A TOILSOME JOURNEY

At the time, if someone wanted to travel to California from the Eastern United States, they would have to take a six month journey across the rugged and dangerous terrain of the remote country. Alternatively, a sea voyage took six weeks but would involve the risks of facing bad weather and contracting deadly diseases. There needed to be a faster and safer way to get from one coast to another.

Asa Whitney was the first person to propose the creation of a railroad that would span the entire nation. Private companies, as well as the US government, had been laying thousands of miles of track across the East coast since the 1830s, so why not expand the already existing track westward? Despite Whitney’s best efforts to convince Congress, his idea would not come to fruition for another 16 years.

Asa Whitney's request to the Senate for funding for the railroad to be built. Whitney, Asa. Memorial of Asa Whitney, Praying For a Grant of Land to Enable him to Construct a Railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean. 1848, http://cprr.org/Museum/Reports/pictures/capture_00076.html

Page Header Image Source: O'Hara, Ryan. Buffalo off a dirt road in the badlands. 2010, https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaghra/4924530114/in/photostream/