California’s role in the first Transcontinental Railroad | California Politics 360
Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad faced several challenges
This week marks 163 years since Cruz first broke ground on the first transcontinental railroad, and it all started here in what’s now old Sacramento. And joining us this morning, we have Ty Smith from the California Railroad Museum. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for being here. This was. Such *** huge undertaking, wasn’t it? It was *** tremendous undertaking. In fact, when people first started talking about it, everybody agreed it was *** good idea, but then when they started scratching their heads, they thought, how can it be done? And one of the main people behind the idea was *** guy named Theodore Judah. And many people around town called him crazy Judah because he had the vision, but then the question was how to make the vision *** reality. Yes, and of course it required so many people to come here, all working for one main goal, but this really also transformed the economy, not just here locally but in the United States. It changed everything forever because it’s one thing to Draw *** little line across the Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s quite another thing to actually make that work. So you had to put land where there wasn’t by filling it in or building trestles or making tunnels, you know, through solid granite, and that took thousands and thousands of workers, many of them, most of them in fact 90% of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad were Chinese. Railroad workers who came from Guangdong province to California to work on the project, but once it was completed, once the joining occurred at Promontory on May 10, 1869, it not only um joined *** nation at one of its most fragile times after the Civil War, but it also connected the rest of the world because train went to steamship. Which went to Asia and so really what what it was you know when when at the end of the day what it comes down to is explorers have been looking for *** great water course that would connect the globe and make it easy to travel and circumnavigate the globe we never found it we made it we made it in rail. So not only transformed the economy. But it also ended up transforming just the genetic makeup of what Northern California looks like and we can still feel that and see that today. Yeah, it’s all around us. Sacramento is one of the most diverse places in the world, and it, it, uh, the reason it is is because of that history, not only the gold rush and the world rushing in, but then people ask. The question what happens after the gold, and the answer came not in the gold that you found near streams or that you blasted out of the mountains, but the gold that you grew on trees and because of that, that sustainable gold rush that’s been happening predictably reliably over the last 150 years, you meant the world state. Now we see this is obviously still *** very uh very heavily visited traffic museum we see *** lot of folks in here even though it’s already early in the morning. What do you hope that some of these visitors take away from once they come in and leave these doors? I think the relevancy of it, um, sometimes people go, oh, the train museum, but that’s *** mistake. We’re more than *** train museum, we’re *** museum of railroad history. And therefore that means we’re *** we’re *** railroad people, right, so it’s *** museum of you, um, *** museum of us because our lives really are made of railroad stories even if you don’t like trains, we listen to railroad music, we, um, watch movies that are, uh, filmed on and around trains, um, the spatial relationship, uh, to the world around us, um, is the, the product of ***. Decisions or decisions that people made 150 years ago, so railroading history affects our commutes, um, and it, it, and then then it is the people because, um, you don’t have to dig around very far in family histories before railroad stories start coming up because it was one of the largest industries and therefore one of the largest employers in the nation. Yeah, well, Ty Smith, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us and *** happy 163 years. Thank you. Yeah, all right, uh, Ashley, we’ll toss it back to you.
California’s role in the first Transcontinental Railroad | California Politics 360
Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad faced several challenges
Updated: 8:30 AM PST Jan 4, 2026
January 8 marks 163 years since crews broke ground on the First Transcontinental Railroad.“It was a tremendous undertaking,” said Ty Smith with the California State Railroad Museum. “In fact, when people first started talking about it, everybody agreed it was a good idea, but then when they started scratching their heads — how could it be done?”Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad faced several challenges. Most of the manufactured materials and equipment needed to construct the railroad came from the East Coast, according to the Census. It took months for the supplies to arrive in San Francisco. The lumber for the rail ties and bridges came from California forests, the Census said.“It’s one thing to draw a little line across the Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s quite another thing to actually make that work. You had to put land where there wasn’t, by filling it in or building trestles, or making tunnels through solid granite. That took thousands and thousands of workers,” Smith said. “Ninety percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad were Chinese railroad workers.”Despite delays, workers reached Donner Pass in August 1867, only four years after crews initially broke ground. According to the Census, Central Pacific crews laid approximately 560 miles of track between Reno and Promontory Summit, UT, in the final year of construction. It includes a single-day record for more than 10 miles of track on April 28, 1869.On May 10, 1869, Central Pacific Railroad President Leland Stanford, and former California governor, drove a golden rail spike to complete the 1,912-mile-long Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Census said.“Explorers have been looking for a great water course that would connect the globe and make it easy to travel and circumnavigate the globe. We never found it. We made it, we made it in rail,” Smith said.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
January 8 marks 163 years since crews broke ground on the First Transcontinental Railroad.
“It was a tremendous undertaking,” said Ty Smith with the California State Railroad Museum. “In fact, when people first started talking about it, everybody agreed it was a good idea, but then when they started scratching their heads — how could it be done?”
Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad faced several challenges. Most of the manufactured materials and equipment needed to construct the railroad came from the East Coast, according to the Census. It took months for the supplies to arrive in San Francisco. The lumber for the rail ties and bridges came from California forests, the Census said.
“It’s one thing to draw a little line across the Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s quite another thing to actually make that work. You had to put land where there wasn’t, by filling it in or building trestles, or making tunnels through solid granite. That took thousands and thousands of workers,” Smith said. “Ninety percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad were Chinese railroad workers.”
Despite delays, workers reached Donner Pass in August 1867, only four years after crews initially broke ground. According to the Census, Central Pacific crews laid approximately 560 miles of track between Reno and Promontory Summit, UT, in the final year of construction. It includes a single-day record for more than 10 miles of track on April 28, 1869.
On May 10, 1869, Central Pacific Railroad President Leland Stanford, and former California governor, drove a golden rail spike to complete the 1,912-mile-long Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Census said.
“Explorers have been looking for a great water course that would connect the globe and make it easy to travel and circumnavigate the globe. We never found it. We made it, we made it in rail,” Smith said.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel