The Iron Road

Chronicles America's race to unite East and West by rail. The completion of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, marked a turning point in the settlement of the American West.

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"With the discovery of gold in California in 1849, fortune hunters poured into the western United States so fast that California was added to the union as a state in 1850. But the rich and expansive territory of California was a whole continent away from the existing seat of government and industry in the United States. This is the story of the completion of the transcontinental railroad which reduced the cross-country trip from several months to just nine and one half days, and meant for the first time that the United States was truly united."
"Chronicles America's race to unite East and West by rail. The completion of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, marked a turning point in the settlement of the American West."@en
"With the discovery of gold in California in 1849, fortune hunters poured into the western United States so fast that California was added to the union as a state in 1850. But the rich and expansive territory of California was a whole continent away from the existing seat of government and industry in the United States. This is the story of the completion of the transcontinental railroad which reduced the cross-country trip from several months to just nine and one half days, and meant for the first time that the United States was truly united."@en
"With the discovery of gold in California in 1849, fortune hunters poured into the western United States so fast that California was added to the union as a state in 1850. But the rich and expansive territory of California was a whole continent away from the existing seat of government and industry in the United States. This is the story of the completion of the transcontinental railroad which reduced the cross-country trip from several months to just nine and one half days, and meant for the first time that the United States was truly united."
"Using archival film and photographs; interviews with historians, writers, Native Americans, and railroad representatives; and new cinematography, this film documents the building of the first transcontinental railroad. It took 20,000 men (10,000 of whom were Chinese immigrants) 6 years to build 1,700 miles of track stretching from Omaha to Sacramento. The Central Pacific founded by Theodore Judah and funded by Sacramento businessmen Charley Crocker, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Collis Huntington worked from the West; and the Union Pacific run by Thomas C. Durant and civil engineer Greenville Dodge worked from the East. The completion of the railroad reduced the cross-country trip from several months to just 9 1/2 days, united the state of California with the rest of the U.S., and brought about a wave of western expansion."
"A documentary on the building of the great American railroads: the people, the politics and the aftermath."@en
"The story of the construction of the transcontinental railroad from Omaha, Nebraska to California by the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific."