✦ History

First transcontinental railroad

January 8, 1863 – May 10, 1869 · Promontory Summit, Utah

Railroad that linked the eastern US rail network to the Pacific coast. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah, cutting a months-long journey to about a week.

On the map Contemporaries

Key people

Abraham Lincoln participant, Signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 Leland Stanford participant, Central Pacific president who drove the last spike in 1869

Participants