Editing First transcontinental railroad (section)

==Transcontinental route==
[[File:Pacific Railroad Profile 1867.jpg|upright=3.2|thumb|center|Profile of the Pacific Railroad from Council Bluffs/Omaha to San Francisco. ''Harper's Weekly'' December 7, 1867]]

===Construction begun===
[[File:3c Transcontinental Railroad 75th Anniversary single, 1944.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The U.S. Post Office issued a postage stamp in 1944 commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first transcontinental railroad in America. The engraving depicts the driving of the 'Golden Spike' at Promontory, Utah, where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads came together in 1869.]]

The Central Pacific broke ground on January 8, 1863.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Race to Promontory |url=https://www.up.com/goldenspike/omaha-promontory.html |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=The Great Race to Promontory}}</ref> Because of insufficient transportation alternatives from the manufacturing centers on the east coast, virtually all of their tools and machinery including rails, [[railroad switch]]es, [[railroad turntable]]s, [[railroad car|freight]] and passenger cars, and [[steam locomotive]]s were transported first by train to east coast ports. They were then loaded on ships which either sailed around South America's [[Cape Horn]], or offloaded the cargo at the [[Isthmus of Panama]], where it was sent across via [[paddle steamer]] and the [[Panama Railroad]]. The Panama Railroad gauge was {{convert|5|ft|mm|0}}, which was incompatible with the {{convert|4|ft|8+1/2|in|mm|adj=on}} gauge used by the CPRR equipment. The latter route was about twice as expensive per pound.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Once the machinery and tools reached the [[San Francisco Bay]] area, they were put aboard river paddle steamers which transported them up the final {{convert|130|mi|km}} of the [[Sacramento River]] to the new state capital in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]]. Many of these steam engines, railroad cars, and other machinery were shipped dismantled and had to be reassembled.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Wooden timbers for railroad ties, trestles, bridges, firewood, and telegraph poles were harvested in California and transported to the project site.

The Union Pacific Railroad did not start construction for another 18 months until July 1865. They were delayed by difficulties obtaining financial backing and the unavailability of workers and materials due to the Civil War. Their start point in the new city of [[Omaha, Nebraska]], was not yet connected via railroad to [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]]. Equipment needed to begin work was initially delivered to Omaha and Council Bluffs by paddle steamers on the [[Missouri River]]. The Union Pacific was so slow in beginning construction during 1865 that they sold two of the four steam locomotives they had purchased.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

After the [[American Civil War]] ended in 1865, the Union Pacific still competed for railroad supplies with companies who were building or repairing railroads in the south, and prices rose.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

===Rail standards===
[[File:First Day Cover Sc922 75th Anniversary First Transcontinental Railroad May 10, 1944.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|First Day Cover for the 75th Anniversary of the Driving of the Last Spike (May 10, 1944)]]

At that time in the United States, there were two primary standards for track gauge, as defined by the distance between the two rails. In Britain, the gauge was {{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}, and this had been adopted by the majority of northern railways. However, much of the south had adopted a {{Track gauge|5ft|lk=on}} gauge. Transferring railway cars across a [[break of gauge]] required [[Bogie exchange|changing out]] the [[Bogie|trucks]]. Alternatively, cargo was [[Transloading|offloaded and reloaded]], a time-consuming effort that delayed cargo shipments. For the transcontinental railroad, the builders adopted what is now known as the [[standard gauge]].<ref name="daspit">{{cite web|last1=Daspit|first1=Tom|title=The Days They Changed the Gauge|url=http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1966/66-8/gauge.html|access-date=10 October 2016}}</ref>

The [[Bessemer process]] and [[open hearth furnace]] steel-making were in use by 1865, but the advantages of steel rails which lasted much longer than iron rails had not yet been demonstrated.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} The [[Rail profile|rails]] used initially in building the railway were nearly all made of an [[iron]] flat-bottomed modified [[I-beam]] profile weighing {{convert|56|or|66|lb/yd|kg/m|1}}.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} The railroad companies were intent on completing the project as rapidly as possible at a minimum cost. Within a few years, nearly all railroads converted to [[Rail profile|steel rails]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022|reason=It seems "within a few years" is far too vague to be useful. What is a "few"?  10 years?  30 years?  75 years?}}

===Time zones and telegraph usage===
Time was not standardized across the United States and Canada until November 18, 1883.<ref>Smithsonian's NMAH – Anniversary Exhibition Press Release 1999 [http://americanhistory.si.edu/news/pressrelease.cfm?key=29&newskey=97 "North American Standard Time introduced 1883"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630183026/http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/news/pressrelease.cfm?key=29&newskey=97 |date=2011-06-30 }} – Retrieved March 4</ref> In 1865, each railroad set its own time to minimize scheduling errors.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022|reason=What about 1866?}} To communicate easily up and down the line, the railroads built telegraph lines alongside the tracks. These lines eventually superseded the original [[First Transcontinental Telegraph]] which followed much of the [[Mormon Trail]] up the [[North Platte River]] and across the very thinly populated [[Central Nevada Route]] through central Utah and Nevada. The telegraph lines along the railroad were easier to protect and maintain. Many of the original telegraph lines were abandoned as the telegraph business was consolidated with the railroad telegraph lines.<ref>{{cite web|title=Transcontinental Telegraph Line (U.S.)|url=http://ethw.org/Transcontinental_Telegraph_Line_(U.S.)|website=Engineering and Technology History Wiki|date=November 23, 2017 |access-date=6 March 2018}}</ref>

===Union Pacific route===
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2016}}
[[File:Transcontinental railroad route.png|thumb|left|Route of the first American transcontinental railroad from Sacramento, California, to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Other railroads connected at Council Bluffs to cities throughout the East and Midwest.]]

