
usually earned less than whites.
The average pay for whites work-
ing a ten-hour day was $40 to
$60 a month plus free meals.
Chinese immigrants hired by the
Central Pacific performed similar
tasks from dawn to dusk for
about $35 a month—and they
had to supply their own food.
The immigrants’ working condi-
tions were miserable, as depict-
ed by artist Jake Lee below. In
1866, for example, the railroad
hired them to dig a tunnel
through a granite mountain. For
five months of that year, the
Chinese lived and worked in
camps surrounded by banks of
snow. The total snowfall reached
over 40 feet. Hundreds of the
men were buried in avalanches or
later found frozen, still clutching
their shovels or picks.
A
A. Answer
The growth of
industries that
could ship to new
markets; haz-
ardous jobs for
railroad workers;
an increase of
immigration and
migration to the
West.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Analyzing
Effects
What were the
effects of railroad
expansion?
