Public demand for the transcontinental railroad for westward expansion was originally inspired by an 1836 proposal by the American statesmen John Plumbe and Robert John Walker (Railroads). Finally, in July 1862, Congress authorized the construc-tion of two railroads that together would provide the first railroad link between the Mis-sissippi Valley and the Pacific coast (Allen 57). One was the Union Pacific, to run west-ward from Council Bluffs, Iowa; the other was the Central Pacific, to run eastward from Sacramento, California. Each of these companies was awarded business through decep-tion, overcharging,

The Vanderbilts were, to say the least, very wealthy and very powerful. “By 1900, the Vanderbilt boys owned over 10,000 miles of railroads,” (Allen 60) more than any other family of the era. There were many cartoons drawn at this time depicting the hold that Vanderbilt had over the railroad, the people who worked for him, and the gov-ernment. The cartoons were not often flattering—the Vanderbilts were unscrupulous and corrupt.

The New York Central's moving spirit was Erastus Corning, four times mayor of Albany, who for 20 years had been president of the Utica and Schenectady, one of the consolidated railroads. He served as president of the New York Central until 1864. In 1867 Cornelius Vanderbilt won control, after beating down the Central's stock, and com-bined it with his New York and Hudson railroads running from Manhattan to Albany.

Vanderbilt then joined it to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in 1873, extending his system from Buffalo to Chicago. He methodically added the Michi-gan Central in 1871. Under his son William, the Central acquired the New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railroad on the western side of the Hudson River in 1885. The sys-tem grew until it had 10,000 miles of track linking New York with Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis, the largest single railroad line in America surpassing the trans-continental railroad by thousands of miles.

Despite the success and completion of the transcontinental, further railroad suc-cess was not always easy. Other railroads had begun construction westward, but the panic of 1873 and the ensuing depression halted or delayed progress on many of those lines (Foner 518). With the return of prosperity after 1877, some railroads resumed or even accelerated construction. By 1883 three more rail connections between the Missis-sippi Valley and the West Coast had been completed—the Northern Pacific, from St. Paul to Portland; the Santa Fe, from Chicago to Los Angeles; and the Southern Pacific, from

Some topics in this essay:
Utah Elaborate, Civil War, Union Pacific, Sacramento California, Central Pacific, Physi-cians Surgeons, West Midwest, Cornelius Vanderbilt, York Central, York City, york central, union pacific, york central railroad, civil war, cornelius vanderbilt, central railroad, gained control, transcontinental railroad, los angeles, track laid, central pacific, late 19th century, los angeles southern, control york central, gained control york,