Transcontinental Railroad Grade

About :

The railroad grade represents an epic achievement in American history, linking East to West in the new nation. Today, the landscape looks much the same as it did in 1869, but the rails, the towns, and even the lonely rail sidings are gone. Now the visitor can only imagine the vision an effort of those who struggled to build the nation's first transcontinental railroad.

The Central Pacific railroad began laying track east from Sacramento in 1863. After tackling the rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and crossing the Great Basin, the railroad reached Utah in March 1869. The Byway follows the last 90 miles of grade laid by the Central pacific before their rails met the Union Pacific's at Promontory Summit.

As you travel west from Golden Spike National Historic Site, you can see two parallel grades. In an effort to reap greater government subsidies, the two competing railroads laid grade along side each other for over 200 miles.

On April 28, 1869, the Central pacific crews laid 10 miles of track in one day, a record which resulted from a bet between the two railroads. The Central Pacific crews rested at Camp Victory (Rozel), just west of the back country byway information site.

Nine of every ten men who built the Central Pacific Railroad were Chinese. Renowned for their reliability and industrious work ethic, they labored into Utah ten thousand strong with little more than picks, shovels, and black powder. Subsisting on tea, rice, and dried vegetables from China, they lived in segregated quarters in camps such as Lucin and Terrace.