The Union Pacific's {{convert|1087|mi|km}} of track started at MP 0.0 in [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]],<ref name="ExecOrder"/> on the eastern side of the [[Missouri River]]. Omaha was chosen by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] as the location of its Transfer Depot where up to seven railroads could transfer mail and other goods to Union Pacific trains bound for the west.

Trains were initially transported across the Missouri River by ferry before they could access the western tracks beginning in [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], [[Nebraska Territory]]. The river froze in the winter, and the ferries were replaced by sleighs. A bridge was not built until 1872, when the {{convert|2750|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} [[Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge]] was completed.

After the rail line's initial climb through the Missouri River bluffs west of Omaha and out of the [[Missouri River]] Valley, the route bridged the [[Elkhorn River]] and then crossed over the new {{convert|1500|ft|m|adj=on}} [[Loup River]] bridge as it followed the north side of the [[Platte River]] valley west through Nebraska along the general path of the [[Oregon Trail|Oregon]], [[Mormon Trail|Mormon]] and [[California Trail]]s.

By December 1865, the Union Pacific had only completed {{convert|40|mi|km}} of track, reaching [[Fremont, Nebraska]], and a further {{convert|10|mi|km}} of roadbed.<ref>[http://utahrails.net/up/up-timeline-1864-1880.php Union Pacific Timeline] accessed March 8, 2013.</ref>

At the end of 1865, Peter A. Dey, Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific, resigned over a routing dispute with [[Thomas C. Durant]], one of the chief financiers of the Union Pacific.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The First Transcontinental Railroad • Chapter 8 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/_Topics/history/_Texts/GALFTR/8*.html |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

With the end of the Civil War and increased government supervision in the offing, Durant hired his former M&M engineer [[Grenville M. Dodge]] to build the railroad, and the Union Pacific began a mad dash west.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-11 |title=Transcontinental Railroad – Construction, Competition & Impact |url=https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref>

Former Union General [[John S. Casement|John "Jack" Casement]] was hired as the new Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific. He equipped several railroad cars to serve as portable bunkhouses for the workers and gathered men and supplies to push the railroad rapidly west. Among the bunkhouses, Casement added a galley car to prepare meals, and he even provided for a herd of cows to be moved with the railhead and bunk cars to provide fresh meat. Hunters were hired to provide [[American bison|buffalo]] meat from the large herds of American bison.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

The small survey parties who scouted ahead to locate the roadbed were sometimes attacked and killed by raiding Native Americans. In response, the U.S. Army instituted active cavalry patrols that grew larger as the Native Americans grew more aggressive. Temporary, "[[Hell on Wheels|Hell on wheels]]" towns, made mostly of canvas tents, accompanied the railroad as construction headed west.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klein |first=Maury |date=2006 |orig-year=1987 |title=Union Pacific: Volume I, 1862–1893 |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |pages=100–101 |isbn=1452908737}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ambrose |first=Stephen E. |date=2000 |title=Nothing Like It In the World |url=https://archive.org/details/nothinglikeitinw00ambr |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nothinglikeitinw00ambr/page/217 217–219]}}</ref>

The [[Platte River]] was too shallow and meandering to provide river transport, but the Platte river valley headed west and sloped up gradually at about {{convert|6|ft/mi|m/km}}, often allowing to lay a mile (1.6&nbsp;km) of track a day or more in 1866 as the Union Pacific finally started moving rapidly west. Building bridges to cross creeks and rivers was the main source of delays. Near where the [[Platte River]] splits into the [[North Platte River]] and [[South Platte River]], the railroad bridged the North Platte River over a {{convert|2600|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} bridge (nicknamed ½ mile bridge). It was built across the shallow but wide North Platte resting on piles driven by steam [[pile driver]]s.<ref>[http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/70512/rec/1 North Platte Bridge] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525090608/http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/70512/rec/1 |date=May 25, 2017 }} accessed March 14, 2013.</ref> Here they built the "railroad" town of [[North Platte, Nebraska]], in December 1866 after completing about {{convert|240|mi|km|}} of track that year. In late 1866, former [[Major General]] [[Grenville M. Dodge]] was appointed Chief Engineer on the Union Pacific, but hard-working General "Jack" Casement continued to work as chief construction "boss" and his brother Daniel Casement continued as a financial officer.

The original emigrant route across Wyoming of the Oregon, Mormon and California Trails, after progressing up the [[Platte River]] valley, went up the [[North Platte River]] valley through [[Casper, Wyoming]], along the [[Sweetwater River (Wyoming)|Sweetwater River]] and over the [[Continental Divide]] at the {{convert|7412|ft|m|adj=on}} [[South Pass (Wyoming)|South Pass]]. The original westward travelers in their ox and mule pulled wagons tried to stick to river valleys to avoid as much road building as possible—gradients and sharp corners were usually of little or no concern to them. The ox and mule pulled wagons were the original off-road vehicles in their day since nearly all of the [[Emigrant Trail]]s went cross country over rough, unimproved trails. The route over South Pass's main advantage for wagons pulled by oxen or mules was a shorter elevation over an "easy" pass to cross and its "easy" connection to nearby river valleys on both sides of the continental divide for water and grass. The emigrant trails were closed in winter. The North Platte–South Pass route was far less beneficial for a railroad, as it was about {{convert|150|mi|km}} longer and much more expensive to construct up the narrow, steep and rocky canyons of the North Platte. The route along the North Platte was also further from [[Denver, Colorado]], and went across difficult terrain, while a railroad connection to that City was already being planned for and surveyed.

