Subject Areas |
History and Social Studies
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U.S. History - Native American |
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U.S. History - The West |
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Time Required |
| Lesson 1: Create an anticipatory set during your usual read-aloud time. Time will vary based on the choice of material.
Lesson 2: One period.
Lesson 3: Three periods. One period for students to receive and study the documents; one to share and display the documents; and one to work with them.
Lesson 4: One or two periods.
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Skills |
| Primary document analysis
Identifying cause and effect
Placing events in chronological order |
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Additional Data |
| Date Created: 05/21/02 |
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Additional Student/Teacher Resources |
| Railroad timelines (PDF file) |
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Date Posted |
| 5/21/2002 |
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I Hear the Locomotives: The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad
I see over my own continent the Pacific Railroad, surmounting every barrier; I see
continual trains of cars winding along the Platte, carrying freight and passengers;
I hear the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill steam-whistle ...
— Walt Whitman, From "Passage to India," lines 50-52, Leaves
of Grass (1900 Edition)
Introduction
ALL ABOARD! In "Passage to India," Walt Whitman
sings in wonderment at the sight of the Transcontinental Railroad. Envisioning
himself a passenger, he hears the echoes of the whistle "reverberate through the
grandest scenery in the world." The train brings Whitman to the mountains, plains,
deserts and forests, whose images he uses to create a romantic portrait of the
West that feels eternal. What the Transcontinental Railroad actually
brought was change. By 1881, it was routine to travel by train from eastern
cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to San Francisco. The
round trip that took Lewis and Clark two-and-a-half years in 1803 was now a nine-day
journey. The consequences of this new technology were profound. Nothing in the
West would ever be the same again. Analyzing archival material such
as photos, documents, and posters, students can truly appreciate the phenomenon
of the Transcontinental Railroad. They can begin to answer some important questions:
Why was the Transcontinental Railroad built? How did it affect Native Americans?
Other minorities? How was the environment affected? What were the advantages of
railroad travel? Who used the railroads, and why? Who built the railroad?
Help your class make connections between the arrival of the railroads and
many of the changes occurring in the United States and its territories.
Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students
will be able to - List at least three effects the Transcontinental Railroad
had on the regions through which it passed.
- Use archival documents
to demonstrate the effect of the Transcontinental Railroad on the U.S.
Guiding Question: Why was the Transcontinental Railroad built? Who built
it? Who used the railroads, and why? What effects did the Transcontinental Railroad
have on the U.S.?
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
- Review each lesson plan and select the materials
that you think will be useful. Download and duplicate as necessary any archival
materials you will use, particularly those for Lesson
3. For dramatic effect in Lesson 3, create some large colorful arrows. Provide
a way for students to post the documents used in Lesson 3.
- This
unit offers many resources for classroom use to enable teachers to choose those
that are best suited to each class and to organize students efficiently. In Lesson
3, for example, sufficient documents are listed to enable distribution to small
groups or individuals as desired.
- Obtain background information
about the Transcontinental Railroad from the following EDSITEment resources:
- The
Digital Classroom, available through EDSITEment, offers a series of worksheets
for analyzing primary source documents, including written documents and photographs,
that you may wish to use or adapt to help students in reviewing the materials
presented in this unit.
Suggested Activities
Lesson 1: There's a Train a-Comin'Lesson
2: When Is That Train a-Comin'? Where Is It Going?
Lesson 3: Because of the Train a-Comin'?
Lesson 4: Because of the Train a-Comin'!
Extending the Lesson
Lesson 1 There's a Train a-Comin'
To heighten student anticipation for learning about the railroads, share
railroad-related poems and songs, or read a book aloud to the class. Carol
Hurst's Children's Literature Page, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library, offers many terrific suggestions on its Trains
Page, including "Death of the Iron Horse," by Paul Goble, which tells of the
arrival of the rails from the point of view of the Native Americans.
Lesson 2 When Is That Train a-Comin'?
Where Is It Going?
Share with the class an image of an 1881
Through Train Schedule, accessible via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed
website Internet Public Library.
