Primary Sources
“Building the First Transcontinental Railroad.” History | DPLA, dp.la/exhibitions/transcontinental-railroad/history/hell-on-wheels?item=932
We used a variety of images from this source, from illustrations to newspaper cartoons to photocopied reports, to strengthen our project and more effectively put our readers in the setting we are trying to educate them on. We decided the images we utilized from this source should be considered a primary source, because they depict the rail and were made during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
“How We Built the Union Pacific Railway, and Other Railway Papers and Addresses.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/resource/dcmsiabooks.howwebuiltunionp00dodg_1/?st=gallery
We used this source to learn more about Native American attacks on the workers. It was especially useful due to the first-hand account being able to accurately portray a detailed picture of what happened between the workers and Native Americans. We decided this source belonged in the primary source section because most of these letters were written during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Hutchinson, William. “Theodore D. Judah.” Northeastern California Historical Photograph Collection, archives.csuchico.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coll11/id/16144
This source was a picture of a Theodore Judah. We chose this source to create a more personal connection for the readers, allowing them to envision Theodore Judah as they read. We decided this source belongs to the primary source section because this photograph was one of Theodore Judah, a man directly involved with the railroad construction, and therefore from the same time period as the rail.
Hyde, Louis H. “Ceremony Commemorating the Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Promontory, Utah.” Minnesota Historical Society, 2011, collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10799141
This source was a picture of the Golden Spike Ceremony to commemorate the ending of the railroad. We used this source to provide a visual representation of the ceremony and give the reader a sense of just how many people worked on and cared for the railroad. We delegated this source to the primary section because this was a real photograph from the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad.
Nast, Thomas. “The ‘Chinese Wall’ Around the United States of America.” Educational Technology Clearinghouse, 2004, etc.usf.edu/clipart/67300/67396/67396_chin_wall.htm
This source gave us a high-quality image of the Chinese Wall cartoon. It also provided a clear description of the intent of the original cartoonist. We used this picture to
demonstrate the cultural animosity towards Chinese immigrants at the time. We found this same cartoon on the Digital Public Library of America’s website, but this source provided us with a higher quality version. We decided this cartoon to be a primary source because it came from the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad and directly related to it.
Proper, Forrest. “Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, Made under the Direction of the Secretary of War, in 1853-4. Volumes I-XII. .” Pacific Railroad Survey Reports, 1853-1854, in Twelve Volumes., 2002, htp://cprr.org/Museum/Pacific_RR_Surveys/index.htmcollections.mnhs.org/cms/display? irn=10799141.l
These sources gave us a substantial library of first-hand accounts from the Transcontinental Railroad that we used to further our understanding on various points and to obtain different perspectives. These sources are considered primary because they contain directly relevant reports written just before the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad to determine its future location.
Russel, Andrew J. “Golden Spike Ceremony by the National Park Service.” Golden Spike Ceremony by the National Park Service, 2019, www.nps.gov/gosp/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm
This image was a picture of one of the bridges built as part of the railroad during construction. We used this image as an accurate representation of what the railroad looked like and to capture the viewers’ interest. This image is a primary source because it is a picture of the Transcontinental Railroad taken the year it was completed.
“Today in History - May 10.” The Library of Congress, 2019, www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-10
This source was a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. This source provided us another point of view on the Golden Spike Ceremony. This image is a primary source because it illustrates the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Secondary Sources
American Lumberman. [McGiffert Log Loader], photograph, 1907; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth204354/m1/1/: accessed April 14, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The History Center. This source gave us a photograph of a machine used to deforest land in the late 1800s-early 1900s. This source will hopefully paint a vivid image in our viewer’s mind of the mass deforestation taking place. We decided to place this photo in the secondary source section because it wasn’t from the exact time period of the railroad, but instead from 40 years after.
“BEFORE THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD: TIME-TRAVEL TO CALIFORNIA.” The Free Library, www.thefreelibrary.com/BEFORE+THE+TRANSCONTINENTAL+RAILROAD%3a+ TIME-TRAVEL+TO+CALIFORNIA.-a071200330
This source provided information on the coast-to-coast transportation options before the railroad. It contains information about the risks and rewards of each major option. We used this for our background section to emphasize the impact the railroad had on travel.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Central Pacific Railroad.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Central-Pacific-Railroad#ref112701
We used this source to provide a general overview of the government involvement and political perspectives of the railroad. It enriched our understanding of the impact of the railroad.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Pacific Railway Acts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 July 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Pacific-Railway-Acts
This source provided a summary of the First and Second Pacific Railway Acts. We used this summary to supplement our Construction section and add padding to it. Without this extra information, we lose a lot of intricacy and nuance of the difficulties of building a transcontinental railroad.
