What was the pacific railways act

Judah used maps from his survey to bolster his presentation to Congress in October Many Congressmen were leery of beginning such an expensive venture, especially with the Civil War underway, but President Abraham Lincoln , who was a long time supporter of railroads, agreed with Judah. Pacific Railway Route. Almost immediately, conflicts arose between Judah and his business partners over the construction of the Central Pacific line.

In October , Judah sailed for New York to attempt to find investors who would buy out his Sacramento partners. Though he had made the voyage to Panama and across the Isthmus by train many times, he contracted yellow fever during this trip and died on November 2, one week after reaching New York City.

Judah did not live to see the Central Pacific begin work; he departed Sacramento for New York a few weeks before the first rail was spiked on October 26, At the eastern end of the project, Grenville Dodge and his assistant, Peter Dey , surveyed the potential route the Union Pacific would follow. President Lincoln favored this route and made the decision that the eastern terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad would be Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska.

Thomas C. Because the government paid by the mile of track built, Durant also insisted the original route be unnecessarily lengthened, further lining his pockets. Soon after the completion of the railroad, Durant's corrupt business schemes became a public scandal with Congress investigating not only Durant, but also fellow Senators and Representatives who had benefited from his shady dealings.

The Central Pacific's Big Four formed their corporation with a similar arrangement, awarding the construction and supplies contract to one of their own, Charles Crocker, who, for the sake of appearances, resigned from the railroad's board. However, the Big Four owned an interest in Crocker's company and each of them profited from the contract. The race between the two companies commenced when the Union Pacific finally began to lay tracks at Omaha, Nebraska, in July A bridge over the Missouri River would be built later to join Omaha to Council Bluffs, the official eastern terminus.

With tens of thousands of Civil War veterans out of work, hiring for the Union Pacific was easy. The men, mostly Irishmen, worked hard and well, despite going on strike occasionally when Durant withheld their pay over petty labor disputes. Finding workers was a more difficult task for the Central Pacific.

Laborers, mainly Irish immigrants, were hired in New York and Boston and shipped out west at great expense. But many of them abandoned railroad work, lured by the Nevada silver mines.

In desperation, Crocker tried to hire newly freed African Americans, immigrants from Mexico, and even petitioned Congress to send 5, Confederate Civil War prisoners, but to no avail. Frustrated at the lack of manpower necessary to support the railroad, Crocker suggested to his work boss, James Strobridge , that they hire Chinese laborers. Ruggles, James B. Scranton, Joseph Harrison, George W. Cass, John H.

Bryant, Daniel J. Morell, Thomas M. Howe, William F. Johnson, Robert Finney, John A. Green, E. Myre, Charles F. Wells, junior, of Pennsylvania; Noah L. Amasa Stone, William H. Clement, S. McPherson, R. Wells, Willard P.

Hensley, Peter Donahue, C. Huntington, T. Judah, James Bailey, James T. Winters, of the Territory of Nevada; John D. Campbell, R. Rice, Charles A. Trowbridge, and Ransom Gardner, Charles W. Penny, Charles T. Langworthy, Hugh T. Curtis, Lewis.

Ogden, Charles G. Hammond, Henry Farnum,. Amos C. Babcock, W. Swift, Samuel T. Dana, John Bertram, Franklin S. Stevens, Edward R. Bradford, and John T. Baxter, George W. Collamer, Henry Keyes, Thomas H.

Canfield, of Vermont ; William S. Berry, Benjamin F. Phillips, Walter D. McIndoe T. Stoddard, E. Brodhead, A. Morris, David C. Villiams, Isaac C. It is thought around 12, men died in the process of building the railroad. Furthermore, both companies nearly went bankrupt and sometimes resorted to lying about how much track they had laid in order to get more government money.

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