tag:digital.library.illinois.edu,2005:/items/f18b73d0-8a51-013a-c212-02d0d7bfd6e4-eThe great railroad routes to the Pacific, and their connections : 18692023-07-21T15:59:52Ztag:digital.library.illinois.edu,2005:Item/8555842022-03-22T17:26:45Z2023-07-21T15:59:52ZThe great railroad routes to the Pacific, and their connections : 1869[When the Golden Spike was driven into the ground at Promontory Point on May 10, 1869, the U.S. had successfully completed one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century. At over 1,900 miles, the Transcontinental Railroad connected Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Francisco, California and drastically reduced the time and energy required to cross the country. This was the height of railroad fever, and before the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed there were plans in place for two further lines connecting east and west. This map, published in a Senate Report in February 1869, shows the proposed routes of the so-called Northern Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Trunk Lines. The central route is shown nearing completion, with only a few dozen miles separating the completed track at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and Weber Canyon, Utah. Completed and proposed routes crisscross the entire country. The map was drawn by Joseph Gorlinsky and published by the American Photo-Lithographic Company in New York using Osborne's Process. It is accompanied by 33 pages of the Senate's report, which details arguments for and against various methods of funding.]--Edited description of Curtis Wright Maps.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library