Transcontinental Railroad History

What was the main goal of the Transcontinental Railroad?

• Connect the northern and southern parts of the country

• Connect the eastern and western parts of the United States

• Connect the United States with Canada

• Connect the United States with Mexico

What was the name of the first steam engine built in America?

• The Iron Horse

• The Great Western

• The Tom Thumb

• The Pacific Flyer

What idea encouraged many Americans to move west in the 1830s and 1840s?

• The Gold Rush

• Manifest Destiny

• The Industrial Revolution

• The Great Migration

What made the journey to California difficult before the railroad was built?

• It was too expensive to travel

• There were no maps available

• The journey was long and dangerous

• There were too many cities in the way

Who was the engineer who planned the railroad path through the Sierra Nevada Mountains?

• Abraham Lincoln

• Ulysses S. Grant

• Theodore Judah

• Thomas Durant

What law helped fund the building of the Transcontinental Railroad?

• The Homestead Act

• The Pacific Railroad Act

• The Gold Rush Act

• The Manifest Destiny Act

Which two railroad companies built the Transcontinental Railroad?

• Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific

• Union Pacific and Northern Pacific

• Central Pacific and Union Pacific

• Southern Pacific and Western Pacific

What was given to railroad companies for each mile of track they laid?

• Free labor

• Land and money

• New engines

• Gold mines

Which group of immigrants worked on the Central Pacific Railroad through the mountains?

• Irish immigrants

• German immigrants

• Chinese immigrants

• African immigrants

Where did the two railroad lines meet to complete the Transcontinental Railroad?

• Salt Lake City, Utah

• Sacramento, California

• Omaha, Nebraska

• Promontory Point, Utah