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No one expected the Pacific Railroad to be built in a hurry. The first Pacific Railway Act of 1862 set a deadline of 14 years, which seems reasonable given the [...]

THE TRACK OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC was built with rail spiked to wooden ties. Most of the ties were sawn from trees cut in the Sierra forests. To save hauling [...]

FOR THE MOST PART, the Central Pacific was built with simple hand tools. Earth was moved with picks, shovels, and horse carts. Rocks were broken and blown aside with blasting [...]

The article provides an overview of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 that set a deadline of 14 years to build the Pacific Railroad. The changes of the law made the project into a race with federal construction bonds and sections of granted land apportioned by miles of track built. It states that David J. Sullivan might be the most significant unsung hero of the first transcontinental railroad as he demonstrated Central Pacific how to lay track in a hurry.