“Building the First Transcontinental Railroad.” History | DPLA, dp.la/exhibitions/transcontinental-railroad/history/hell-on-wheels?item=932
This exhibition provides a good summary of each company's work and the later impact of the railroad. We used this source to supplement our negative physical impact section in terms of both the environment and subpar construction work.
“Building the Transcontinental Railroad.” Digital History, 2019, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3147
This source was a chronologically ordered set of facts on the Transcontinental Railroad. This source gave us specific details to fill gaps in our information that other sources only briefly addressed and quoted in a misleading manner.
Dubofsky, Melvyn. “The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Business, Labor, and Economic History.” Google Books, Google, 2013, books.google.com/books?id=D-NMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA110&lpg=RA1-PA110&d q=transcontinental%2Brailroad%2Bshoddy%2Bconstruction&source=bl&ots=7HLXCQ 0EyS&sig=ACfU3U0YUyDPSLnFWsMB44n8i8D2WglfiA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUK Ewja19Ssj7LpAhVPrJ4KHUk6CskQ6AEwEXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=shoddy&f=f alse
This source explained the economic motivations of workers and their supervisors in deciding to sacrifice quality when building the Transcontinental Railroad. The author further goes on to detail the innovation American railroad engineers displayed to overcome challenges that manifested from the shoddy construction work on the Transcontinental Railroad. We used this source to demonstrate the impact of the substandard construction of the railroad, in an effort to comprehensively educate the reader on all of the effects of the Transcontinental Railroad, even ones that may not be very orthodox.
Duran, X. (2013). The first U.S. Transcontinental Railroad: Expected profits and government intervention. The Journal of Economic History, 73(1), 177-200. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022050713000065 This excerpt from the Journal of Economic History gave an economic overview of the time period when the Transcontinental Railroad was being built. We used it to add more nuance to our section on the motivations for building a transcontinental railroad.
Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/canadian-political-geography/tra nscontinental-railroad
This source helped us to gain a foundational knowledge of the overall project. It explained basic details of the importance of the Transcontinental Railroad, which helped us to establish a base set of knowledge before we delved into the more detailed aspects of the railroad's history and effect.
Endsley, Courtney, et al. “How the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America.” GTG Technology Group, 4 Nov. 2016, gtgtechnologygroup.com/transcontinental-railroad/
This source provided us with information on the different social and economic impacts of the railroad. It specifically provided good statistics about the different impacts which we used in our impacts section.
Fink, Robert. “Homestead Act of 1862.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 29 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Homestead-Act This was a source that gave a sufficient explanation of the Homestead Act and the build-up to the legislation passing. This source furthered our understanding of the external factors surrounding western development in the 1860s and of the strong incentive to get to the West.
Flanagan, Mike. “The Iron Horse.” The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Old West, by Mike Flanagan, Alpha Books, 1999, pp. 205–208.
This ebook preview provided a very personal and in-depth look at the conditions of workers on the rails and the problems they faced, with specific obscure quotes and events mentioned that we could not find elsewhere. We used this source when we discussed the hiring of the workers for each railroad and their interactions with Native Americans.
Fuchs, Chris. “150 Years Ago, Chinese Railroad Workers Staged the Era's Largest Labor Strike.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 19 Apr. 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/150-years-ago-chinese-railroad-workers-r isked-their-lives-pursuit-n992751
We used this source to further our knowledge of the involvement of Chinese workers on the Transcontinental Railroad. Though we did not use the information in this version of our paper, we feel that it was useful to make us more knowledgeable and confident about the subject.
History.com, Editors. “Native Americans Attack Transcontinental Railroad Survey Crew in Utah.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/indians-attack-transcontinental-railroad-survey-cre w-in-utah
This source provided us with details on a rail survey incident involving Native Americans in the early history of the Transcontinental Railroad. We used this source to explain to our readers how Native Americans reacted to the expansion of the American frontier.
