... of the wall of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In between these two networks was a huge gap of about seventeen hundred miles of plains and mountain ranges. Closing this gap was a dream shared by many Americans. Businessmen thought of all the money they could make by having an entire continent full of customers and using the railroads to serve their needs. Romantics ... mountains. Working summer and winter, it took the Central Pacific two years to hurdle the barrier of the Sierras. A thousand miles back East, the Irish workers frequently fainted in the midsummer heat, but their employers we...

• Word Count: 2617
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School