Transcontinental Railroad Documentary Documentary Films YouTube

00:43:02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgkZtnUjYeU

概要

TLDREl video narra la historia de la construcción del primer ferrocarril transcontinental en Estados Unidos, un proyecto que simbolizaba la unión del país y la expansión hacia el oeste. A mediados del siglo XIX, la fiebre del oro en California atrajo a buscadores de fortuna, pero el viaje hacia el oeste era arduo y peligroso. La llegada de los ferrocarriles revolucionó el transporte, permitiendo cubrir distancias que antes tomaban semanas en solo días. Ted Judah, un ingeniero visionario, y los 'Big Four' de California jugaron papeles cruciales en la financiación y construcción del ferrocarril. A pesar de los desafíos, como la escasez de mano de obra y las duras condiciones climáticas, el ferrocarril se completó en 1869, uniendo el este y el oeste de Estados Unidos y marcando un hito en la historia del país.

収穫

  • 🌄 El Viejo Oeste simboliza libertad y oportunidades.
  • 🚂 La fiebre del oro impulsó la construcción del ferrocarril.
  • 🛤️ Ted Judah fue un ingeniero clave en el proyecto.
  • 💰 Los 'Big Four' financiaron el Central Pacific Railroad.
  • 👷‍♂️ La mano de obra china fue crucial para la construcción.
  • 🌨️ Los trabajadores enfrentaron duras condiciones climáticas.
  • 🚧 Se introdujeron innovaciones en la gestión de proyectos.
  • 🏗️ La ceremonia de unión de las vías fue un evento histórico.
  • ⏳ El ferrocarril se completó en seis años.
  • 🌍 Transformó la economía y la sociedad de EE. UU.

タイムライン

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    El Salvaje Oeste de América simbolizaba la libertad y la oportunidad en el siglo XIX, atrayendo a buscadores de fortuna tras el grito de oro en California. Sin embargo, el viaje hacia el oeste era arduo y peligroso, con opciones limitadas que incluían travesías en caballo, barco o caravana. La llegada de los ferrocarriles en la década de 1830 revolucionó el transporte, permitiendo viajar a velocidades mucho mayores y conectando el este con el oeste, aunque con muchos peligros y accidentes.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    La construcción del ferrocarril transcontinental se convirtió en una obsesión para dos ingenieros, Ted Judah y Grenville Dodge, quienes soñaban con unir el país. Judah, conocido como 'Crazy Judah', encontró un camino a través de la Sierra Nevada, mientras que Dodge, tras servir en la Guerra Civil, también buscaba su oportunidad. Ambos enfrentaron desafíos significativos para convencer a otros de que su visión era posible.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Judah logró convencer a cuatro comerciantes de California, conocidos como los 'Cuatro Grandes', para financiar su proyecto. Juntos, establecieron la Central Pacific Railroad y ayudaron a redactar la Pacific Railroad Act, que facilitó la construcción de dos compañías ferroviarias. Sin embargo, surgieron tensiones entre Judah y sus socios sobre la calidad de la construcción, lo que llevó a su eventual muerte por fiebre amarilla antes de ver su sueño realizado.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    En 1863, las dos compañías comenzaron la construcción del ferrocarril transcontinental, enfrentándose a desafíos logísticos y de mano de obra. La Central Pacific, liderada por Charlie Crocker, luchó por encontrar trabajadores, mientras que la Union Pacific, bajo Thomas Durant, enfrentó problemas de corrupción y falta de progreso. Ambos equipos se prepararon para una competencia feroz en la construcción del ferrocarril.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    La Central Pacific enfrentó dificultades en la Sierra Nevada, donde la construcción de túneles y puentes requería una mano de obra masiva y enfrentaba condiciones climáticas extremas. A pesar de la escasez de trabajadores, Crocker contrató a trabajadores chinos, quienes demostraron ser una fuerza laboral valiosa y eficiente, a pesar de la discriminación racial que enfrentaron.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Mientras tanto, la Union Pacific avanzaba a través de terrenos más suaves, pero también enfrentaba desafíos, incluyendo ataques de nativos americanos. La construcción de un 'tren de trabajo' innovador permitió a la Union Pacific movilizar recursos y mano de obra de manera más eficiente, mientras que la Central Pacific luchaba por avanzar en su terreno montañoso.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Ambas compañías finalmente se acercaron a un punto de conexión en Utah, donde la competencia se intensificó. A medida que se acercaban a la meta, los trabajadores de ambos lados se dieron cuenta de que estaban participando en un proyecto monumental que cambiaría la historia de Estados Unidos. La presión aumentó para completar el ferrocarril antes de que se estableciera un punto de conexión oficial.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:43:02

    El 10 de mayo de 1869, se llevó a cabo la ceremonia de unión de las dos líneas en Promontory Summit, Utah. A pesar de los contratiempos y la competencia, el evento simbolizó la culminación de un esfuerzo monumental. La construcción del ferrocarril transcontinental no solo unió el país, sino que también marcó el comienzo de una nueva era de expansión y desarrollo en América.

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マインドマップ

ビデオQ&A

  • ¿Qué simboliza el Viejo Oeste americano?

    Simboliza libertad, oportunidad y riqueza.

  • ¿Cuáles eran las opciones de viaje hacia el oeste en el siglo XIX?

    Viajar a caballo, por mar alrededor de Cabo Horn o cruzar el continente en carreta.

  • ¿Quién fue Ted Judah?

    Un ingeniero civil que soñó con construir el ferrocarril transcontinental.

  • ¿Qué papel jugaron los 'Big Four' en la construcción del ferrocarril?

    Financiaron y ayudaron a establecer el Central Pacific Railroad.

  • ¿Qué desafíos enfrentaron los trabajadores en la Sierra Nevada?

    Condiciones climáticas extremas, escasez de mano de obra y dificultades técnicas.

  • ¿Cómo se reclutaron trabajadores para el ferrocarril?

    Se reclutaron principalmente trabajadores chinos debido a la escasez de mano de obra.

  • ¿Qué innovaciones se introdujeron en la construcción del ferrocarril?

    Se introdujeron trenes de trabajo y técnicas de gestión modernas.

  • ¿Qué ocurrió en la ceremonia de unión de las vías?

    Se condujeron cuatro clavos, incluyendo dos de oro, y se celebró con gran entusiasmo.

  • ¿Cuánto tiempo tomó completar el ferrocarril?

    Se completó en seis años.

  • ¿Cuál fue el impacto del ferrocarril en Estados Unidos?

    Unió el país de costa a costa y transformó la economía y la sociedad.

