Full Answer
What did the big four do for the transcontinental railroad?
Central Pacific Railroad, American railroad company founded in 1861 by a group of California merchants known later as the “Big Four” (Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker); they are best remembered for having built part of the first American transcontinental rail line.
Who was the big four transcontinental railroad?
From the beginning, then, the building of the transcontinental railroad was set up in terms of a competition between the two companies. In the West, the Central Pacific would be dominated by the “Big Four”–Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington and Mark Hopkins.
Who played a major role in the construction of the transcontinental railroad?
The rail line, also called the Great Transcontinental Railroad and later the "Overland Route," was predominantly built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (CPRR) and Union Pacific (with some contribution by the Western Pacific Railroad Company) over public lands provided by extensive US land grants.
What groups worked on the transcontinental railroad?
Beginning in 1863, the Union Pacific, employing more than 8,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, built west from Omaha, Nebraska; the Central Pacific, whose workforce included over 10,000 Chinese laborers, built eastward from Sacramento, California.
Who were the Big Four and how did they make their money?
They are Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). Aside from auditing services, the Big Four offer tax, strategy and management consulting, valuation, market research, assurance, and legal advisory services.
Who helped built the transcontinental railroad?
The Transcontinental Railroad was built by many thousands of workers from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, which created a blend of people that continues to define the nation to this day. One of the groups that literally took on the brunt of the work, were the Chinese laborers.
Who built the first railroad in America?
John Stevens is considered to be the father of American railroads. In 1826 Stevens demonstrated the feasibility of steam locomotion on a circular experimental track constructed on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey, three years before George Stephenson perfected a practical steam locomotive in England.
What were the two main reasons behind building the Transcontinental Railroad?
Instead of having to trek through the untamed wilderness or sail around South America, Americans could now ride on a train and get from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Sacramento, California in a matter of weeks. The Transcontinental Railroad also allowed for western goods to be more easily and quickly transported.
What was the biggest obstacle in the way of building the Transcontinental Railroad?
The Sierra Nevada, the 400-mile-long range of granite peaks that form the backbone of California, was the most formidable obstacle in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Which group did not work on the transcontinental railroad?
Looking back, historians say, the Chinese, who began arriving in the United States in significant numbers during the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855, were deemed too weak for the dangerous, strenuous job of building the railroad east from California.
Who benefited from the transcontinental railroad?
The entire United States benefited financially from the joining of two railroads to form one transcontinental railroad. However, two industries benefited the most from the Transcontinental Railroad. Those were cotton and cattle.
Who was the greatest railroad man?
Shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) was a self-made multi-millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century.
Who are the big railroad owners?
These men, names like James Hill, Jay and George Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Edward Harriman, and Collis P. Huntington are largely responsible for building much of the country's network.
Who are the Big Four in the movie The Birth of the Rail?
In "The Birth of the Rail", "road agents" (bandits) Happy Hunty (Huntington), Cowboy Charley (Crocker), and Leland The Kid (Stanford), joined by minor devil Sootymug (Hopkins), ...
Why did the Big Four decline to be a part of the Big Four?
He was invited to be a part of the "Big Four" but declined due to the financial risks. Over his lifetime he gained and lost several fortunes. In their time, the four men were sometimes referred to as nabobs or "nobs," a reference to their wealth and influence.
Who replaced the Big Four?
In Henry T. Williams' The Pacific tourist – Williams' illustrated trans-continental guide of travel, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean published in 1878, the Big Four was replaced by the Five Associates or Representative Men of the Central Pacific Railroad, with Charles Crocker's older brother Judge Edwin B. Crocker (1818–1875), who served as the CPRR attorney from 1865 to 1869, added.
Who was the Big Four?
THE "BIG FOUR". Collis P. Huntington was a master salesman born on October 22, 1821 in Harwinton, Connecticut. He was the main power behind the railroad, but preferred to stay behind the scenes. Huntington began working at a young age on the family farm to contribute to the family income.
What did Collis and Mark Hopkins do after gold was discovered?
After gold was discovered the brothers decided to start a business to supply miner's. Collis moved to San Francisco and opened a shop where he befriended Mark Hopkins and formed a partnership. Later, the two would would invest in other ventures such as the Transcontinental Railroad and lead to the eventual creation of the Big Four. ...
Who was Leland Stanford?
Leland Stanford was a lawyer and one term governor of California who used his political knowledge and business background to his advantage to help create the Transcontinental Railroad.
Who were the Big Four?
