The Transcontinental Railroad Comp. Qs

According to p. 17, what caused people to want to head west?

• Gold was discovered in California in 1848

• Traveling through the United States was difficult

• The west coast is the best coast

• The government decided to build a railroad

What reason is given for the railroad being a better method of travel?

• Traveling across deserts was dangerous

• A railroad would be faster, safer, and more reliable.

• The government decided to build the transcontinental railroad

What caused the government to build the transcontinental railroad?

• Freed slaves needed jobs.

• Airplane travel wasn't invented yet.

• Many people wanted to move west but wagons were not safe.

• John Henry was a powerful steel driver.

What year did the work on the transcontinental railroad begin?

• 1776

• 1848

• 1998

• 1863

Why did the government hire two companies to build the railroad?

• One would build from west to east and the other would build from east to west and they would meet in the middle.

• They knew the companies would work well together.

• The different companies did different parts of the job.

• The railroad was an engineering feat.

What text evidence does the author provide to support the statement that the transcontinental railroad was a major engineering feat?

• People really wanted to travel west.

• New techniques had to be developed, and new skills had to be learned.

• They hired two different companies.

• The railroad was nearly 2,000 miles long.

Which was NOT a challenge faced during the building of the transcontinental railroad?

• The terrain was difficult.

• The winter was snowy and the summer was scorching hot.

• The railroad had to travel 2,000 miles.

• Technology was not good enough to accomplish this job.

What were the endpoints of the transcontinental route, according to the map on page 18?

• Boston and San Francisco

• Promontory and Sacramento

• Omaha and Sacramento

• The Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean

What was an effect of the fact that the railroad needed so many tasks completed such as laying tracks, hammering spikes, and building bridges?

• The challenge was too difficult to complete.

• Thousands of people helped build the railroad.

• Inventors created new machines to complete the tasks.

• It took only 6 years to complete.

What claim is supported by the statement "Many workers died in rockslides and blasting accidents"?

• The work was long, hard and dangerous.

• Thousands of people helped build the railroad.

• Tunnels were blasted through mountains using dynamite.

• The railroad was safer, faster and more reliable.