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    America's Wild West an untamed land
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    symbolizing Freedom opportunity wealth
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    in the middle of the 19th century it was
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    as exotic a frontier as outer space is
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    today the Cry of gold in California
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    triggered an extraordinary Stampede of
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    Fortune Seekers from all corners of the
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    world when California became a state in
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    1850 America dreamed of uniting the
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    remote West with the
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    East but there was one hitch the journey
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    across the continent was like a slow
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    waltz to the
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    Moon Travelers had to endure one of
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    three miserable life-threatening
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    choices riding on Horseback for a month
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    through the malaria infested jungles of
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    the Panama
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    ismos a 4mon sea Voyage around Cape Horn
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    or several harrowing months crossing the
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    American frontier by wagon horse or foot
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    at the beginning of the Railway age in
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    this country in the 1830s and 40s our
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    transportation took place at roughly the
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    same in in the same manner as it had in
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    ancient Rome we still moved things by
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    animal power at 4 mph or at Best in a
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    sailing ship the railroads changed that
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    and very suddenly we were able to go 20
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    30 40 m per hour we were able to cover
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    in one day the distance it used to take
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    a week or longer to
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    go invented in England in 1825 the steam
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    engine was first imported a year later
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    to America and put to use in the
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    Pennsylvania coal Fields by the 1850s
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    the railroad annihilated distances at 25
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    mph throughout the East and all the way
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    to the Mississippi River roughly 10,000
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    Mi of track linked cities on the east
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    side of the river by
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    1853 but it was a terrifying iron
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    monster dirty dangerous and often
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    fatal the technology of steam made
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    explosions breakdowns and fires a
  • 00:02:23
    terrifying
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    reality despite the flaws some people
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    Envision the railroad as is the key to
  • 00:02:30
    Westward
  • 00:02:33
    expansionism but a railroad all the way
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    to the Pacific seemed to be an
  • 00:02:38
    impossibility 1,600 grueling miles of
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    vast empty space separated Kansas City
  • 00:02:45
    the rail Road's Western most stop from
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    the Pacific in between were two massive
  • 00:02:50
    mountain barriers the Rocky Mountains
  • 00:02:53
    and the Sierra Peaks towering over
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    14,000 ft and a scorching hot desert
  • 00:03:00
    [Music]
  • 00:03:06
    the dream of building a Transcontinental
  • 00:03:08
    Railroad became an allc consuming
  • 00:03:11
    Obsession for two young men two
  • 00:03:13
    ambitious civil engineers one lived in
  • 00:03:17
    California the other on the East Coast
  • 00:03:20
    although they never met they shared the
  • 00:03:22
    same passionate
  • 00:03:25
    belief before he was 28 Ted Judah had
  • 00:03:28
    already engineered neared the
  • 00:03:30
    spectacular Niagara Gorge Railroad in
  • 00:03:32
    New
  • 00:03:34
    York but his vivid imagination and
  • 00:03:37
    optimism drove him to conjure up the
  • 00:03:39
    grandest railroad of
  • 00:03:41
    all the biggest obstacle was finding a
  • 00:03:44
    route through the difficult seemingly
  • 00:03:46
    impassible Sierra Nevada mountain
  • 00:03:49
    range he knew it could be done and he
  • 00:03:52
    devoted every waking hour and every
  • 00:03:54
    increment of his energy to convincing
  • 00:03:55
    others that it was possible and it got
  • 00:03:57
    to the point where people would
  • 00:03:59
    literally cross the street to avoid
  • 00:04:00
    confronting him on a sidewalk he was
  • 00:04:02
    known as crazy Judah and called that to
  • 00:04:04
    his
  • 00:04:05
    face crazy Judah set out to the Sierra
  • 00:04:09
    on Horseback with him he took his
  • 00:04:11
    notebooks to record a path across the
  • 00:04:14
    mountains but after months of fruitless
  • 00:04:16
    searching he ran into a dead end
  • 00:04:19
    frustrated to the point of Despair he
  • 00:04:21
    received a letter that would
  • 00:04:22
    dramatically change everything Dr Daniel
  • 00:04:26
    strong a druggist and physician from
  • 00:04:27
    Dutch Flat had done surveying work
  • 00:04:29
    himself for a Wagon Road in the area and
  • 00:04:31
    he pointed out to Judah in a letter that
  • 00:04:33
    there was a natural inclined plane a
  • 00:04:35
    ramp which would allow Judah to connect
  • 00:04:37
    his surveyed route with a line that
  • 00:04:39
    would carry him over the mountains at
  • 00:04:40
    Donner Lake this was an exciting
  • 00:04:43
    Discovery and it really transformed
  • 00:04:44
    judah's hairbrain scheme into an idea
  • 00:04:47
    that would really be something that
  • 00:04:49
