Building the Rails

 Unlike the steamboats that followed routes of nature, railroads were man-made routes.  Western railroads made settlements wherever they were laid along those routes.  Where the railroad went, so did the people.  As one traveler recorded in 1856, "the prairies and the railroads were made for each other.  For hundreds of miles you didn't need to do anything but raise the turf and lay the rails...in one level unwavering line your road passes through the plain."

The technology of progress and haste defined the Western rails.  Great prizes were received for the first to complete the railroad as in the building of the first transcontinental railroad.  Under the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, the Central Pacific Railroad was to build eastward from California to join tracks with the Union Pacific in Nevada.  However, the act was amended by Central Pacific lobbyists which allowed both railroads to build as far as they could until they met - with the reward of between $16,000 and $48,000 for each additional mile laid.

The first transcontinental railroad went from an engineering project to a race in which the construction practices of the competitors became a national scandal.  The Credit Mobilier Scandal came to light in 1872 and involved the illegal manipulation of contracts by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier construction company.  An extensive inquiry was made into charges of bribery when the head of Credit Mobilier gave stock to members of Congress in exchange for construction favors.  Nothing definite could be proved and the matter was dropped, but not before the scandal was the hottest news of the time.

Next time...Construction Practices

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Today in Pioneer History: "On September 16, 1893, the largest land rush in history begins with more the 100,000 people pouring into the Cherokee strip of Oklahoma to claim valuable land that had once belonged to Native Americans.  With a single shot from a pistol, the mad dash began and the pioneers on horseback and in carriages raced to stake their claim of the best acres.