History.com, Editors. “Sears.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 23 Aug. 2017, www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/history-of-sears
This source gives a short history of the company “Sears”, including its rise to dominance and fall. We used this source to illustrate one of the many plentiful impacts of the railroad industry and the Transcontinental Railroad on the current state of commerce.
History.com, Editors. “Transcontinental Railroad.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Apr. 2010, www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad This overview was very general in nature and talked about a variety of Transcontinental-Railroad-related topics in chronological order. We used this source to fill in certain gaps that our other sources could not satisfy, such as a description of the state of the tracks miles before the meeting at Promontory Summit.
"Homestead Act of 1862 ." Social Policy: Essential Primary Sources. Encyclopedia.com. 20 Oct. 2019
Houghton Mifflin. To the Gold Rush. Web. 7 February 2010. http://www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/4/unit/act3.2blm2.html
This source provided a map with labeled routes across the US before the railroad. This source gave us a mental picture of different modes of transportation before the Transcontinental Railroad. We used this image to help demonstrate to the viewer the different routes between coast to coast. We believe this would make conceptualizing the routes easier for the viewer. We put this source in the secondary category because it was created electronically and therefore does not belong to the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad.
“How Freight Rail Drives Economic Growth.” Association of American Railroads, The Signal, 14 Mar. 2019, www.aar.org/article/small-towns-global-markets-freight-rail-drives-economic-growth/
This source gave us useful statistics and insight on the railroad industry and its effects on the economy today. This source enabled us to demonstrate the growth of the railroad between the 19th century and today.
"Judah, Theodore D.." Scholastic GO!, go.scholastic.com/content/schgo/C/article/015/561/0155610-0.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2019
This source provided a short biography of Judah Theodore. We used this source in our Early History to educate our readers on the people who first influenced the idea of a transcontinental railroad and labored to make it a reality.
Kennedy, Lesley. “Building the Transcontinental Railroad: How Some 20,000 Chinese Immigrants Made It Happen.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 May 2019, www.history.com/news/transcontinental-railroad-chinese-immigrants
This source details the involvement of Chinese immigrant workers in the construction of the railroad. It discusses the working conditions, strikes, relations with Americans, and many other aspects of Chinese involvement. This information was incredibly useful in writing our sections on the Chinese and construction of the railroad.
“Key Questions.” Chinese Railroad Workers in North America, web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/website/faqs/
We used this source to learn more about how the Chinese workers got involved in the railroad and what their impact was. This source also contained information about the conditions they were placed in and how they compared to European workers.
Kiger, Patrick J. “10 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America.” History.com, A& E Television Networks, 4 Sept. 2019, www.history.com/news/transcontinental-railroad-changed-america
We used this source to gather information on the effects of the railroad after its completion. The economic and transportation sections were especially helpful in comparing the time before and after the railroad. The sections about the negative effects of the railroad were also very helpful to get differing viewpoints on the railroad.
Kim, Sojin. “Train Tracks: A Transcontinental Railroad Playlist.” Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution, 8 May 2019, folklife.si.edu/magazine/train-tracks-transcontinental-railroad-playlist
This source provided us with the song “Echo Canyon”. This song was sung by young Mormon men and boys while working on the Union Pacific Railroad. We used this source to give our readers a visceral experience and put them in the setting we are describing. We decided this source must be a part of the secondary source section because the actual recording was not made in the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad. This song put a nice finishing touch on our project, and we felt this addition made our project more well-rounded as a whole.
“Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-native-americans-and-transcontinen tal-railroad/
We used this source to expand our knowledge of the relationship between the railroad and the Native Americans. This source was also helpful in establishing the relationship between the US military and the Native Americans, especially the feelings of Greenville Dodge, who we quoted in our Effects on the Chinese and Native Americans section. It also helped us identify the role of the military with the railroad.
Network, The Learning. “May 10, 1869, | First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 May 2012, learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/may-10-1869-first-transcontinental-railroad-com pleted/
This article is quite similar to our history.com source in that it is an overview of the history of the Transcontinental Railroad. We used this source in a similar way as well, to fill in the gaps in our knowledge and to gain a different perspective on the whole matter.
