Editing Transcontinental railroad (section)

====Transcontinental railroad====
{{main|First transcontinental railroad}}

[[File:3c Transcontinental Railroad 75th Anniversary single, 1944.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The U.S. Post Office issued  a commemorative stamp in 1944, on the 75th anniversary of the first transcontinental railroad in America. The engraving depicts the driving of the "[[Golden Spike]]" at [[Promontory, Utah]] in 1869.]]
The United States' [[first transcontinental railroad]] was built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]], with the Pacific coast at the [[Oakland Long Wharf]] on [[San Francisco Bay]]. Its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, it served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Much of the original route, especially on the Sierra grade west of Reno, Nevada, is currently used by Amtrak's ''[[California Zephyr]]'', although many parts have been rerouted.<ref>{{cite book| title=Riding the Transcontinental Rails: Overland Travel on the Pacific Railroad 1865–1881| author=Cooper, Bruce Clement| year=2005| publisher=Philadelphia: Polyglot Press, 445 pages| isbn=1411599934}} p. 1-15</ref>

The resulting coast-to-coast railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the [[American Old West|American West]].{{refn|"The charter of the last-named Company [Western Pacific Railroad] contemplated a line from Sacramento toward San Francisco, making the circuit of the Bay of that name [to San José]. Their franchise has recently [late 1867] been assigned to parties in the interest of the Central Pacific Railroad Company; and it is probable that this line will be formally incorporated with the Central Pacific Railroad, and the road extended from Sacramento to San Francisco by the ''"best, most direct and practicable route"'' so soon as the overland connection is completed. In the meantime the travel is abundantly accommodated by first-class steamers."  – Central Pacific Railroad Company of California ''"Railroad Across the Continent, with an account of the Central Pacific Railroad of California"'', pp. 9-10, New York: Brown & Hewitt, Printers. September 1868.|group=N}}{{refn|The legal "date of completion" of the WPRR grade was subsequently designated to be January 22, 1870.<ref>Letter from Charles F. Conant, Assistant Secretary, US Department of the Treasury, to US Rep. William Lawrence (R-OH8), March 9, 1876</ref> The formal consolidation of the Central Pacific Railroad of California with the Western Pacific Railroad Co., San Joaquin Valley Railroad Co., and San Francisco, Oakland & Alameda Railroad Co. under the name of the Central Pacific Railroad Company became effective on June 22, 1870, with the filing of Articles of Consolidation drawn under the laws of California with the California Secretary of State.<ref>Letter from Z.B. Sturgus, Chief, Lands and Railroad Division, Office of the Secretary, US Department of the Interior, to US Rep. William Lawrence (R-OH8), April 28, 1876</ref><ref>Speech by Rep. William A. Piper (D-CA1) in the US House of Representatives, April 8, 1876</ref>|group=N}}  It brought the western states and territories into alignment with the northern Union states and made transporting passengers and goods coast-to-coast considerably quicker, safer and less expensive. It replaced most of the far slower and more hazardous [[stagecoach]] lines and [[wagon train]]s. The number of emigrants taking the [[Oregon Trail|Oregon]] and [[California Trail]]s declined dramatically.  The sale of the railroad land grant lands and the transport provided for timber and crops led to the rapid settling of the "Great American Desert".<ref>Richard White, '' Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America'' (2012)</ref>

The Union Pacific recruited laborers from Army veterans and [[Irish people|Irish]] immigrants, while most of the engineers were ex-Army men who had learned their trade keeping the trains running during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Collins|first=R.M.|title=Irish Gandy Dancer: A tale of building the Transcontinental Railroad|year=2010|publisher=Create Space|location=Seattle|isbn=978-1-4528-2631-8|pages=198}}</ref>

The Central Pacific Railroad faced a labor shortage in the more sparsely settled West. It recruited [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]] laborers in China, who built the line over and through the [[Sierra Nevada]] mountains and then across [[Nevada]] to their meeting in [[northern Utah]]. Chinese workers made up ninety percent of the workforce on the line.<ref name="Chang Fishkin 2019">{{cite book |last1=Chang |first1=Gordon H |last2=Fishkin |first2=Shelley Fisher |title=The Chinese and the iron road: Building the transcontinental railroad |date=2019 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, CA |isbn=9781503608290}}</ref> The [[Chinese Labor Strike of 1867]] was peaceful, with no violence, organized across the entire Sierra Nevada route, and was carried out according to a peaceful Confucian model of protest.<ref name=Ryan>{{Cite journal |last=Ryan |first=Patrick Spaulding |date=2022-05-11 |title=Saving Face Without Words: A Confucian Perspective on The Strike of 1867 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4067005 |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS) (forthcoming)|doi=10.2139/ssrn.4067005 |s2cid=248036295 |language=en-US}}</ref> The strike began with the [[Summer Solstice]] in June, 1867 and lasted for eight days.<ref name=Ryan />