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The Transcontinental Railroad Before The Civil War

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Before the Civil War By 1835, thousands of miles of railroad tracks had been laid down in the eastern United States. New towns and factories began to pop up at train stops. Trains made it easy and cheap to transport goods. The Native Americans did not like the railroads. The trains were noisy and scared animals away. Trains destroyed a lot of the wide open land. Trains made moving long distances possible, so more people started to move West. This took even more Native American land. Pacific Railway Act In 1862, The Central Pacific Railroad and The Union Pacific Railroad Companies started to build the Transcontinental Railroad. The government called it a “Great Race” between the two companies. The goal was to see who could cover the most land

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