now in its third season, "Hell on Wheels" is a fictional account of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad -- the team that built from the east, moving westward. although a great amount of the storyline has been created for purposes of sustaining a good TV drama, the underlying facts of the building of the Railroad remain fascinating:
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The total length of the First Transcontinental Railroad was 1,776 miles.
Two independent companies, the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad were hired to build the railroad... one from the west and one from the east. The project was supported by issuing US government bonds.
The Pony Express travelled a similar route to the central route and helped to prove that the route was passable in winter.
The Transcontinental Railroad was also known as the Pacific Railroad for a while and later on as the Overland Route – after the main passenger transport service that operated the line.
The Central Pacific Railroad was controlled by four men called the "Big Four". They were Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker.
On April 28, 1869, The Central Pacific crews laid 10 miles of track in one day, a record which resulted from a bet between the 2 railroads.
Nine of every ten men who built the Central Pacific Railroad were Chinese.
It was later, in November of 1869, when the Central Pacific connected San Francisco to Sacramento.
A complete timeline of the project can be found here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/tcrr-timeline/
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if you haven't seen the show and are interested in a well-written historical western/drama, check out "Hell on Wheels". (BTW, "Hell on Wheels" is the name of the tent city where the team building/supporting the railroad live.)
out for now.....
Matt