Give students the chance to review the schedule and make observations. Which
cities were connected by the railroad? What information can be ascertained from
the schedule? Which cities are served? Give the students a map of the
U.S. on which they can indicate the cities being served and the connections between
them. A printable
map of the 50 states is available through the EDSITEment resource National
Geographic Xpeditions. To emphasize the entry of new states into
the Union after the growth of the railroads, students could use instead —
or additionally, for comparison purposes — a map of the United
States in 1880, available through a link from the EDSITEment reviewed New
Perspectives on The West. If desired, compare the 1880 map to a map
from 1900 to demonstrate how many states were admitted to the Union in the
interim. If desired, have students compare contemporary train routes
with those of 1880: - Transcontinental
Railroad Lines, 1880s, a link from the EDSITEment resource The
Internet Public Library. This map shows clearly the many connections from
Chicago and other points in the East to points in the West, little more than 10
years after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
- Maps of current Amtrak passenger routes from Chicago to the West Coast,
each available through a link from the EDSITEment resource American
Memory:
- Southwest
Chief: Chicago, Ill., to Kansas City, Mo., to Los Angeles, Calif.
- Empire
Builder: Chicago, Ill., to Seattle, Wash., or Portland, Ore.
- California
Zephyr: Chicago, Ill., to Emeryville, Calif. (San Francisco, Calif.).
Lesson 3 Because of the Train a-Comin'?
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad led to an era of change
for the U.S. Read and discuss with the class the following background on railroads
and the West from the EDSITEment-reviewed website American
Memory: Prepare copies of an appropriate number
of the following documents, all accessible through EDSITEment resources. Distribute
them among individual students or student groups as desired. (Note: The documents
are listed here in approximate chronological order. Chronological order should
be maintained as the documents are displayed to further highlight cause-and-effect
relationships between different events.) As you assign the documents to groups
or individuals, make sure that any that require reading (most are photographs)
are distributed appropriately. Choose only those documents best suited to your
class that demonstrate the various effects of the railroad's arrival. Captions
provided (for example "Railway Post Office") should be shared with the students.
The notes are for the teacher to aid in selecting documents and guiding discussion.
- Essay:
Biography of Leland Stanford — 1824-1893 Stanford's life extended throughout
the railroad era. Some entrepreneurs became phenomenally wealthy as a result
of the railroads. The wealth that was created helped spur investment in new
technologies. Available on the EDSITEment resource New
Perspectives on the West.
- Photograph:
Pony Express Rider Circa 1861 Trains would soon replace horses as the
fastest way to move mail over great distances. Available on New
Perspectives on the West.
- Document:
Homestead Act, May 20, 1862 (first sentence
only)
Population growth in the West enabled the construction of the railroad. Necessary
support services were provided in towns that grew up along the tracks. Once
the trains actually arrived, they could bring more settlers, carry goods to
market, and calm fears about the frontier as an inhospitable wilderness. Available
on New Perspectives
on the West.
- Document:
Pacific Railway Act, July 1, 1862 Sections 2 and 3
The Homestead Act and Railway Act, passed the same year, show how the U.S.
government promoted and supported the construction of railroads. Available
on New Perspectives
on the West.
- Picture
Essay for Young Readers: The First Known Train Robbery in the U.S., October
6, 1866
Available on America's
Library, a link from American
Memory.
- Photograph:
Group of mounted Pawnee warriors, October 1866
Available via a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library.
- Photograph:
Silver Mine 1868
Mining became much more profitable once railroads could deliver the minerals
to market. Available on New
Perspectives on the West.
- Document:
Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868 Articles VII, XI
The desire to promote railroad construction accelerated efforts to control
the Native population and eventually led to the demise of the Native lifestyle.
Available on New
Perspectives on the West
- Photograph:
Stage coaches leaving Ogden for Salt Lake City Circa 1869
The railroad was a more efficient means of transportation than the stagecoach.
Available via a link from Internet
Public Library.
- Poster:
Farms and Homes in Kansas! Emigrants, Look to your interests
Note that the seller is the Union Pacific Railroad, and that the land being
sold formerly belonged to Native Americans (Kickapoo Indian Reservation).
