the transcontinental railroad started being built in 1870.
the transcontinental railroad started being built in 1870.
when did the transcontinental railroad started being built?
1870
montague was appointed chief engineer of the central pacific railroad in 1863 after the death of theodore judah. he was responsible for building the western half of the first transcontinental railroad. he was a confidant of leland stanford the founder of stanford university, governor of california and one of the "big four" who directed the central pacific railroad. samuel was one of stanford's "inner circle". he was the engineer charged with directing the locating, designing and building the western section of the transcontinental railroad that linked the west and east coasts of the united states, that linked promontory summit, utah, to sacramento, california. montague was assisted by his fellow engineers lewis m. clement and james harvey strobridge. montague directed the engineering work on the central pacific which involved the work of thousands of chinese as well as their "white" surveyors, engineers, coordinators, supervisors, etc. as they crossed the sierra nevada over donner pass. it was a monumental engineering undertaking. in the famous "golden spike" celebration photo of 1869 in which a central pacific locomotive and a union pacific locomotive are touching "nose-to-nose" at promontory, utah. the two men shaking hands at the center of this photograph are samuel s. montague chief engineer for the central pacific and grenville m. dodge, chief engineer for the union pacific. samuel in about 1869 became one of eight officers of the central pacific railroad. in addition to the transcontinental railroad, he was chief engineer during the construction of numerous other railroad lines in california that central pacific and later the expanded southern pacific railroad continued to build.
samuel s. montague
bullet::::- golden spike national historical site in utah









































bullet::::- central pacific railroad photographic history museum









































bullet::::- union pacific railroad history









































bullet::::- the transcontinental railroad









































bullet::::- pacific railway act and related resources at the library of congress









































bullet::::- chinese-american contribution to transcontinental railroad









































bullet::::- linda hall library's transcontinental railroad educational site with free, full-text access to 19th century american railroad periodicals









































bullet::::- newspaper articles and clippings about the transcontinental railroad at newspapers.com









































bullet::::- maps









































bullet::::- route map at the library of congress









































bullet::::- map of union pacific railroad with dates









































bullet::::- abandoned route of the transcontinental railroad in utah (with map)
first transcontinental railroad