Efforts to survey a new, shorter, "better" route had been underway since 1864. By 1867, a new route was found and surveyed that went along part of the [[South Platte River]] in western Nebraska and after entering what is now the state of [[Wyoming]], ascended a gradual sloping ridge between [[Lodgepole Creek]] and [[Crow Creek (South Platte River)|Crow Creek]] to the {{convert|8200|ft|m|adj=on}} [[Sherman Summit|Evans pass]] (also called Sherman's Pass) which was discovered by the Union Pacific employed English surveyor and engineer, James Evans, in about 1864.<ref>[http://up150.com/timeline/sherman-summit Discovery of Evans Pass] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414011022/http://up150.com/timeline/sherman-summit |date=April 14, 2012 }} accessed March 8, 2013.</ref> This pass now is marked by the [[Ames Monument]] ({{coord|41.131281|N|105.398045|W|display=inline}}) marking its significance and commemorating two of the main backers of the Union Pacific Railroad. From North Platte, Nebraska (elevation {{convert|2834|ft|m|disp=or}}), the railroad proceeded westward and upward along a new path across the [[Nebraska Territory]] and [[Wyoming Territory]] (then part of the [[Dakota Territory]]) along the north bank of the [[South Platte River]] and into what would become the state of Wyoming at Lone Pine, Wyoming. Evans Pass was located between what would become the new "railroad" towns of [[Cheyenne, Wyoming|Cheyenne]] and [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]]. Connecting to this pass, about {{convert|15|mi|km}} west of Cheyenne, was the one place across the [[Laramie Mountains]] that had a narrow "guitar neck" of land that crossed the mountains without serious erosion at the so-called "gangplank" ({{coord|41.099746|N|105.153205|W|display=inline}}) discovered by [[Major General]] [[Grenville Dodge]] in 1865 when he was in the U.S. Army.<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170525090609/http://www.laramieboomerang.com/news/documentary-tells-story-of-railroad-s-march-across-state/article_692f32a0-b245-56cc-a21a-ae16f0d7955a.html Gankplank discovery] accessed March 5, 2013.</ref> The new route surveyed across Wyoming was over {{convert|150|mi|km}} shorter, had a flatter profile, allowing for cheaper and easier railroad construction, and also went closer by Denver and the known coalfields in the [[Wasatch Range|Wasatch]] and [[Laramie Range]]s.

The railroad gained about {{convert|3200|ft|m}} in the {{convert|220|mi|km}} climb to Cheyenne from North Platte, Nebraska—about {{convert|15|ft/mi|m/km}}—a very gentle slope of less than one degree average. This "new" route had never become an emigrant route because it lacked the water and grass to feed the emigrants' oxen and mules. Steam locomotives did not need grass, and the railroad companies could drill wells for water if necessary.

Coal had been discovered in Wyoming and reported on by [[John C. Frémont]] in his 1843 expedition across Wyoming, and was already being exploited by Utah residents from towns like [[Coalville, Utah]], and later [[Kemmerer, Wyoming]], by the time the Transcontinental railroad was built. Union Pacific needed coal to fuel its [[steam locomotive]]s on the almost treeless plains across Nebraska and Wyoming. Coal shipments by rail were also looked on as a potentially major source of income—this potential is still being realized.

[[File:Dale Creek Bridge Union Pacific Railroad Company by Andrew J Russell.jpg|thumb|right|Dale Creek Bridge]]
The Union Pacific reached the new railroad town of Cheyenne in December 1867, having laid about {{convert|270|mi|km}} that year. They paused over the winter, preparing to push the track over Evans (Sherman's) Pass. At {{convert|8247|ft|m}}, Evans Pass was the highest point reached on the transcontinental railroad. About {{convert|4|mi|km}} beyond Evans pass, the railroad had to build an extensive bridge over the Dale Creek canyon ({{coord|41.103803|N|105.454797|W|display=inline}}). The [[Dale Creek Crossing]] was one of their more difficult railroad engineering challenges.<ref>Pride and pitfalls along the coast to coast track, by Michael Kenney. Boston Globe. January 10, 2000. A book review: [[Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad]], by David Haward Bain.</ref> Dale Creek Bridge was {{convert|650|ft|m}} long and {{convert|125|ft|m}} above Dale Creek.<ref name="up">{{cite web |url=http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/hist-ov/hist-ov4.shtml |title=UP construction |access-date=August 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408220256/http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/hist-ov/hist-ov4.shtml |archive-date=April 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The bridge components were pre-built of timber in [[Chicago, Illinois]], and then shipped on rail cars to Dale Creek for assembly. The eastern and western approaches to the bridge site, near the highest [[elevation]] on the transcontinental railroad, required cutting through granite for nearly a mile on each side.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZp_GT7PscIC|title=Nothing like it in the world: the men who built the transcontinental railroad, 1863–1869|first=Stephen E|last= Ambrose|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2001 | isbn=978-0743203173}}</ref> The initial Dale Creek bridge had a train speed limit of {{convert|4|mi|km}} per hour across the bridge. Beyond Dale Creek, railroad construction paused at what became the town of [[Laramie, Wyoming]], to build a bridge across the [[Laramie River]].