    could be
  • 00:04:50
    achieved the following summer Judah
  • 00:04:52
    returned to the Siera and completed a
  • 00:04:55
    brilliant survey he located an
  • 00:04:57
    extraordinary series of rid that could
  • 00:05:00
    carry a rail line through the Sierra and
  • 00:05:02
    then down to
  • 00:05:04
    Nevada while Judah continued his survey
  • 00:05:07
    another Visionary in the East dreamed of
  • 00:05:09
    a Transcontinental Railroad as a high
  • 00:05:12
    strong driven young man Grenville Dodge
  • 00:05:15
    rebelled against the confines of New
  • 00:05:17
    England society types declaring they are
  • 00:05:20
    a stench to my
  • 00:05:22
    nostrils Dodge confided his dream to his
  • 00:05:26
    sister soon you'll be Whirled Along by
  • 00:05:29
    Steam never dreaming that four years
  • 00:05:31
    before it was a wild Open Country
  • 00:05:33
    inhabited only by wild beasts and the
  • 00:05:35
    Red
  • 00:05:36
    Man Dodge risked his life to prove it
  • 00:05:40
    could be
  • 00:05:41
    done secretly he ventured into Indian
  • 00:05:44
    Territory to survey a rail
  • 00:05:47
    line but back on the East Coast no one
  • 00:05:50
    bought his
  • 00:05:52
    dream when the Civil War broke out Dodge
  • 00:05:54
    wrangled a Colonel's Commission in the
  • 00:05:56
    Union Army but the railroad would remain
  • 00:05:59
    his
  • 00:06:01
    obsession back in Sacramento Ted Judah
  • 00:06:04
    had more luck persuading four Merchants
  • 00:06:06
    to finance his dream they would be known
  • 00:06:09
    to history as the big four of
  • 00:06:12
    California Charles Crocker was a crude
  • 00:06:15
    loud hard drinking giant with fiery red
  • 00:06:18
    hair who owned a dry goods
  • 00:06:22
    store Charles P Huntington and Mark
  • 00:06:24
    Hopkins operated the largest Hardware
  • 00:06:27
    Enterprise on the Pacific coast
  • 00:06:30
    Huntington had come to California to
  • 00:06:32
    mine for gold but gave it up after only
  • 00:06:34
    one morning of
  • 00:06:36
    digging Hopkins was a softspoken
  • 00:06:40
    vegetarian who knew how to drive a
  • 00:06:42
    shrewd
  • 00:06:43
    bargain the fourth member Leland
  • 00:06:46
    Stanford longed to become governor and
  • 00:06:48
    would get his wish sooner than even he
  • 00:06:52
    imagined they were all involved with
  • 00:06:54
    Republican politics they were
  • 00:06:56
    abolitionists they were interested in
  • 00:06:57
    making sure California state connected
  • 00:06:59
    with the union there were also shrewd
  • 00:07:01
    Yankee businessmen who knew a business
  • 00:07:03
    opportunity when they saw it the big
  • 00:07:05
    four in Judah began the Central Pacific
  • 00:07:08
    Railroad on the second floor of
  • 00:07:10
    Huntington and Hopkins hardware
  • 00:07:12
    store Judah was sent to Washington as an
  • 00:07:15
    accredited agent of the Central
  • 00:07:18
    Pacific Ted Judah helped Congress draft
  • 00:07:21
    the Pacific Railroad Act that
  • 00:07:23
    established two companies Central
  • 00:07:26
    Pacific to build East from Sacramento
  • 00:07:28
    and the Union Pacific to build West from
  • 00:07:31
    Omaha the timing was perfect the year
  • 00:07:35
    was 1862 and with the outbreak of the
  • 00:07:38
    Civil War congressmen were anxious to
  • 00:07:40
    see the railroad built quickly for
  • 00:07:44
    Abraham Lincoln the creation of the
  • 00:07:46
    Pacific Railroad was not so much a
  • 00:07:48
    commercial act or an act of Technology
  • 00:07:51
    as it was a political act we had to
  • 00:07:54
    connect the East with the West in the
  • 00:07:56
    same way as Lincoln was trying to
  • 00:07:58
    preserve the North and the South as one
  • 00:08:01
    country the government agreed to loan
  • 00:08:03
    companies up to
  • 00:08:05
    $48,000 per mile of track built and
  • 00:08:08
    turnover land grants running alongside
  • 00:08:10
    the railroad route for each mile of rail
  • 00:08:13
    completed the companies would be awarded
  • 00:08:16
    20 square miles of land it was a fortune
  • 00:08:19
    in real estate and since no meeting
  • 00:08:22
    point was determined for the two
  • 00:08:24
    competing railroads the owners of the
  • 00:08:26
    Central Pacific in the west and the
  • 00:08:29
    Union Pacific in the East got set for a
  • 00:08:32
    race to see who could fling the most
  • 00:08:34
    track across the
  • 00:08:37
    country in Sacramento this urgency
  • 00:08:40
    suited the big Four's entrepreneurial
  • 00:08:43
    appetite but even before the work
  • 00:08:45
    started the big four and Judah came to
  • 00:08:48
    loggerheads as to how their railroad
  • 00:08:51
    would be
  • 00:08:52
    built they wanted to build it as quickly
  • 00:08:55
    and cheaply as possible and Judah fought
  • 00:08:57
    for quality
  • 00:09:00
    feeling betrayed Judah headed east
  • 00:09:02
    hoping to find new financial support to
  • 00:09:05
    buy his Partners
  • 00:09:07
    out in a hurry Judah took the 30-day
  • 00:09:10
    shortcut to the east coast through the
  • 00:09:12
    ismos of Panama an Overland Crossing
  • 00:09:16
    before the canal was
  • 00:09:18
    built but on his journey through the
  • 00:09:20
    jungles he contracted yellow
  • 00:09:23
    fever 5 days after reaching New York
  • 00:09:26
    Judah died before seeing a single Spike
  • 00:09:28
    driven into a
  • 00:09:30
    rail the big four now controlled judah's
  • 00:09:34
    vision and set out to fully exploit it
  • 00:09:37
    but ahead of them lay pitfalls they
  • 00:09:39
    hadn't even thought about like where in
  • 00:09:42
    the world could they find 5,000 men who
  • 00:09:45
    would devote their heart and soul and
  • 00:09:47
    risk their lives to build such an
  • 00:09:49
    impossible
  • 00:09:51
    railroad 1863 the two pioneering
  • 00:09:54
    companies chosen by Congress to build
  • 00:09:56
    the first Transcontinental Railroad
  • 00:09:58
    broke ground
  • 00:09:59
    they were like two competing armies
  • 00:10:01
    getting ready for the unknown the
  • 00:10:04
    Central Pacific launched from Sacramento
  • 00:10:07
    the Union Pacific launched from Omaha
  • 00:10:17
    Nebraska co-owner Charlie Crocker the
  • 00:10:20
    hard drinking giant filled the role as
  • 00:10:23
    the railroad's construction
  • 00:10:25
    chief he was not by training or nature
  • 00:10:29
    prepared to build a railroad across the
  • 00:10:31
    mountains but he possessed a rare common
  • 00:10:33
    sense a gift of Leading Men and
  • 00:10:37
    he he knew enough engineering to be able
  • 00:10:39
    to size up a situation know what
  • 00:10:41
    materials he needed and actually make it
  • 00:10:45
    happen it very much resembled a military
  • 00:10:48
    operation vast numbers of men with
  • 00:10:50
    relatively simple tools mobilized in
  • 00:10:54
    squads and divisions and groups who went
  • 00:10:56
    out to conquer the mountains but
  • 00:10:58
    recruiting the muscle to move mountains
  • 00:11:01
    was a problem that plagued Charlie
  • 00:11:03
    Crocker from the
  • 00:11:05
    beginning most men were fighting in the
  • 00:11:07
