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First Transcontinental Railroad Research Paper

303 Words2 Pages

The first transcontinental railroad in the United States was built between 1863 and 1869. It was 1,776 miles long and covered the western half of America from Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad connected California to Omaha, Nebraska and eastern cities. By 1900, the railroad track grew from 35,000 miles of track to 167,000 miles, which was more than the total of railroad route in Europe and Russia. Prior to the transcontinental railroad was built, many settlers began to move westward across the United States. There were more and more people moved westward after the discovery of gold in California in 1849. In 1845, the New York entrepreneur Asa Whitney proposed in Congress to raise funds to build railroad. However,

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