Located {{convert|35|mi|km}} from Evans pass, Union Pacific connected the new "railroad" town of Cheyenne to Denver and its [[Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company]] railroad line in 1870. Elevated {{convert|6070|ft|m}} above sea level, and sitting on the new Union Pacific route with a connection to Denver, Cheyenne was chosen to become a major railroad center and was equipped with extensive railroad yards, maintenance facilities, and a Union Pacific presence. Its location made it a good base for [[Bank engine|helper locomotives]] to couple to trains with [[snowplow]]s to help clear the tracks of snow or help haul heavy freight over Evans pass. The Union Pacific's junction with the Denver Railroad with its connection to [[Kansas City, Kansas]], [[Kansas City, Missouri]], and the railroads east of the Missouri River again increased Cheyenne's importance as the junction of two major railroads. Cheyenne later became Wyoming's largest city and the capital of the new state of Wyoming.

The railroad established many townships along the way: [[Fremont, Nebraska|Fremont]], [[Elkhorn, Nebraska|Elkhorn]], [[Grand Island, Nebraska|Grand Island]], [[North Platte, Nebraska|North Platte]], [[Ogallala, Nebraska|Ogallala]] and [[Sidney, Nebraska|Sidney]] as the railroad followed the Platte River across Nebraska territory. The railroad even dipped into what would become the new state of [[Colorado]] after crossing the North Platte River as it followed the [[South Platte River]] west into what would become [[Julesburg, Colorado|Julesburg]] before turning northwest along Lodgepole Creek into Wyoming. In the [[Dakota Territory]] (Wyoming) the new towns of [[Cheyenne, Wyoming|Cheyenne]], [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]], [[Rawlins, Wyoming|Rawlins]] (named for [[Union Army|Union]] General [[John Aaron Rawlins]], who camped in the locality in 1867<ref>Stewart, George R. (1970) ''American Place-Names'', p. 401, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.</ref>), [[Green River, Wyoming|Green River]] and [[Evanston, Wyoming|Evanston]] (named after James Evans) were established, as well as much more fuel and water stops. The [[Green River (Colorado River)|Green River]] was crossed with a new bridge, and the new "railroad" town of Green River constructed there after the tracks reached the Green River on October 1, 1868—the last big river to cross.

On December 4, 1868, the Union Pacific reached Evanston, having laid almost {{convert|360|mi|km}} of track over the Green River and the [[Laramie Plains]] that year. By 1871, Evanston became a significant maintenance shop town equipped to carry out extensive repairs on the cars and steam locomotives.

In the [[Utah Territory]], the railroad once again diverted from the main emigrant trails to cross the [[Wasatch Range|Wasatch Mountains]] and went down the rugged Echo Canyon (Summit County, Utah) and [[Weber River]] canyon. To speed up construction as much as possible, Union Pacific contracted several thousand Mormon workers to cut, fill, trestle, bridge, blast and tunnel its way down the rugged Weber River Canyon to [[Ogden, Utah]], ahead of the railroad construction. The Mormon and Union Pacific rail work was joined in the area of the present-day border between Utah and Wyoming.<ref name="cprr.org">Mormon workers on Union Pacific transcontinental tracks [http://cprr.org/Museum/Stewart-Iron_Trail.html] accessed August 2, 2013.</ref> The longest of four tunnels built in Weber Canyon was {{convert|757|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} Tunnel 2. Work on this tunnel started in October 1868 and was completed six months later. Temporary tracks were laid around it and Tunnels 3 ({{convert|508|ft|m|disp=or}}), 4 ({{convert|297|ft|m|disp=or}}) and 5 ({{convert|579|ft|m|disp=or}}) to continue work on the tracks west of the tunnels.

The tunnels were all made with the new dangerous [[nitroglycerine]] explosive, which expedited work but caused some fatal accidents.<ref>Construction on Echo and Weber Canyon [http://utahrails.net/articles/weber-echo.php] accessed March 15, 2013.</ref> While building the railroad along the rugged Weber River Canyon, Mormon workers signed the [[Thousand Mile Tree]] which was a lone tree alongside the track {{convert|1000|mi|km}} from Omaha. A historic marker has been placed there.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://library.usu.edu/Specol/photoarchive/p0019/p00190019.html |title = Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery, Photographic Collection |author1 = F.V. Hayden |author2 = Daniel M. Davis |name-list-style = amp |access-date = 2007-01-06 |publisher = [[Utah State University]] Special Collections and Archives |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070112214258/http://library.usu.edu/Specol/photoarchive/p0019/p00190019.html |archive-date = January 12, 2007 |url-status = dead |df = mdy-all }}</ref>

