The transcontinental railroad, built in the 1860s and connecting Council Bluffs, Iowa to Sacramento, California, was a mammoth undertaking, not least because it was done almost entirely by hand. The men who pulled it off are the subject of Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like it in the World.
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| the first transcontinental railroad; image from here |
In the nineteenth century, The United States saw its territory enlarge considerably until it stretched 'from sea to shining sea.' Such size in an age before modern transportation posed prohibitive logistics problems. Shipments and travelers to California had to go either:
- over land by horse/carriage
- by ship to Panama (over the isthmus by horse to another ship on the Pacific side)
- around South America
Each method had obvious dangers and costs. The solution was a transcontinental railroad, though that too had breathtaking challenges. Discussed since the 1830s (and more heatedly as the California gold rush and land opportunities encouraged explosive migration in the 1850s), people wanted it, but nobody knew if it could (or should) be done. Who would undertake such a feat?
The answer was two companies: the Central Pacific (starting from California) and the Union Pacific (from Iowa). First came surveyors like Theodore Judah (out West) and Grenville Dodge (in the East) to find the most feasible route. Railroads required relatively straight and flat routes, and their work showed the possibilities and 'paved the way' (though there was considerable debate about the best way forward). After that, funding needed to be obtained by a combination of private investors and government assistance/land grants. Finally, both companies started in the early 1860s. "The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were the first big business in America." They needed to be for the magnitude of work ahead of them.
How was it done? "The surveyors went first, followed by the engineers, who laid out the exact line. Then came the bridge gangs, so that when the gradings got to the bridge site they could continue. Then there were the men who dug the cuts or who dug and dumped the dirt to make the fills. Next came the track layers with their rails, spikes, fishplates, distance markers, sledgehammers, and ballast. After them the carpenters, who built the roundhouses, depots, and other buildings." The goal was to minimize cuts (in soil or rock) and fills/bridges (in valleys or spanning water) to save time and money.
Both the CP and UP faced considerable difficulties- technical, financial, and more. Out West, the CP first tackled the mountains, requiring frequent tunneling (where progress could be as slow as six inches per day) and facing harsh terrain and climate (frequent blizzards could bury the track in 10-20 feet of snow), not to mention the challenge of getting all supplies shipped around South America from the East Coast. In the east, the UP had a severe wood shortage on the plains, a similarly harsh climate, and hostile Indians, who regarded the land as theirs and rightly recognized the railroad's ramifications. For both companies, even favorable terrain and weather couldn't overcome the sheer logistics challenges- typical progress was a mile or two a day; one day's progress of ten miles was unmatched. In the end, the CP would lay a total of 742 miles of track, and the UP 1032 miles (source).
The workers out west were largely Chinese, who did their jobs well and behaved themselves much better than their Irish counterparts (who dominated eastern work crews). Mormons in Utah were also critical. Tens of thousands were involved, and many died during the work, though their numbers are unknown (no records were kept). Their feats were unbelievable- the strength, endurance, and resilience they showed has been seldom equaled.
The teams met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869. An amazing achievement. In early nineteenth century America, men "traveled no faster than Julius Caesar," and no "information could be transmitted any faster than in Alexander the Great's time. In 1869, with the railroad and the telegraph that was beside it, a man could move at sixty miles per hour and transmit an idea or a statistic from coast to coast almost instantly." Together, these inventions "made modern America possible." A trip from New York to San Francisco that might have cost more than $1000 and taken months could now be done for $65 in 7 days. And for a country recently torn apart as north and south, the railroad helped heal that wound and tie the land together from east to west. Truly, there was nothing like it in the world.
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| meeting at Promontory in 1869; image from here |
Back in May, I read Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, an excellent account of the Lewis & Clark expedition. I was eager for more, and this (largely) fit the bill. His account is balanced and fair to many parties, thorough, and well-written. And yet . . .
I should have paid attention to the subtitle: "the men who built the ..." This is largely their story. Of course, Ambrose covers the construction process and technical hurdles, but the emphasis is on the men behind things- the financial backers (and their corruption), the surveyors, engineers, and 'common' laborers, etc. He does a good job with all of them, but some chapters (especially concerning the political and financial fights) were mildly confusing and (I felt) detracted from the story.* The account also appeared unevenly paced at times, with several points repeated and some elements glazed over or skipped entirely.** These things aside, this is a good read. You get an idea of how impressive this accomplishment truly was.
Two things I didn't realize:
1) These companies were not friends- they were in competition, with the meeting place unknown until very late in the process. That produced a furious race, which spurred men on both sides to do more than any thought possible (and to sacrifice quality for speed). You can see which companies did which portions in the graphic above.
2) It wasn't truly a transcontinental railroad. The portions east of Iowa were mostly in existence already, and Sacramento to San Francisco was completed later. The result certainly tied the land together, but the actual construction covered 'only' 70% of the width of the States.
Rating: B+
*Though to be fair, perhaps understanding the complexity of this aspect should have produced the opposite reaction in me. I like to focus on the technical side.
**Though again, I must be fair and admit it was probably the same challenges over and over again, so Ambrose probably felt justified in sparing the reader.
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