    war or working in the Silver Mines and
  • 00:11:09
    able-bodied workers were tough to
  • 00:11:12
    find Crocker advertised throughout
  • 00:11:15
    California for 5,000 willing men trying
  • 00:11:18
    to lure applicants with permanent
  • 00:11:20
    employment but he was lucky if he got
  • 00:11:23
    more than 800 en
  • 00:11:24
    listes the labor shortage was not his
  • 00:11:27
    only worry the sheer volume of
  • 00:11:30
    construction materials was
  • 00:11:32
    phenomenal in the coming years the two
  • 00:11:35
    railroad companies would need to utilize
  • 00:11:37
    more than 3 million ties hundreds of
  • 00:11:40
    tons of gunpowder and over 140,000 tons
  • 00:11:44
    of
  • 00:11:45
    rail wooden ties were honed in local
  • 00:11:48
    sawmills but everything else had to be
  • 00:11:51
    imported from the East
  • 00:11:53
    Coast that meant every locomotive Spike
  • 00:11:56
    Rail and keg of black powder would take
  • 00:11:58
    from 5 to 8 months to be shipped by sea
  • 00:12:01
    to San Francisco and then fed to
  • 00:12:06
    Sacramento from there everything had to
  • 00:12:09
    be hauled up into the Sierra by horse or
  • 00:12:13
    oxen at the site surveyors would
  • 00:12:15
    calculate the cuts and
  • 00:12:17
    fills then the greaters would lower
  • 00:12:19
    mountains fill valleys and establish a
  • 00:12:22
    level Road
  • 00:12:24
    bed the track Lane Crews followed the
  • 00:12:26
    greaters with the track material the
  • 00:12:29
    rails cross ties spikes bolts and rail
  • 00:12:33
    joint bars called fish
  • 00:12:36
    plates four or five men would be needed
  • 00:12:39
    to take off a 650lb rail and drop it
  • 00:12:42
    down once one rail was laid a person
  • 00:12:45
    with a track gauge essentially a piece
  • 00:12:47
    of wood 4' 8 1/2 in Long came to measure
  • 00:12:51
    the distance for placing the second
  • 00:12:54
    rail a good crew could lay a rail every
  • 00:12:58
    30 seconds
  • 00:13:00
    then the spike drivers came along and
  • 00:13:02
    sat and drove all the spikes
  • 00:13:06
    in they made quick progress at first
  • 00:13:09
    across the flat Sacramento Valley but
  • 00:13:12
    only 20 mi east of Sacramento Crews
  • 00:13:16
    reached the foothills of the Sierra and
  • 00:13:18
    confronted their first big engineering
  • 00:13:20
    challenge to build a 400 fot wooden
  • 00:13:23
    Trestle across a Steep
  • 00:13:26
    Ravine the Newcastle Trestle was just
  • 00:13:29
    the beginning of many bridges in the
  • 00:13:31
    wilderness early trestles were amazing
  • 00:13:34
    feats of engineering built entirely of
  • 00:13:37
    wood and iron bolts work began with
  • 00:13:41
    stone masonry footings built in the
  • 00:13:43
    riverbed or
  • 00:13:45
    Ravine Trestle Builders would lift
  • 00:13:48
    pre-cut Timbers up onto the footings and
  • 00:13:51
    assemble pieces into a
  • 00:13:52
    row row upon row would be tied together
  • 00:13:55
    with
  • 00:13:56
    Timber at the top went the top eyes than
  • 00:14:00
    the
  • 00:14:01
    rails erecting trestles was complicated
  • 00:14:04
    enough but Crocker's real challenge was
  • 00:14:07
    solving his labor shortage that was
  • 00:14:09
    getting even more critical as the work
  • 00:14:12
    got harder the only available men that
  • 00:14:14
    he could find were the Chinese who had
  • 00:14:17
    come to California to work in the gold
  • 00:14:19
    mines there they encountered tremendous
  • 00:14:21
    racial discrimination and were barred
  • 00:14:23
    from mining gold anti-chinese sentiment
  • 00:14:26
    ran so deep in those days that Crocker
  • 00:14:28
    only hired them as a last resort
  • 00:14:31
    everybody scoffed at Charlie Crocker
  • 00:14:33
    because he hired a few of the Chinese to
  • 00:14:37
    test them out see how good they were and
  • 00:14:40
    they said oh they're too short they're
  • 00:14:41
    too small in stature they can they can't
  • 00:14:43
    do that kind of work and they were soon
  • 00:14:47
    proved wrong they turned out to be so
  • 00:14:49
    good that soon Crocker in his Central
  • 00:14:51
    Pacific hired all of the available
  • 00:14:53
    Chinese in California and even had labor
  • 00:14:56
    contractors recruit workers from
  • 00:14:58
    Southern China by 1865 6,000 Chinese
  • 00:15:02
    worked on the railroad they carved and
  • 00:15:04
    blasted away at The Ridges of the Sierra
  • 00:15:06
    Foothills using horsedrawn dump carts to
  • 00:15:09
    haul off Earth and rock
  • 00:15:12
    debris the Chinese workers lived
  • 00:15:14
    separately from the other workers and
  • 00:15:16
    even hired their own cook they would eat
  • 00:15:19
    their traditional foods which tended to
  • 00:15:21
    be high in vegetables um good for you
  • 00:15:25
    they boiled their water in the form of
  • 00:15:27
    tea which made the Chinese nearly IM
  • 00:15:28
    immune to the kind of bacterial
  • 00:15:30
    infections that the European laborers
  • 00:15:32
    would experience they didn't squander
  • 00:15:34
    their checks on payday they didn't go on
  • 00:15:36
    3day drunks uh in many respects they
  • 00:15:39
    were considered by the railroad to be
  • 00:15:40
    the ideal labor
  • 00:15:42
    force in the years ahead the Central
  • 00:15:45
    Pacific would have as many as 12,000 men
  • 00:15:47
    working along miles of line at one time
  • 00:15:51
    90% of the Central Pacific labor force
  • 00:15:54
    was
  • 00:15:54
    Chinese but progress was bitterly slow
  • 00:15:59
    in the first 3 years between 1863 and
  • 00:16:02
    1866 the Central Pacific only Advanced
  • 00:16:05
    40
  • 00:16:07
    miles the big four had spent $8 million
  • 00:16:10
    and were struggling to pay their bills
  • 00:16:13
    Charlie Crocker
  • 00:16:14
    complained I would gladly have traded
  • 00:16:17
    all I had for the debts I owed and
  • 00:16:19
    started all over again and never heard
  • 00:16:21
    of the Pacific Rail Road
  • 00:16:29
    in the East the Union Pacific wasn't
  • 00:16:31
    doing much better their job of building
  • 00:16:34
    from Omaha Nebraska Westward across the
  • 00:16:36
    gentler flat Prairie should have been
  • 00:16:39
    simple but after 3 years they also had
  • 00:16:42
    only laid 40 Mi of track with the end of
  • 00:16:46
    the Civil War the Union Pacific's fate
  • 00:16:48
    changed
  • 00:16:50
    dramatically its ranks were flooded with
  • 00:16:52
    War veterans who had just fought each
  • 00:16:54
    other freed slaves Irishmen Germans
  • 00:16:58
    Mormons and a sprinkling of
  • 00:17:01
    Chinese men in blue coats and gray coats
  • 00:17:04
    dug trenches moved Earth and sweated for
  • 00:17:07
    a buck a
  • 00:17:08
    day having just fought in the War they
  • 00:17:10
    were hardened to living Outdoors
  • 00:17:13
    surviving on beans and hard tack and
  • 00:17:15
    encountering dangers on a daily
  • 00:17:18
    basis they couldn't have been more
  • 00:17:20
    different from the shrewd financers in
  • 00:17:23
    charge of the Union
  • 00:17:25
    Pacific Thomas Durant a former Medical
  • 00:17:28
    School GR graduate who turned to