The tracks reached [[Ogden, Utah]], on March 8, 1869,<ref>Deseret News March 17, 1869, page 1</ref> although finishing work would continue on the tracks, tunnels and bridges in Weber Canyon for over a year. From Ogden, the railroad went north of the [[Great Salt Lake]] to [[Brigham City, Utah|Brigham City]] and [[Corinne, Utah|Corinne]] using Mormon workers, before finally connecting with the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] at Promontory Summit in Utah territory on May 10, 1869.<ref name=UPmap>{{cite web|title=Union Pacific Map|url=http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Maps/_traveler%27s_rr_guide_1882.html|publisher=Central Pacific Railroad Museum|access-date=2009-02-05}}</ref><ref>Promontory Summit-NPS [http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/gosp1/promontory_summit.pdf] accessed February 26, 2013.</ref> Some Union Pacific officers declined to pay the Mormons all of the agreed upon construction costs of the work through Weber Canyon, and beyond, claiming Union Pacific poverty despite the millions they had extracted through the [[Crédit Mobilier of America scandal]]. Only partial payment was secured through court actions against Union Pacific.<ref name="cprr.org"/>

===Central Pacific route===
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2016}}
[[File:44. Cape Horn, C.P.R.R.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|Central Pacific Railroad at Cape Horn {{circa|1880}}]]

The Central Pacific laid {{convert|690|mi}} of track, starting in Sacramento, California, in 1863 and continuing over the rugged {{convert|7000|ft|m|adj=on}} [[Sierra Nevada]] mountains at [[Donner Pass]] into the new state of Nevada. The elevation change from Sacramento (elev. {{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=or}}) to [[Donner Summit]] (elev. {{convert|7000|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=or}}) had to be accomplished in about {{convert|90|mi|km}} with an average elevation change of 76&nbsp;feet per&nbsp;mile (14&nbsp;meters per&nbsp;km), and there were only a few places in the Sierra where this type of "ramp" existed. The discovery and detailed map survey with profiles and elevations of this route over the Sierra Nevada is credited to [[Theodore Judah]], chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad until his death in 1863. This route is up a ridge between the North fork of the [[American River]] on the south and [[Bear River (Feather River tributary)|Bear]] and [[South Yuba River]]s on the north. As the railroad climbed out of Sacramento up to Donner Summit, there was only one {{convert|3|mi|km|adj=on}} section near "Cape Horn CPRR"<ref>Cape Horn CPRR [https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/C.P.R.R._train_at_Cape_Horn,_by_Thomas_Houseworth_%2526_Co..jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C.P.R.R._train_at_Cape_Horn,_by_Thomas_Houseworth_%2526_Co..jpg&h=1419&w=2737&sz=1669&tbnid=8IfJNhakdb9bqM:&tbnh=62&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__R8lvvJNl_a9FCTGufLMRY_6Iz2I=&docid=nJYpVW4BZ669bM&itg=1&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8RU9UdL0GcruyQH-54GoCQ&ved=0CEwQ9QEwAw&dur=166] accessed March 10, 2013.</ref> where the railroad grade slightly exceeded two percent.

[[File:Dutch Flat Wagon Road 1864.jpg|thumb|left|1864 advertisement for the opening of the [[Dutch Flat Wagon Road]]]]
In June 1864, the Central Pacific railroad entrepreneurs opened Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road (DFDLWR).<ref>Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road [http://cprr.org/Museum/DFDLWR_Duncan.html] Accessed July 23, 2009.</ref> Costing about $300,000 and a years worth of work, this toll road wagon route was opened over much of the route the Central Pacific railroad (CPRR) would use over Donner Summit to carry freight and passengers needed by the CPRR and to carry other cargo over their toll road to and from the ever-advancing railhead and over the Sierra to the gold and silver mining towns of Nevada. As the railroad advanced, their freight rates with the combined rail and wagon shipments would become much more competitive. The volume of the toll road freight traffic to Nevada was estimated to be about $13,000,000 a year as the [[Comstock Lode]] boomed, and getting even part of this freight traffic would help pay for the railroad construction. When the railroad reached Reno, it had the majority of all Nevada freight shipments, and the price of goods in Nevada dropped significantly as the freight charges to Nevada dropped significantly. The rail route over the Sierras followed the general route of the Truckee branch of the [[California Trail]], going east over Donner Pass and down the rugged [[Truckee River]] valley.

The route over the Sierra had been plotted out by Judah in preliminary surveys before his death in 1863. Judah's deputy, [[Samuel S. Montague]] was appointed as Central Pacific's new Chief Engineer, with Lewis M. Clement as Assistant Chief Engineer and Charles Cadwalader as second assistant. To build the new railroad, detailed surveys had to be run that showed where the cuts, fills, trestles, bridges and tunnels would have to be built. Work that was identified as taking a long time was started as soon as its projected track location could be ascertained and work crews, supplies and road work equipment found to be sent ahead. Tunnels, trestles and bridges were nearly all built this way. The spread-out nature of the work resulted in the work being split into two divisions, with L. M. Clement taking the upper division from Blue Cañon to Truckee and Cadwalader taking the lower division from Truckee to the Nevada border. Other assistant engineers were assigned to specific tasks such as building a bridge, tunnel or trestle which was done by the workers under experienced supervisors.<ref name="lmc"/>

