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Article: Transcontinental Railroad
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
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TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
On May 10, 1869, the last tracks of the United States' first cross-country railroad were laid, making North America the first continent to be spanned from coast to coast by a rail line. The event was the fulfillment of a great national dream to knit the vast country closer together. Short-run rail lines had been in use since the 1840s, but the nation lacked a quick and reliable method for transporting people, raw materials, and finished goods between distant regions.
In the early 1860s, the U.S. Congress decided in favor of extending the railroad across the country. The
federal government granted land and extended millions of dollars in loans to two ...