"Chronicles the historic meeting of two railroad lines in 1869 that linked the U.S. transcontinental railroad and Andrew J. Russell's famous photograph of the event"--

"In mid-1860s, two railroad companies had a huge job in front of them: building the transcontinental railroad. The railroad would run from east to west across the United States. As the grueling work began, there were many choices to make. Now the choices are yours. Would you rather blast rock to lay track in the Sierra Nevada mountain range or build bridges across raging rivers in the Great Plains? Would you rather sleep in a cold mountain tunnel...

The history of the railroad across America that united a nation.

Presents a history of the building of the transcontinental railroad and its effects on American life. By the 1840s, daring Americans were trickling westward to begin a new life in the great wide open. When gold was discovered in 1848, the promise of riches drew people by the thousands out to California. But the journey was slow and dangerous, since the best ways of travelling were by wagon and on foot. During the "railroad fever" of the 1830s, thousands...