[[File:CPRR Sierra Grade @ Donner Summit (1869; 2003).jpg|right|thumb|The CPRR grade at Donner Summit as it appeared in 1869 and 2003]]
In total, the Central Pacific had eleven tunnel projects (Nos. 3 through 13) under construction in the Sierra from 1865 to 1868, with seven tunnels located in a {{convert|2|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch on the east side of Donner Summit. The tunnels were usually built by drilling a series of holes in the tunnel face, filling them with black powder and detonating it to break the rock free. The black powder was provided by the California Powder Works near [[Santa Cruz, California]]. These works had started production in 1864 after the [[American Civil War]] had cut off shipments of black powder from the East to the mining and railroad industry of California and Nevada. The Central Pacific was a prolific user of black powder, often using up to 500 kegs of {{convert|25|lb|kg}} per day.<ref>California Powder Works [http://railroad.lindahall.org/essays/black-powder.html] accessed March 19, 2013.</ref>

The summit tunnel (Number 6), {{convert|1660|ft|m}}, was started in late 1865, well ahead of the railhead. Through solid granite, the summit tunnel progressed at a rate of only about {{convert|0.98|ft|m}} per day per face as it was being worked by three eight-hour shifts of workers, hand drilling holes with a rock drill and hammer, filling them with black powder and trying to blast the granite loose.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Parks|first=Shoshi|date=January 12, 2022|title=The Quest to Protect California's Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-quest-to-protect-californias-transcontinental-tunnels-180979382/|access-date=2022-02-12|magazine=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref> One crew worked drilling holes on the faces and another crew collected and removed the loosened rock after each explosion. The workers were pulled off the summit tunnel and the track grading east of Donner Pass in the winter of 1865–1866 as there was no way to supply them, nor quarters they could have lived in. The crews were transferred to work on bridges and track grading on the Truckee River canyon.

[[File:CPRR Summit Tunnel Central Shaft.jpg|thumb|left|The vertical central shaft of the CPRR "Summit Tunnel" (Tunnel#6) at Donner Summit which allowed drilling and excavation to be carried out on four faces at once]]
In 1866, they put in a {{convert|125|ft|m|adj=on}} vertical shaft in the center of the summit tunnel and started work towards the east and west tunnel faces, giving four working faces on the summit tunnel to speed up progress. A steam engine off an old locomotive was brought up with much effort over the wagon road and used as a winch driver to help remove loosened rock from the vertical shaft and two working faces. By the winter of 1866–67, work had progressed sufficiently and a camp had been built for workers on the summit tunnel which allowed work to continue. The cross section of a tunnel face was a {{convert|16|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}}, {{convert|16|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} oval with an {{convert|11|ft|m|adj=on}} vertical wall. Progress on the tunnel sped up to over {{convert|1.5|ft|m}} per day per face when they started using the newly invented [[nitroglycerin]]—manufactured near the tunnel. They used nitroglycerin to deepen the summit tunnel to the required {{convert|16|ft|m|adj=on}} height after the four tunnel faces met, and made even faster progress. Nearly all other tunnels were worked on both tunnel faces and met in the middle. Depending on the material the tunnels penetrated, they were left unlined or lined with brick, rock walls or timber and post. Some tunnels were designed to bend in the middle to align with the track bed curvature. Despite this potential complication, nearly all the different tunnel center lines met within {{convert|2|in|cm|0}} or so. The detailed survey work that made these tunnel digs as precise as required was nearly all done by the Canadian-born and -trained Lewis Clement, the CPRR's Chief Assistant Engineer and Superintendent of Track, and his assistants.<ref name="lmc">Cooper, Bruce C. [http://cprr.org/Museum/Lewis_Metzler_Clement.html Lewis Metzler Clement: A Pioneer of the Central Pacific Railroad] The Central Pacific Photographic History Museum.</ref>

Hills or ridges in front of the railroad road bed would have to have a flat-bottomed, V-shaped "cut" made to get the railroad through the ridge or hill. The type of material determined the slope of the V and how much material would have to be removed. Ideally, these cuts would be matched with valley fills that could use the dug out material to bring the road bed up to grade—[[cut and fill]] construction. In the 1860s there was no heavy equipment that could be used to make these cuts or haul it away to make the fills. The options were to dig it out by pick and shovel, haul the hillside material by [[wheelbarrow]] and/or horse or mule cart or blast it loose. To blast a V-shaped cut out, they had to drill several holes up to {{convert|20|ft|m}} deep in the material, fill them with black powder, and blast the material away. Since the Central Pacific was in a hurry, they were profligate users of black powder to blast their way through the hills. The only disadvantage came when a nearby valley needed fill to get across it. The explosive technique often blew most of the potential fill material down the hillside, making it unavailable for fill.<ref>The Use of Black Powder and Nitroglycerine on the transcontinental railroad [http://railroad.lindahall.org/essays/black-powder.html] accessed March 19, 2013.</ref><ref>California Newspapers, 1865–66 [http://cprr.org/Museum/Newspapers/] accessed March 19, 2013.</ref> Initially, many valleys were bridged by "temporary" trestles that could be rapidly built and were later replaced by much lower maintenance and permanent solid fill. The existing railroad made transporting and putting material in valleys much easier—load it on railway dump cars, haul where needed and dump it over the side of the trestle.