  • 00:17:29
    business was more obsessed with lining
  • 00:17:32
    his pockets than building a
  • 00:17:34
    railroad from the start he had accepted
  • 00:17:38
    bribes he had already spent a half
  • 00:17:40
    million dollars on the railroad with
  • 00:17:42
    little to show for
  • 00:17:44
    it to rescue his company Durant tapped
  • 00:17:47
    the young Visionary General Grenville
  • 00:17:50
    Dodge who 9 years before had surveyed
  • 00:17:53
    the Eastern path of the
  • 00:17:55
    railroad he was hired at the handsome
  • 00:17:58
    salary of of $10,000 a year to be chief
  • 00:18:04
    engineer Dodge was a Railroader but then
  • 00:18:06
    he was a soldier and at the close of the
  • 00:18:08
    Civil War his job in the Army as a
  • 00:18:10
    general was basically to clean out the
  • 00:18:13
    West to subjugate the Indians and make
  • 00:18:15
    the way safe for the Union Pacific
  • 00:18:17
    Railroad he maintained a rather brutal
  • 00:18:20
    very direct policy of forcing the Native
  • 00:18:23
    Americans onto the reservations of uh in
  • 00:18:26
    many cases Exterminating entire tribes
  • 00:18:28
    who he thought were in the way but if
  • 00:18:30
    Dodge and his Union Pacific were ever to
  • 00:18:32
    lay track across the empty Thousand Mile
  • 00:18:35
    expanse before them they would have to
  • 00:18:38
    invent a city on Wheels the likes of
  • 00:18:41
    which the world had never
  • 00:18:43
    [Music]
  • 00:18:51
    [Music]
  • 00:18:53
    seen I'm going down the track and I
  • 00:18:57
    ain't never coming back and I'll never
  • 00:19:02
    get no letter from my
  • 00:19:04
    [Music]
  • 00:19:07
    home my woman says to build the railroad
  • 00:19:11
    took more than man muscle and sweat it
  • 00:19:13
    took a tough bold new breed of modern
  • 00:19:16
    management invented by the Union
  • 00:19:20
    [Music]
  • 00:19:25
    Pacific neither of the casement Brothers
  • 00:19:28
    was taller than
  • 00:19:30
    5'4 but they were organizational dynamos
  • 00:19:34
    hired to run the Union Pacific track
  • 00:19:36
    gangs they revolutionized railroad
  • 00:19:39
    building the older brother John was a
  • 00:19:42
    famous General who had been a foreman of
  • 00:19:44
    a track building
  • 00:19:45
    gang his younger brother Dan who stood
  • 00:19:48
    5T tall looked like a 12-year-old boy
  • 00:19:51
    requiring a large
  • 00:19:53
    hat they were tough they were hard on
  • 00:19:56
    their men but they would do anything
  • 00:19:58
    their men would do and so that's that
  • 00:20:01
    made their men really respect them
  • 00:20:04
    highly what lay ahead was one of the
  • 00:20:06
    most dangerous tasks imaginable how to
  • 00:20:10
    build and Supply a single track pushing
  • 00:20:12
    out across hundreds of miles of the
  • 00:20:14
    western PLS under threat of Indian
  • 00:20:17
    attack to solve the problem the cas
  • 00:20:20
    invented the work train this was an
  • 00:20:23
    astonishing Innovation a city on wheels
  • 00:20:25
    that functioned as the nerve center of
  • 00:20:28
    the whole op
  • 00:20:29
    operation the locomotive push not pulled
  • 00:20:32
    20 or more cars each tailor made for
  • 00:20:35
    building and living on the tracks there
  • 00:20:38
    was a car fitted with tools a blacksmith
  • 00:20:41
    shop a dining car a kitchen dormitories
  • 00:20:45
    with built-in bunks housing about 50 men
  • 00:20:48
    per car bringing up the rear was several
  • 00:20:52
    flat cars loaded with Road Building
  • 00:20:54
    Supplies one surprising cargo was a sto
  • 00:20:57
    room with hundreds of loaded rifles in
  • 00:20:59
    case of an Indian attack They carried
  • 00:21:02
    everything with them on the train all
  • 00:21:04
    their supplies all their food and except
  • 00:21:06
    for meat and of course they had Hunters
  • 00:21:09
    that went out and killed the Buffalo
  • 00:21:11
    antalope deer whatever they could find
  • 00:21:13
    so they were completely
  • 00:21:15
    self-contained one of the biggest Supply
  • 00:21:17
    problems was getting lumber from making
  • 00:21:20
    ties and Building Bridges with no Timber
  • 00:21:23
    on the high plains the wood had to come
  • 00:21:25
    from the forests of Minnesota and travel
  • 00:21:28
    hundreds of miles down rivers and by a
  • 00:21:31
    wagon once they orchestrated the supply
  • 00:21:34
    line the track layers quickly Advanced
  • 00:21:36
    across the Nebraska Plains laying about
  • 00:21:39
    a mile of track a day one reporter on
  • 00:21:42
    the scene in 1866 described the intense
  • 00:21:46
    activity four men seiz a rail less than
  • 00:21:49
    30 seconds to a rail and so four rails
  • 00:21:52
    go down to the minute it is a grand
  • 00:21:55
    Anvil chorus three Strokes to the spikes
  • 00:21:58
    10 spikes to the rail 400 rails to the
  • 00:22:01
    mile 1,800 mil to San
  • 00:22:05
    Francisco working in living at the end
  • 00:22:07
    of the track wasn't exactly
  • 00:22:10
    fun up at dawn no heat no hot water no
  • 00:22:14
    place to bathe or shave uh into the
  • 00:22:17
    dining car uh with long Trestle tables
  • 00:22:21
    uh you're using the same utensils and
  • 00:22:24
    flat wear that the the person before you
  • 00:22:26
    had used and the person after you would
  • 00:22:27
    would follow with you'd share a cup the
  • 00:22:30
    rudest and most miserable of food and
  • 00:22:33
    then on out to the end of track and
  • 00:22:35
    you'd work all day with a sandwich which
  • 00:22:37
    might consist of a piece of bread and
  • 00:22:39
    and a hunk of meat and and water or beer
  • 00:22:42
    or coffee then you'd come back worn out
  • 00:22:45
    exhausted and into the the racks uh
  • 00:22:49
    packed into a dormatory car with perhaps
  • 00:22:51
    50 other men who also had not bathed
  • 00:22:54
    that month and would get up the next
  • 00:22:56
    morning to do the whole process again
  • 00:22:59
    the men on the front line faced dangers
  • 00:23:01
    in handling the volume of
  • 00:23:03
    materials accidents happened all the
  • 00:23:06
    time if a man was seriously hurt there
  • 00:23:09
    was not much hope for him thousands of
  • 00:23:11
    miles from the nearest hospital the best
  • 00:23:13
    the railroad could do was off from an
  • 00:23:14
    honorable death but the most horrifying
  • 00:23:17
    danger the Union Pacific faced was human
  • 00:23:21
    Indians on the war path
  • 00:23:26
    [Music]
  • 00:23:29
    the Sue and the Cheyenne witnessed the
  • 00:23:31
    advancing track with rage the treaties
  • 00:23:34
    that had protected Indian land in
  • 00:23:36
    Nebraska and Wyoming were quickly being
  • 00:23:39
    unowned at stake was a way of life they
  • 00:23:41
    had practiced for hundreds of years in
  • 00:23:44
    retaliation war parties raided the union
  • 00:23:47
    Pacific's trains ripped up rails and
  • 00:23:50
    tore down Telegraph
  • 00:23:52
    wires further west the Central Pacific
  • 00:23:55
    was left alone most attacks were aimed
  • 00:23:57
    at the union Pacific's isolated Advanced
  • 00:24:00
    teams such as the surveyors and Bridge
