Western settlers needed supplies such as cloth, tools, and nails, as well as food staples of flour, coffee, and sugar. Transportation systems were built to get needed goods to the settlers.
Canals connected natural waterways, making it much easier for goods to be carried from one part of the country to another. The Erie Canal was built to connect Lake Erie with the Hudson River in New York. After it was finished in 1825, it was possible to ship goods across New York much more quickly. Instead of taking weeks for a shipment of goods to arrive, it only took eight days. The finished canal was 363 miles (584 km) long.
The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, allowed goods to be shipped between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.
In 1848 the 96-mile (155-km) Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed on the Chicago and Illinois rivers. The canal created a water route from the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes, allowing shipment of bulky items such as stone, lumber, and grain.
Many areas of the West didn’t have strong river systems that would support canals. Canals also froze during cold winters and needed continual maintenance to keep operating. Another form of fast transportation was needed for the West. That system was the Iron Horse—the railroad.
Before settlers began to move west, railroads already crisscrossed much of the East, connecting small towns to big cities. Huge steam engines pulled train cars loaded with freight and other cars filled with passengers. President Abraham Lincoln wanted a train line that would run across the country to California. In 1863 construction began on the transcontinental railroad.
A MASSIVE UNDERTAKING
In Omaha, Nebraska, the Union Pacific Company began work on a transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company began doing the same thing in Sacramento, California. The two companies began laying track with the plan that they would eventually meet in the middle and become one railroad line.
Building the large railroad was a huge undertaking. It would have to go over grassy prairies and through steep mountain passes. Bridges had to be built over rivers and gorges. Thousands of workers were needed to clear the land, tunnel through the mountains, and lay track.
In the West 12,000 Chinese workers helped blast passages through the Sierra Nevada for the Central Pacific. The Chinese gained reputations as hard workers, making them desirable employees. In the Nebraska Territory, 10,000 men worked on the railroad for the Union Pacific, including Irish immigrants and African-Americans.
MORMON SETTLEMENT
Mormons belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith founded the church in New York in 1830. Many people didn’t care for the church’s ideas, so Mormons moved to Ohio, Missouri, and then Illinois, searching for a place to practice their religion. After Smith was murdered in 1844, Mormon leader Brigham Young moved the center of the church farther west, finally settling in 1847 near the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah. By 1849 about 5,000 Mormons lived in Utah, building the town of Salt Lake City, which is the center of the Mormon Church.
Workers faced harsh blizzards, windstorms, the blazing sun, and the bitter cold. Accidents and illnesses claimed many lives. The workers also worried about attacks by American Indians. The Indians didn’t want to see the railroad completed, since it was sure to bring more settlers.
Officials of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad, along with other dignitaries, attended the Golden Spike ceremony May 10, 1869.
But the work continued, and the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869, transforming the U.S. in the process. At a May 10 ceremony in Promontory, Utah, silver, gold, and iron spikes were used to complete the track. A telegraph message spread the news across the country. “The last rail is laid … the Pacific Railroad is completed.”4 All over the country, people began to celebrate as soon as they heard the news. It was now possible to travel from one American coast to the other on the railroad. Wagon travel soon became a thing of the past. Anyone who could afford the price of a railroad ticket could go west.
Founded in 1860, the Pony Express was a system that delivered mail across the country in 10 days. The route of the Pony Express was almost 2,000 miles (3,219 km) long. Pony Express riders, mostly teenage boys who were able to handle the physical challenges of the job, rode horses as fast as they could. Riding the horses so fast wore them out, so new horses were needed constantly. Riders got fresh horses every 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 km) at Pony Express stations. The Pony Express lasted only 19 months. In 1861 the transcontinental telegraph system, which sent messages across the country in minutes, ended the need for the fast riders of the Pony Express.