[[File:Donner Pass Summit Tunnel West Portal.jpg|thumb|right|The Summit Tunnel at Donner Summit, West Portal ''(Composite image with the tracks removed in 1993 digitally restored)'']]
The route down the eastern Sierras was done on the south side of [[Donner Lake]] with a series of switchbacks carved into the mountain. The Truckee River, which drains [[Lake Tahoe]], had already found and scoured out the best route across the [[Carson Range]] of mountains east of the Sierras. The route down the rugged Truckee River Canyon, including required bridges, was done ahead of the main summit tunnel completion. To expedite the building of the railroad through the Truckee River canyon, the Central Pacific hauled two small locomotives, [[railcar]]s, rails and other material on wagons and sleighs to what is now [[Truckee, California]], and worked the winter of 1867–68 on their way down Truckee canyon ahead of the tracks being completed to Truckee. This feat was dramatized in John Ford's film ''The Iron Horse'' with one of Central Pacific's actual locomotives, [[C.P. Huntington]].<ref>"[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Southern_Pacific_Bulletin/bg0TAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA12-PA17&printsec=frontcover S.P. Aids Filming of Big Pictures]", ''Southern Pacific Bulletin'', Vol. XIV, No. 1. January 1925. Southern Pacific Company, 1924. 17.</ref> In Truckee canyon, five [[Howe truss]] bridges had to be built. This gave them a head start on getting to the "easy" miles across Nevada.

In order to keep the higher portions of the Sierra grade open in the winter, {{convert|37|mi}} of timber [[snow shed]]s were built between Blue Cañon and Truckee in addition to utilizing [[snowplow]]s pushed by locomotives, as well as manual shovelling. With the advent of more efficient oil fired steam and later diesel electric power to drive plows, flangers, spreaders, and rotary snow plows, most of the wooden snowsheds have long since been removed as obsolete. Tunnels 1–5 and Tunnel 13 of the original 1860s tunnels on Track 1 of the Sierra grade remain in use today, while additional new tunnels were later driven when the grade was double tracked over the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 1993, the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] (which operated the CPRR-built [[Oakland, California|Oakland]]–[[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]] line until its 1996 merger with the [[Union Pacific]]) closed and pulled up the {{convert|6.7|mi|adj=on}} section of Track #1 over the summit running between the Norden complex (Shed 26, MP 192.1)<ref>Norden at {{coord|39.3176|-120.3584|display=inline}}</ref> and the covered crossovers in Shed #47 (MP 198.8)<ref>Shed 47 visible at {{coord|39.3116|-120.269|display=inline}}</ref> about a mile east of the old [[Flying junction|flyover]] at Eder, bypassing and abandoning the tunnel 6–8 complex, the concrete snowsheds just beyond them, and tunnels 9–12 ending at MP 195.7, all of which had been located on Track 1 within two miles of the summit.<ref>East end of Tunnel 41 at {{coord|39.301|-120.3003|display=inline}} with former track 1 passing above.</ref> Since then all east- and westbound traffic has been run over the Track #2 grade crossing the summit about {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} south of Donner Pass through the {{convert|10322|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} Tunnel #41 ("The Big Hole") running under Mt. Judah between Soda Springs and Eder, which was opened in 1925 when the summit section of the grade was double tracked. This routing change was made because the Track 2 and Tunnel 41 Summit crossing is far easier and less expensive to maintain and keep open in the harsh Sierra winters.<ref>{{cite web|author=Cooper, Bruce C.|url=http://cprr.org/Museum/Sierra_Grade_8-2003/Donner_Pass-Summit_Tunnel/index.html |title=Summit Tunnel & Donner Pass |publisher=CPRR.org |date=August 2003}}</ref>

On June 18, 1868, the Central Pacific reached [[Reno, Nevada]], after completing {{convert|132|mi|km}} of railroad up and over the Sierras from [[Sacramento, California]]. By then the railroad had already been prebuilt down the Truckee River on the much flatter land from Reno to [[Wadsworth, Nevada]], where they bridged the Truckee for the last time. From there, they struggled across a [[Lahontan Valley|forty mile desert]] to the end of the Humboldt river at the [[Humboldt Sink]]. From the end of the Humboldt, they continued east over the [[Great Basin Desert]] bordering the [[Humboldt River]] to [[Wells, Nevada]]. One of the most troublesome problems found on this route along the Humboldt was at [[Palisade Canyon]] (near [[Carlin, Nevada]]), where for {{convert|12|mi|km}} the line had to be built between the river and basalt cliffs. From Wells, Nevada, to [[Promontory Summit]], the Railroad left the Humboldt and proceeded across the Nevada and Utah desert. Water for the [[steam locomotive]]s was provided by wells, springs, or pipelines to nearby water sources. Water was often pumped into the water tanks with [[windmill]]s. Train fuel and [[water crane]]s for the early trains with steam locomotives may have been as often as every {{convert|10|mi|km}}. On one memorable occasion, not far from Promontory, the Central Pacific crews organized an army of workers and five train loads of construction material, and [[Tracklaying race of 1869|laid {{convert|10|mi|km}} of track]] on a prepared rail bed in one day—a record that still stands today. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific raced to get as much track laid as possible, and the Central Pacific laid about {{convert|560|mi|km}} of track from Reno to Promontory Summit in the one year before the Last Spike was driven on May 10, 1869.