  • 00:24:02
    Builders General Dodge was not above
  • 00:24:05
    staging rather dramatic Indian attacks
  • 00:24:07
    or taking advantage when a government
  • 00:24:09
    inspector or politician happened to be
  • 00:24:12
    In Harm's Way when the roving bands of
  • 00:24:14
    Plains Indians made demonstrations
  • 00:24:17
    against the
  • 00:24:18
    railroad he managed to convince General
  • 00:24:20
    Sherman that thousands of additional
  • 00:24:22
    troops were needed and he did indeed in
  • 00:24:25
    the end uh superintend the extermination
  • 00:24:28
    of the Plains Indians from their
  • 00:24:29
    historic
  • 00:24:30
    lands General Sherman an Indian fighter
  • 00:24:34
    during the Civil War gave the railroads
  • 00:24:36
    his full
  • 00:24:37
    support the more we can kill this year
  • 00:24:40
    the less we'll have to be killed the
  • 00:24:41
    next but the more I see of these Indians
  • 00:24:44
    the more convinced I am that they all
  • 00:24:46
    have to be killed General Sherman
  • 00:24:52
    1872 one way the railroads in the
  • 00:24:54
    military attacked the Native Americans
  • 00:24:56
    was to slaughter the buffalo which they
  • 00:24:59
    depended on for their existence over 12
  • 00:25:02
    million Buffalo Roam the West when work
  • 00:25:04
    began on the railroad sometimes a single
  • 00:25:07
    herd would blanket the vast landscape as
  • 00:25:10
    far as the eye could see the railroad
  • 00:25:13
    companies hired Sharp Shooters to kill
  • 00:25:15
    countless thousands of buffalo on the
  • 00:25:17
    Great Plains to make way for the train
  • 00:25:20
    one Indian chief pleaded for the killing
  • 00:25:22
    to
  • 00:25:23
    stop listen well your young men have
  • 00:25:26
    destroyed the fine temper and the Green
  • 00:25:28
    Grass and have burnt up the country they
  • 00:25:31
    have killed my game and my Buffalo they
  • 00:25:33
    did not kill them to eat they left them
  • 00:25:36
    to rot where they fell were I to go
  • 00:25:38
    killed your cattle what would you
  • 00:25:42
    say would that not be wrong in cause War
  • 00:25:46
    cro Chief Bears tooth
  • 00:25:48
    1867 his cry went
  • 00:25:51
    [Music]
  • 00:25:52
    unheeded by the end of
  • 00:25:54
    1867 the Union Pacific had spent 4 years
  • 00:25:57
    working on on the rails and despite the
  • 00:26:00
    Indians the elements and the supply
  • 00:26:03
    problems they had laid 300 Mi of track
  • 00:26:06
    their Rivals the Central Pacific had
  • 00:26:08
    Advanced less than 80 Mi they were stuck
  • 00:26:12
    in the Sierra mountains of California
  • 00:26:15
    facing a challenge even more Monumental
  • 00:26:18
    how to stay alive while blasting a half
  • 00:26:21
    mile tunnel with handmade
  • 00:26:25
    nitroglycerin high up in the Sierra the
  • 00:26:27
    workers on the Central Pacific were
  • 00:26:29
    trying to devise a way to build a rail
  • 00:26:31
    line through solid Granite to cross the
  • 00:26:35
    Sierra Crocker's Chinese Crews needed to
  • 00:26:37
    bore through 15
  • 00:26:40
    mountains they had no mechanized
  • 00:26:43
    tunneling equipment and no modern
  • 00:26:45
    explosives they only had the basics
  • 00:26:48
    handheld iron drills sledgehammers and
  • 00:26:51
    black
  • 00:26:52
    powder before there was a tunnel first
  • 00:26:55
    there had to be a drill hole for
  • 00:26:57
    blasting and it was no easy
  • 00:27:00
    task each hole had to be about 12 in
  • 00:27:03
    deep drills had to be reshaped and
  • 00:27:05
    sharpened by a blacksmith every few
  • 00:27:08
    hours the depth of the hole was
  • 00:27:10
    extremely critical if it was too shallow
  • 00:27:13
    the explosion would blow backwards with
  • 00:27:15
    the force of a cannon to speed up the
  • 00:27:18
    Blasting work Crews chipped away at both
  • 00:27:21
    ends of the tunnel around the clock but
  • 00:27:23
    even then the progress was often only 8
  • 00:27:26
    in every 24 hour
  • 00:27:28
    hours the greatest engineering challenge
  • 00:27:31
    would be the summit tunnel that had to
  • 00:27:33
    penetrate the Pinnacle of the Sierra
  • 00:27:35
    Nevada overlooking Donner Lake at 6,000
  • 00:27:39
    ft above sea level they needed to build
  • 00:27:42
    a tunnel measuring 20 ft high that would
  • 00:27:45
    run over, 1600 ft through
  • 00:27:47
    granite even with Crocker's Army of
  • 00:27:50
    6,000 Chinese workers the work was
  • 00:27:52
    projected to take 3 years to
  • 00:27:55
    complete Drilling and Blasting was
  • 00:27:58
    painfully slow in good weather but
  • 00:28:01
    winter proved far more disastrous than
  • 00:28:03
    anyone had ever imagined major snow
  • 00:28:07
    storms in the sieras brought work to a
  • 00:28:09
    standstill the winter of
  • 00:28:11
    1867 through 1868 broke all records with
  • 00:28:15
    44 storms some dumping as much as 6 ft
  • 00:28:19
    of snow with drifts as high as a four
  • 00:28:22
    story
  • 00:28:23
    building Charlie Crocker was faced with
  • 00:28:25
    a mindblowing challenge that no one had
  • 00:28:28
    had planned for what to do with the raw
  • 00:28:30
    physical force of millions of tons of
  • 00:28:33
    snow the previous winter the Central
  • 00:28:35
    Pacific built its first snow plow
  • 00:28:37
    measuring 30 ft with the front end
  • 00:28:40
    crafted like the prow of a battleship
  • 00:28:42
    and waited with pig iron to keep it on
  • 00:28:45
    track as many as 12 locomotives were
  • 00:28:51
    needed it move the snow A little at
  • 00:28:55
    worst the locomotives derailed from the
  • 00:28:57
    massive impact of the snow and men were
  • 00:29:00
    killed the crews lived and work for
  • 00:29:03
    months under the snow they had to cut
  • 00:29:06
    passageways between their wooden shacks
  • 00:29:08
    and the tunnel
  • 00:29:09
    entrance it's difficult to imagine the
  • 00:29:12
    hardships that face these men in those
  • 00:29:14
    Winters when they literally lived
  • 00:29:15
    beneath the snow like moles when they
  • 00:29:18
    melted snow for drinking water when they
  • 00:29:20
    were cold constantly when sometimes the
  • 00:29:23
    only daylight they saw was when they
  • 00:29:24
    poked a hole in the roof of these snow
  • 00:29:27
    Caverns they worked in tunnels they
  • 00:29:30
    worked in
  • 00:29:31
    darkness in the worst storms food and
  • 00:29:33
    supplies couldn't reach the summit work
  • 00:29:36
    crew survived on meager emergency
  • 00:29:39
    rations sometimes for
  • 00:29:41
    weeks the workers suffered from
  • 00:29:43
    pneumonia frostbite and
  • 00:29:46
    malnutrition men were terrified of
  • 00:29:48
    avalanches that without warning would
  • 00:29:50
    crash down on their shelters and bury
  • 00:29:52
    people alive the bodies weren't found
  • 00:29:55
    until the snow thawed in the spring the
  • 00:29:58
    snow was such a colossal problem that at
  • 00:30:00
    one time 9,000 workers were needed to
  • 00:30:03
    clear the tracks with picks shovels and
  • 00:30:07
    wheelbarrows the workers often took
  • 00:30:09
    weeks just to clear cuts of ice