Available via a link from Internet
Public Library.
- Photograph:
General Grant and Party at Fort Sanders, Wyo. Circa 1869
The North's superior railroad resources helped it defeat the South in the
Civil War. The potential for military control of the West was enhanced by
the railroad. Available via a link from Internet
Public Library.
- Photograph:
Hotel and Depot at Cheyenne, Wy., Circa 1869
Towns sprang up along the tracks to support the railroads. Available via a
link from Internet Public
Library.
- Photograph:
Laying the Golden Spike May 10, 1869 / Full Page Photo
Available on the EDSITEment-reviewed The
Digital Classroom.
- Timeline
of selected events in business technology, media, marketing and advertising
in the 1870s , available through a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website
Documents
of Civil War Women.
The railroad was creating a national market for goods that could now be shipped
great distances economically.
- Photograph:
Groceries, Produce, Provisions, etc. Large 2-story brick building (Lucas Groceries) Circa 1870
Towns were required to supply the needs of those associated with the railroad
and those the railroad attracted to the West. Available via a link from Internet
Public Library.
- Photograph:
Lumber camp, Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
Natural resources could be tapped more easily once the railroads had arrived.
Natural resources were often used inefficiently. Available via a link from
Internet Public Library.
- Document
Cover: Railroad Bond Prospectus: Central Pacific Railroad 1870
The wealth acquired through the railroad boom and the business ventures the
railroads enhanced triggered a sharp increase in investments in the stocks
and bonds of corporations. As businesses prospered, people eager to share
in the profits invested heavily. Their investments provided capital that companies
needed to expand. Available via a link from Internet
Public Library.
- Photograph:
Dodge City 1872-1885
"Established in 1872, Dodge City began as a center of the buffalo trade, but
after 1876, Texas cattle and cowboys were the town's economic mainstay. Dodge
kept them coming up the Western Trail with a free-for-all attitude that soon
made it one of the most violent towns in the West. Local farmers finally closed
the area to cattle drives in 1885, and the 'Queen of the Cowtowns' passed
into legend." From New
Perspectives on the West.
- Photograph:
"Trail of the Hide Hunters"
The railroad accelerated the demise of the West's great buffalo herds, and
therefore the demise of the Native Americans who depended on the buffalo.
Available on New
Perspectives on the West.
- Photograph:
Rath and Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for
shipment. Dodge City, Kansas, 1878
Railroads enabled the delivery of mass quantities of buffalo hides. Available
on New Perspectives
on the West.
- Document:
Chinese Exclusion Act, May 6, 1882 (Section 1)
A decline in railroad building, the fear of competition for jobs, and prejudice
based on race led to the exclusion of Chinese immigrants. Most Chinese immigrants
were by this time refused entry to the United States. Available on New
Perspectives on the West.
- Cover:
1905 Catalog of Women and Children's Clothing for Immediate Delivery
The railroads meant that goods from almost anywhere could be delivered to
your hometown. Mass production meant that goods could be produced in quantity;
fewer goods were being made in the home. Available through a link from the
EDSITEment resource Documents
of Civil War Women.
- Photograph:
Slums along railroad tracks
Though it was convenient for workers to live near the railroad, it was not
a desirable location because of noise, pollution, and the lack of privacy.
Available from the EDSITEment resource American
Memory.
It is the student's or group's responsibility to describe
the image or document. After it is described, each document should be displayed.
When all the images have been revealed, challenge your students to create
cause-and-effect connections based on the documents. Explain that railroads brought
many changes and that significant change in one aspect of our society often has
a "ripple" effect that changes other aspects. Give each group the opportunity
to use photos and documents to create cause-and-effect ladders. The connections
the students make are hypotheses based on the evidence at hand.
An Example of a Cause and Effect Ladder: - The student(s) would
say, "Because the railroads came ..." and then display Laying
the Golden Spike, May 10, 1869.
- Then the student(s) would
post an arrow pointing to the next image—Rath
and Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for shipment.
Dodge City, Kansas, 1878 and say, "Buffalo hides could be shipped to the East."