Central Pacific had 1,694 freight cars available by May 1869, with more under construction in their Sacramento yard. Major repairs and maintenance on the Central Pacific rolling stock was done in their Sacramento maintenance yard. Near the end of 1869, Central Pacific had 162 locomotives, of which 2 had two drivers (drive wheels), 110 had four drivers, and 50 had six drivers. The [[steam locomotive]]s had been purchased in the eastern states and shipped to California by sea. Thirty-six additional locomotives were built and coming west, and twenty-eight more were under construction. There was a shortage of passenger cars and more had to be ordered. The first Central Pacific sleeper, the "Silver Palace Sleeping Car", arrived at Sacramento on June 8, 1868.<ref>Constructing the Central Pacific Railroad [http://cprr.org/Museum/Galloway7.html] accessed March 13, 2013.</ref>

The CPRR route passed through [[Newcastle, California|Newcastle]] and [[Truckee, California|Truckee]] in California, Reno, Wadsworth, [[Winnemucca, Nevada|Winnemucca]], [[Battle Mountain, Nevada|Battle Mountain]], [[Elko, Nevada|Elko]] and Wells in Nevada (with many more fuel and water stops), before connecting with the Union Pacific line at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory. When the eastern end of the CPRR was extended to Ogden by purchasing the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] line from Promontory for about $2.8&nbsp;million in 1870, it ended the short period of a boom town for [[Promontory, Utah|Promontory]], extended the Central Pacific tracks about {{convert|60|mi|km}} and made Ogden a major terminus on the transcontinental railroad, as passengers and freight switched railroads there.

[[File:Reno to Virginia City NV CPRR-V&TRR Ticket 1878 .jpg|thumb|left|CPRR-issued ticket for passage from Reno to Virginia City, NV on the V&TRR, 1878]]
Subsequent to the railhead's meeting at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, the San Joaquin River Bridge at Mossdale Crossing (near present-day [[Lathrop, California]]) was completed on September 8, 1869, with the first through freight train carrying freight from the East Coast leaving Sacramento and crossing the bridge to arrive that evening at the Alameda Wharf on San Francisco Bay. As a result, the western part of the route was extended from Sacramento to the [[Alameda Terminal]] in [[Alameda, California]], and shortly thereafter, to the [[Oakland Pier|Oakland Long Wharf]] at [[Oakland Point]] in [[Oakland, California]], and on to [[San Jose, California]]. Train ferries transferred some railroad cars to and from the Oakland wharves and tracks to wharves and tracks in [[San Francisco]]. Before the CPRR was completed, developers were building other feeder railroads like the [[Virginia and Truckee Railroad]] to the [[Comstock Lode]] diggings in [[Virginia City, Nevada]], and several different extensions in California and Nevada to reach other cities there. Some of their main cargo was the thousands of [[cord (unit)|cords]] ({{convert|1|cord|m3|disp=out}} each) of firewood needed for the many steam engines and pumps, cooking stoves, heating stoves etc. in Comstock Lode towns and the tons of ice needed by the miners as they worked ever deeper into the "hot" Comstock Lode ore body. In the mines, temperatures could get above {{convert|120|F}} at the work face and a miner often used over {{convert|100|lb|kg}} of ice per shift. This new railroad connected to the Central Pacific near Reno, and went through [[Carson City, Nevada|Carson City]], the new capital of Nevada.<ref>{{cite web|title=Central Pacific Railroad Map|url=http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Maps/_crofutt_1870_map.html|publisher=Central Pacific Railroad Museum|access-date=2009-02-05}}</ref>

After the transcontinental railroads were completed, many other railroads were built to connect up to other population centers in Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington territories, etc. In 1869, the [[Kansas Pacific Railway]] started building the [[Hannibal Bridge]], a [[swing bridge]] across the [[Missouri River]] between [[Kansas City, Missouri]], and [[Kansas City, Kansas]], which connected railroads on both sides of the Missouri while still allowing passage of [[paddle steamer]]s on the river. After completion, this became another major east–west railroad. To speed completion of the [[Kansas Pacific Railroad]] to Denver, construction started east from Denver in March 1870 to meet the railroad coming west from Kansas city. The two crews met at a point called Comanche Crossing, Kansas Territory, on August 15, 1870. Denver was now firmly on track to becoming the largest city and the future capital of [[Colorado]]. The [[Kansas Pacific Railroad]] linked with the [[Denver Pacific Railway]] via Denver to Cheyenne in 1870.

The original transcontinental railroad route did not pass through the two biggest cities in the so-called [[Great American Desert]]—[[Denver, Colorado]], and [[Salt Lake City, Utah]]. Feeder railroad lines were soon built to service these two and other cities and states along the route.

Modern-day [[Interstate 80]] roughly follows the path of the railroad from Sacramento across modern day California, Nevada, Wyoming and Nebraska, with a few exceptions. Most significantly, the two routes are different between Wells, Nevada, and [[Echo, Utah]]. In this area the freeway passes along the south shore of the [[Great Salt Lake]] and passes through [[Salt Lake City]], cresting the [[Wasatch Mountains]] at [[Parley's Summit]]. The railroad was originally routed along the north shore, and later with the [[Lucin Cutoff]] directly across the center of the Great Salt Lake, passing through the city of [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]] instead of Salt Lake City. The railroad crosses the Wasatch Mountains via a much gentler grade through [[Weber Canyon]]. Most of the other deviations are in mountainous areas where [[Interstate Highway standards|interstate highways]] allow for grades up to six-percent grades, which allows them to go many places the railroads had to go around, since their goal was to hold their grades to less than two percent.