  • 00:30:12
    sometimes 15 ft thick over the tracks
  • 00:30:16
    meanwhile the crews inside the tunnel
  • 00:30:18
    labored Around the Clock consuming as
  • 00:30:21
    many as 500 kegs of blasting powder a
  • 00:30:25
    day blasting was done with black powder
  • 00:30:28
    the ancient Chinese formula of charcoal
  • 00:30:30
    and sulfur and salt peter but it was a
  • 00:30:32
    very inefficient explosive the granite
  • 00:30:34
    was so hard that the powder would
  • 00:30:36
    literally blast out of the holes and not
  • 00:30:38
    fracture The Rock so a new synthetic
  • 00:30:40
    explosive nitroglycerin was experimented
  • 00:30:43
    with nitroglycerin had been invented
  • 00:30:46
    only a few years before by ascanio soero
  • 00:30:49
    in Italy the compound was so volatile
  • 00:30:52
    that the Central Pacific hired a chemist
  • 00:30:54
    to mix a fresh batch every morning in a
  • 00:30:57
    special Kitchen near the work
  • 00:30:59
    [Music]
  • 00:31:06
    side with nitroglycerin the work now
  • 00:31:09
    moved twice as quickly but was far more
  • 00:31:11
    lethal than black powder Crocker
  • 00:31:14
    eventually stopped using it on August
  • 00:31:16
    29th 1867 one year after work began the
  • 00:31:21
    summit tunnel was finished ahead of
  • 00:31:23
    schedule 3 months later Supply trains
  • 00:31:26
    were running through it towards Nevada
  • 00:31:28
    the 1600t tunnel was the longest in the
  • 00:31:31
    world at that
  • 00:31:32
    time a modern Marvel in engineering and
  • 00:31:36
    human
  • 00:31:37
    endurance meanwhile the men of the Union
  • 00:31:40
    Pacific were drinking whiskey and
  • 00:31:42
    gambling in the
  • 00:31:44
    wilderness don't make a dam wherever we
  • 00:31:47
    we hit her up for
  • 00:31:49
    [Music]
  • 00:31:50
    joy as the Union Pacific stretched West
  • 00:31:53
    into the barren territory of Wyoming the
  • 00:31:56
    railroad created makeshift towns called
  • 00:31:59
    Hell on Wheels they were notorious and
  • 00:32:02
    Cheyenne Wyoming was as big and as bad
  • 00:32:05
    as any of them with 6,000 inhabitants it
  • 00:32:09
    was a place where as one man wrote his
  • 00:32:11
    wife Vice and crime stalk unblushingly
  • 00:32:15
    in the midday
  • 00:32:17
    Sun they had every form of entertainment
  • 00:32:20
    and vice that you could ever imagine
  • 00:32:23
    because the company felt that was a way
  • 00:32:25
    to keep their men happy they were Gam
  • 00:32:28
    Ling Halls houses of prostitution and
  • 00:32:31
    saloons obviously in fact the Union
  • 00:32:33
    Pacific probably lost more men from
  • 00:32:36
    gunfights than they did actually from
  • 00:32:40
    accidents despite these moments of
  • 00:32:42
    levity the Union Pacific War crew
  • 00:32:45
    stormed West at Dale Creek in eastern
  • 00:32:48
    Wyoming Bridge Builders amazingly nailed
  • 00:32:50
    together a temporary framework of
  • 00:32:52
    Timbers 650 ft long and 130 ft high in
  • 00:32:56
    30 days
  • 00:32:58
    it was the biggest Trestle work on the
  • 00:33:00
    Union Pacific Line the bridge was so
  • 00:33:03
    fragile and dangerous that it swayed
  • 00:33:05
    when the winds blew up the canyon
  • 00:33:08
    inspectors refused to sign off on it
  • 00:33:10
    until Durant promised to lash it down
  • 00:33:12
    with cables and replace it with an iron
  • 00:33:15
    structure within a year over 1,000 Mi
  • 00:33:18
    West the Rival construction crew still
  • 00:33:20
    battled with the forces of nature
  • 00:33:29
    once the Central Pacific cleared the
  • 00:33:31
    Sierra Crocker had hoped it would be
  • 00:33:32
    smooth sailing through Nevada but no
  • 00:33:35
    such luck the winter problem in the
  • 00:33:38
    Sierra continued to block their supplies
  • 00:33:40
    from getting through causing huge delays
  • 00:33:43
    in the track building in desperation
  • 00:33:46
    Charlie Crocker came up with an amazing
  • 00:33:49
    solution he ordered his men to construct
  • 00:33:52
    40 Mi of Timber roof snow sheds over the
  • 00:33:54
    most mountainous view stretches of track
  • 00:33:58
    these sheds would end up needing 65
  • 00:34:00
    million ft of Timber 900 tons of bolts
  • 00:34:04
    and spikes and ended up costing the
  • 00:34:06
    Central Pacific company $2
  • 00:34:10
    million in early April 1868 the Central
  • 00:34:13
    Pacific Crews had inched through the
  • 00:34:15
    toughest mountains on the rail line in 6
  • 00:34:19
    years they had only spiked 119 Mi of
  • 00:34:22
    track but it was the most difficult line
  • 00:34:25
    ever built in the world the Union
  • 00:34:28
    Pacific had completed 540 Mi across far
  • 00:34:32
    more gentle territory but they now face
  • 00:34:35
    their most formidable challenge the
  • 00:34:37
    kinds of mountainous terrain that the
  • 00:34:39
    Central Pacific had faced the Rocky
  • 00:34:41
    Mountains in Wyoming and the waset range
  • 00:34:43
    in Utah but nature was good to them to
  • 00:34:48
    cross the Rockies the Union Pacific only
  • 00:34:50
    had to bore four tunnels but ahead lay a
  • 00:34:53
    battle with the Wilderness that was to
  • 00:34:56
    be every bit as torturous is the Central
  • 00:34:58
    Pacific struggle with the
  • 00:35:00
    [Music]
  • 00:35:06
    Sierra the desert of Wyoming in Utah was
  • 00:35:09
    like a stark uninhabitable moonscape one
  • 00:35:13
    of the biggest problems was not the
  • 00:35:15
    threat of Indian or animal attack but
  • 00:35:17
    finding water an element essential to
  • 00:35:20
    steam locomotives an engine back then
  • 00:35:23
    would need 1,000 gallons of water to go
  • 00:35:26
    15 mil water tanks were built every 14
  • 00:35:30
    Mi along the line when railroaders did
  • 00:35:33
    manage to find a well they would use a
  • 00:35:35
    windmill to pump the
  • 00:35:37
    water they would pump the Water by wind
  • 00:35:40
    power into a tank and then when the
  • 00:35:42
    locomotive came by they could lower a
  • 00:35:43
    spout down into the tender and fill it
  • 00:35:46
    with water but it was not always that
  • 00:35:48
    easy for many spots they didn't have
  • 00:35:52
    reliable wind power some spots they had
  • 00:35:54
    to actually set up a steam-driven pump
  • 00:35:57
    to pump water out of the well in places
  • 00:35:59
    where the railroads pioneered water
  • 00:36:02
    technology towns sprang
  • 00:36:04
    up in many parts of the desert where
  • 00:36:07
    there was no water the railroad had to
  • 00:36:09
    haul their water in huge tank
  • 00:36:12
    cars long water trains would make daily
  • 00:36:15
    runs to dump water into systemns which
  • 00:36:18
    were pumped into the Trackside tank
  • 00:36:21
    despite it all the Union Pacific kept
  • 00:36:26
    moving it was now February
  • 00:36:29
    1869 nearly 6 years since construction
  • 00:36:32
    began with the Union Pacific by now
  • 00:36:35
    approaching Salt Lake City the Central
  • 00:36:38
    Pacific had raced halfway across Nevada
  • 00:36:41
    and was moving quickly toward Utah the
  • 00:36:44
    race was heating up with a Connecting