- The student(s) would say, "Because buffalo hides could be shipped
to the East, hunters shot many buffalo," and then post an arrow and display Trail
of the Hide Hunters, which shows buffalo lying dead in the snow in 1872, one
with the hunter's rifle propped against its carcass.
- The student(s)
would say, "Because hunters shot many buffalo, Native Americans who depended on
the buffalo could no longer maintain their way of life" and then post an arrow
and display Group
of mounted Pawnee warriors.
Students can show cause and effect using
as few as two photos or documents, or as many as they can justify through their
explanations. Proceed from one group to the next, as each makes a different cause-and-effect
connection.
Lesson 4 Because of the Train a-Comin'!
After the students have created their cause-and-effect ladders, they will
work with the Timeline
of Events in the West, on the EDSITEment resource New
Perspectives on the West, for the 1860s,
1870s
and 1880s
to look for events that validate student cause-and-effect hypotheses suggested
in Lesson 3.
Divide the class into six groups, each assigned events as shown on the timelines
provided. (You will need Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view timelines.) Make sure each group has at least one strong
reader. Give the students time to look over the list. Proceed chronologically
as each group names one or more events that relate to the building of the Transcontinental
Railroad. Students should explain the connection based on the discussion in Lesson
3. Further research on any of these events would make a good extension of the
lesson.
- Students can read and complete the Interactive
Activity for Alexander Curtis on the EDSITEment-reviewed website At
Home in the Heartland Online.
- Have students conduct research
on time zones. The operation of the Transcontinental Railroad required that a
standardized national time system be established to insure that it was running
on time. For an example of the problem that needed solving, look at the bottom
of an 1881
Time Table, available via a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library. For more background information, visit America's
Library: Time Zones, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website American
Memory, or The
World's Time Zones.
- Chinese workers contributed a great deal
of labor to the construction of the railroad. Their arrival led to the rise of
many Chinese-American communities. Students can find more information and documents
about Chinese Americans on some of the EDSITEment
resources listed below, as well as these links from EDSITEment-reviewed websites:
- Students can contrast the days of the early railroads with today's railroad
operations. If students have had a chance to ride a train, they can start the
comparison with their own experience. Many firsthand accounts of early
travel on the Transcontinental Railroad are available via a link from the
EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library.
- At the time of the Founders, nothing in the
U.S. — no message, no commerce, no person — could travel faster than
a horse. Students can compare different historical modes of travel. Many links
to information on overland travel prior to the construction of the Transcontinental
Railroad, as well as firsthand accounts of Early
Travel on the Transcontinental Railroad, are available via a link from the
EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet
Public Library. Further information may be obtained through these links from
EDSITEment resources:
- From "I've Been Workin'
on the Railroad" to "Midnight Train to Georgia," trains have entered the vocabulary
of song. Through EDSITEment resources, you can locate song sheets and, sometimes,
audio recordings of train songs. Consider working with the music teacher to find
ways to use train songs in your curriculum. Some examples from the EDSITEment-reviewed
website American Memory:
- Students can track the construction
of the Transcontinental Railroad in California
and Nebraska
with images available via a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library.
- Students can take a field trip to see model
recreations of early railroads.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Other Resources
Recommended reading
from American Memory
- Blumberg, Rhonda. Full Steam Ahead: The Race
to Build a Transcontinental Railroad. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic
Society, 1996.
- Coiley, John. Train.
N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
- Hynson, Colin. The
History of Railways. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's, 1998.
- Silverman,
Jerry. Singing Our Way West: Songs and Stories from
America's Westward Expansion. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, 1998.
Recommended reading from Carol
Hurst's Children's Literature Page - Goble, Paul. Death
of the Iron Horse. Aladdin Paperbacks, March 1993. (Reading level: Ages
4-8; 29 pages, reprint edition; ISBN: 0689716869)
Recommended reading
from Women of the West
Museum - Levitin, Sonia. Nine for California.
Illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith. New York: Orchard Books, 1996. (Reading level:
Grades K-3)
- Bunting, Eve. Train to Somewhere.
Illustrated by Ronald Himler. New York: Clarion Books, 1996. (Reading level: Grades
3-5)
Standards Alignment
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