Nichols, George Elwood. “Oregon.” Oregon: Photographic Archive: The University of Chicago, photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf8-03922.xml
This source is a photo from The University of Chicago’s Photographic Archive. We used this source to demonstrate to our readers the technological importance of the railroad. Before this innovation, people were traveling across in covered wagons, and after, they sped from place to place on rail. We put this source in the secondary category because, although relevant, this photo was not taken in the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad nor of a directly relevant object (such as a railroad car of the original Transcontinental Railroad).
Obenzinger, Hilton, et al. “Geography of Chinese Workers Building the Transcontinental Railroad.” Geography of Chinese Workers Building the Transcontinental Railroad, 2018, web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/website/virtual/
This source provided a detailed account of the history of Chinese workers of the Transcontinental Railroad. Everything from their working conditions to their job descriptions, to their location of work, was all addressed thoroughly in a virtual exhibit. We used this source in our section on Chinese immigrants and their treatment in the U.S.
Theodore Dehone Judah ." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Oct. 2019
“Theodore Judah.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-judah/
This quote has much the same content as the others on Theodore Judah. We used this source to confirm a quote we found in our ebook which elaborated upon Judah’s drive and initiative in taking on the challenge of the construction of the railroad.
“The Immortal Legacy of Crazy Judah.” The Men Who United the States: the Amazing Stories of the Explorers, Inventors and Mavericks Who Made America, by Simon Winchester, William Collins, 2014.
This source contains information on Theodore Judah and his influence on the Railroad. It also talks about the “Big Four”. We used this source for our Early History section to glean further information on Judah and the Big Four.
“The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-impact-transcontinental-railroad/
This source was very helpful in our impact section. It provides detailed information about the effects of the railroad and provides a more personal perspective on the effects. The sections on trade and the Native Americans were especially helpful for our paper.
“The Pacific Railway.” A Brief History of the Pacific Railway - The Transcontinental Railroad, railroad.lindahall.org/essays/brief-history.html
This source was very helpful for our background section, specifically the buildup to the railroad when they were trying to get funding. The source also talks of Judah’s business partners (Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, and Leland Standford) also called the “Big Four” and gives great information on their impact on the railway.
"Transcontinental Railroad." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Oct. 2019
“Transcontinental Railroad, United States.” Building the World, 28 May 2019, blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/railways/the-transcontinental-railroad-united-states/
We used this source to learn about the government's involvement in the transcontinental railroad, specifically the funding sources. The data on bonds and land was especially helpful and provided us with financial facts. We also used it to learn about Theodore Judah and his journey to advocate for the idea of a Transcontinental Railroad.
“Transportation before 1876.” National Museum of American History, 15 Apr. 2019, americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/transportation-1876
This source was extremely helpful for our background section. It talks about the main forms of transportation in the United States before the Railroad was built. The information is mainly on more local forms of transportation, which provides a different viewpoint than the coast to coast transportation that is usually focused on the railroad.
"Union Pacific Railroad Company ." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Oct. 2019
This source provides a brief history of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. We used this source to detail the progress of the Union Pacific and the terrain they laid rail upon in our Construction section.
Vong, Sam. “The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on Native Americans.” National Museum of American History, 3 June 2019, americanhistory.si.edu/blog/TRR
This source was an interview-style article from the Smithsonian about the relationship between Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad. This source gave us detailed accounts of the atrocities committed against specific Native American tribes with names of tribe leaders and insights into how the Railroad affected the future of Native Americans.
"Whitney, Asa (1797-1872)." Scholastic GO!, go.scholastic.com/content/schgo/L/article/041/796/0417960-00.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2019.
This source provided a small biography about Asa Whitney and aided in the composition of our section on Asa Whitney and his work introducing the concept of a transcontinental railroad to the general public in our Early History section.
"Whitney Asa" The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 Oct. 2019
Williams, John. “The Transcontinental Railroad.” Google Books, Google, 30 Jan. 2019, books.google.com/books?id=2ZyFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT275&lpg=PT275&dq=transconti nental%2Brailroad%2Bshoddy%2Bconstruction&source=bl&ots=igjWDl0gKA&sig=AC fU3U16JhdiGlnYaumg2h8ErhHXHc062g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwix6uukhrLpAh VrGDQIHUosB1YQ6AEwEHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=shoddy&f=false
Inside this ebook, the author details a lot of issues with the original construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, which was helpful to us in our Construction section where we detailed the cuts workers made to ensure the timely completion of the rail.