  • 00:36:47
    Point still not determined the railroad
  • 00:36:50
    owners wanted to build as many miles of
  • 00:36:52
    track as possible to collect government
  • 00:36:54
    land grants and Loans ahead of them was
  • 00:36:57
    a the Sprint to the Finish Line fought
  • 00:36:59
    by everyone from the lowliest spikeman
  • 00:37:01
    to the richest railroad baron while the
  • 00:37:04
    country waited for the outcome spring of
  • 00:37:08
    1869 as the Army race to reach the
  • 00:37:11
    prospering Mormon communities in Utah
  • 00:37:13
    Salt Lake Valley an incredibly bizarre
  • 00:37:16
    development took place with no
  • 00:37:19
    predetermined Connecting Point the two
  • 00:37:22
    competing grading Crews literally graded
  • 00:37:25
    Road beds past each other for over 250
  • 00:37:29
    Mi each laying claim to the right of
  • 00:37:32
    way the government ordered the railroads
  • 00:37:35
    to fix a meeting point or we'll do it
  • 00:37:37
    for
  • 00:37:39
    you Grenville Dodge and Callis
  • 00:37:42
    Huntington met in Washington and
  • 00:37:43
    hammered out a
  • 00:37:45
    compromise both companies would profit
  • 00:37:48
    from the Salt Lake City traffic the
  • 00:37:50
    tracks would join the following month at
  • 00:37:52
    Promontory Summit Utah with no more
  • 00:37:55
    subsidies being issued the race was
  • 00:37:57
    ially over but the track layers didn't
  • 00:38:00
    slow down as the tracks grew closer
  • 00:38:03
    together and it became apparent that the
  • 00:38:05
    Pacific Railroad was going to be a
  • 00:38:07
    reality and not just a dream they began
  • 00:38:10
    feeling that they were truly part of a
  • 00:38:12
    great National work they began to know
  • 00:38:15
    that they were doing something that
  • 00:38:16
    would outlive them Outlast them that
  • 00:38:19
    even down to the most Anonymous man with
  • 00:38:21
    a shovel in his hands this was going to
  • 00:38:23
    be a work for the ages and they had a
  • 00:38:25
    part in it as the two lines moved toward
  • 00:38:28
    Promontory one of the world's most
  • 00:38:30
    amazing bets was wagered the central
  • 00:38:34
    Pacific's Charlie Crocker had once
  • 00:38:36
    boasted to Thomas Durant the head of the
  • 00:38:38
    Union Pacific that his men could lay 10
  • 00:38:41
    miles of track in a single day Durant St
  • 00:38:45
    $10,000 that it was
  • 00:38:47
    impossible Crocker chose April 28th to
  • 00:38:50
    be 10 Mile day for the handpick team of
  • 00:38:53
    Crocker's workers this event was the
  • 00:38:56
    ultimate test of of endurance the day
  • 00:38:59
    began with Chinese workers shuttling
  • 00:39:01
    iron on horsedrawn hand cars to a crew
  • 00:39:03
    of eight Irish Rail carriers and the
  • 00:39:06
    track laying team they work without a
  • 00:39:08
    break and refus to eat a
  • 00:39:11
    lunch the track moved forward at a rate
  • 00:39:14
    of almost a m an hour in 12 hours the
  • 00:39:17
    Central Pacific workers spiked 10 Mi and
  • 00:39:20
    56 ft of track and lifted over 2 million
  • 00:39:24
    lb of iron rail a record that still
  • 00:39:27
    stands
  • 00:39:28
    today for their feet they were given 4
  • 00:39:31
    days
  • 00:39:33
    pay as the crews neared Promontory plans
  • 00:39:36
    were underway for a ceremony celebrating
  • 00:39:38
    the joining of the lines the moment that
  • 00:39:41
    the nation had been waiting for two
  • 00:39:44
    brand new trains with railroad officials
  • 00:39:46
    set out from Omaha and Sacramento to
  • 00:39:49
    meet at the Finish
  • 00:39:51
    Line the scene at Promontory that May
  • 00:39:54
    10th was one of contrast the grizzled
  • 00:39:57
    Veterans of this incredible campaign in
  • 00:40:00
    their Dusty clothes with their calloused
  • 00:40:02
    hands with the leadership of the
  • 00:40:05
    railroads in their fancy private cars
  • 00:40:07
    with their champagne and their fresh
  • 00:40:09
    fruits the contrast was
  • 00:40:11
    striking Western Union stood by to
  • 00:40:14
    Signal the moment the last Spike was
  • 00:40:16
    driven like the Apollo landing on the
  • 00:40:18
    moon virtually all of America waited for
  • 00:40:20
    the
  • 00:40:22
    news at 11:15 a.m. the central Pacific's
  • 00:40:26
    Jupiter pulled forward forward to the
  • 00:40:27
    union Pacific's number
  • 00:40:30
    119 each crowded with exuberant
  • 00:40:33
    exhausted
  • 00:40:34
    workers the ceremony called for Thomas
  • 00:40:37
    Durant the head of the Union Pacific and
  • 00:40:39
    Leland Stanford president of the Central
  • 00:40:41
    Pacific to drive not one Golden Spike as
  • 00:40:44
    Legend has it but four
  • 00:40:48
    spikes two gold one silver and the
  • 00:40:51
    fourth a mixture of gold silver and iron
  • 00:40:55
    Governor Stanford stepped up made one
  • 00:40:58
    huge swing and missed the spike and hit
  • 00:41:01
    the tie a huge Roar of laughter went up
  • 00:41:04
    from the workers who had probably driven
  • 00:41:07
    several hundred thousand spikes in their
  • 00:41:10
    career so then they offered the spike
  • 00:41:13
    mall to Dr Durant who had apparently a
  • 00:41:18
    slight hangover and he couldn't even hit
  • 00:41:20
    the spike at all and he hit the the dirt
  • 00:41:23
    they finally had to hand the spike mall
  • 00:41:26
    to a worker of the railroad who drove it
  • 00:41:29
    home the telegraph operator Tapped Out
  • 00:41:32
    the message done that was transmitted
  • 00:41:36
    within seconds around the country the
  • 00:41:38
    nation was ecstatic cannons were fired
  • 00:41:41
    whistles blew and parades marched down
  • 00:41:44
    Main Street the dream of a United Nation
  • 00:41:47
    Coast to Coast was finally
  • 00:41:50
    realized the first Transcontinental
  • 00:41:52
    Railroad ended up taking 6 years to
  • 00:41:55
    complete coming in ahead of schedule
  • 00:41:58
    even to this day no one knows exactly
  • 00:42:00
    how many men sacrificed their lives the
  • 00:42:03
    two railroad companies were awarded a
  • 00:42:05
    total of almost 21 million Acres more
  • 00:42:09
    land than Massachusetts Connecticut and
  • 00:42:11
    Vermont combined Theodor judah's Wildest
  • 00:42:14
    Dream had been realized 6 years later a
  • 00:42:18
    painting of the ceremony at Promontory
  • 00:42:20
    included him in tribute Grenville Dodge
  • 00:42:23
    would have more railroad challenges in
  • 00:42:26
    the years ahead but nothing would
  • 00:42:28
    compare to this Glory closing the tracks
  • 00:42:31
    of promontory was in many ways the last
  • 00:42:35
    act in creating the United States and it
  • 00:42:38
    was just the beginning of a new period a
  • 00:42:43
    new set of actors a new set of tools a
  • 00:42:46
    new set of values that would radically
  • 00:42:49
    remake would completely transform the
  • 00:42:51
    world they lived in and give us the
  • 00:42:54
    world we exist in today
タグ
  • ferrocarril
  • transcontinental
  • Oeste americano
  • Ted Judah
  • Big Four
  • expansión
  • historia
  • trabajadores chinos
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