The Big Four were the men known in building the Central Pacific Railroad, the western portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States. The four men were Leland Stanford who was the President, Collis P. Huntington who was the Vice President, Mark Hopkins who was the Treasurer, and Charles Crocker who was the Construction Supervisor. Leland Stanford was born in the year of 1824 in Watervliet, New York, and was raised on family farms. Stanford began law school around the year 1848. Stanford got married in 1850 and had one son.
Who was the investor in the Central Pacific Railroad?
Mark Hopkins was also one of the investors involved in the Central Pacific Railroad. Hopkins was born in Henderson, Jefferson County, New York. Hopkins formed the “New England Mining and Trading Company” when the California Gold Rush began. Hopkins opened a store in Placerville, California but it did not succeed. He then opened a grocery store in Sacramento in 1850 with his friend Edward H. Miller who became secretary for the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1861, Hopkins and the rest of the Big Four men founded the Central Pacific Railroad.
Who was the president of the Southern Pacific Railroad?
Stanford and his men got control of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1868. He was also president of the Southern Pacific Company from 1885 to 1890. Stanford was elected chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad’s executive committee in 1890. Stanford oversaw a corporation which imported thousands of Chinese laborers in the construction of the railroad. He cut the state’s debt in half and advocated for the conservation of forests. Stanford served as Chairman of the U. S. Senate Committee on public buildings and grounds in the United States Senate.
Why didn't Crocker's train plows work?
Crocker bought train plows to plow the tracks. This didn’t work because of the frequent ice on the tracks. He later built over forty miles of snow sheds to cover the tracks in Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crocker and his men got control of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1868. Crocker was also in charge of Wells Fargo and was the president. He also took control of the Woolworth National Bank and gave it to his son. In the year 1886, Crocker got injured in a carriage accident and didn’t recover. He died two years later.
How many Chinese workers were hired by the railroad in 1865?
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. “In January 1865, convinced that Chinese workers were capable, the railroad hired 50 Chinese workers and then 50 more,” the Project notes. “But the demand for labor increased, and white workers were reluctant to do such backbreaking, hazardous work.”.
How many Chinese immigrants died in the Transcontinental Railroad?
And even though they made major contributions to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, these 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants have been largely ignored by history.
How much did Chinese workers get paid in 1864?
According to the Project, Chinese workers hired in 1864 were paid $26 a month , working six days a week. They eventually held an eight-day strike in June of 1867. Chinese camp and construction train in Nevada when building of the first transcontinental railroad was being speeded across the state by the Central Pacific.
Where was the Chinese cut and a bank built?
Chinese workers building a cut and a bank at Sailor's Spur in the Sierra foothills for the Central Pacific Railroad in California, 1866. Underwood Archives/Getty Images. “But Crocker’s plan hit opposition amid anti-Chinese sentiment, stemming from the California Gold Rush, that gripped the state,” Obenzinger told NBC, ...
Did the Central Pacific strike end?
The strike ended without pay parity after Central Pacific cut off food, transportation and supplies to the Chinese living in camps, but, Chang says, the strike was not held in vain. Working conditions improved following the strike. “They scared the pants off the company leaders,” he says.
How many tunnels did the Union Pacific crew have?
The crew had the formidable task of laying the track that crossed the rugged Sierra Nevada mountain range, blasting nine tunnels to accomplish this. The crew of the Union Pacific, which was composed largely of Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans, had to contend with Indian attacks and the Rocky Mountains.
Where did the Central Pacific start?
The Central Pacific began laying track eastward from Sacramento, California, in 1863, and the Union Pacific started westward from Omaha, Nebraska, two years later. To meet its manpower needs, the Central Pacific hired thousands of Chinese labourers, including many recruited from farms in Canton.
What was the 35th parallel?
The 35th parallel route became the Rock Island line from Memphis to Tucumcari, New Mexico, and westward from there the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway to Los Angeles. The southernmost route, the 32nd parallel, was to run from Shreveport, Louisiana,…. Southern Pacific Railroad. …were collectively known as the Central Pacific system.
Where are the feeder lines of the Central Pacific?
In subsequent years feeder lines of the Central Pacific were established throughout California (some of them under the umbrella of a company called the Southern Pacific Company of California), and already existing trackage along southern routes to Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana, was acquired.
Who represented the company in the East?
Huntington represented the company in the East, handling the financing and purchasing and acting as political lobbyist. Crocker was in charge of construction. Stanford, who was governor of California in 1862–63, saw to the company’s financial and political interests in the West.
When was the Southern Pacific Company founded?
In 1884 the Southern Pacific Company was incorporated, and the railroads making up the Central Pacific system were leased to it a year later. The Central Pacific thus became the nucleus from which the Southern Pacific system developed.….