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a bottle of chardonnay and a
wedge of camembert.
But for most people on the move,
getting from one place to
another hasn't always been a
first-class picnic-- especially
for the people who built the
roads and the rails and things
like the Transcontinental
Railroad, America's most
competitive construction
project.
( cannon fire )
( stirring march plays )
July 1, 1862.
While the Civil War was raging
on, America's "Manifest Destiny"
was beckoning.
Hoping to join the coasts,
President Abraham Lincoln signed
the historic Pacific Railroad
Act.
The newly formed Central Pacific
Railroad will lay track from
California toward the east, and
the Union Pacific Railroad will
pound spikes in Nebraska heading
west, setting off an all-out
race to the Utah Valley.
For the Central Pacific, the
road eastward will be difficult:
a daunting, serpentine route
through the Sierra Nevada
Mountains.
>> Walter Gray: They had to get
from sea level in Sacramento
over the 8,000-foot Donner Pass
in a distance of less than 100
miles, something that many civil
engineers considered to be
impossible.
>> Rowe: Half a continent away,
the Union Pacific faces its own
problems.
>> Gray: The Union Pacific had
to confront the problem of the
American Civil War, literally in
its backyard.
The United States Government had
the first call on any war
materiel, including locomotives
and rail, spikes, all the things
you need to build a railroad.
( cannon fire )
>> Rowe: But with the end of the
Civil War in April of 1865, the
Union Pacific takes off like a
bullet.
Despite the new-found confidence
of the Union crew, the Central
Pacific is making like gang-
busters.
Bolstered by a newly emigrated
Chinese work force 10,000
strong, Central Pacific crews
are spiking down an incredible
three miles of track a day.
Each railroad was striving for
the ultimate goal... Salt Lake
City.
>> Gray: The first railroad to
reach Salt Lake City could
control the rail transportation
from that point.
It was the only settlement of
any appreciable size between
western Nevada and the Missouri
River, so it was quite a
competitive prize.
>> Rowe: In the heat of
competition, the dueling
railroads veer off course,
passing each other by hundreds
of miles in the spring of 1869.
It would take a joint resolution
by Congress to get the railroads
to meet at an agreed upon site,
Promontory Summit in Utah.
On May 10, 1869, the Central
Pacific and the Union Pacific
Railroads are joined with a
ceremonial golden spike.
While this spike stayed in the
ground for only a few minutes,
the continent would be forever
linked, the driving prize of
America's most competitive
construction project.
They missed each other
by hundreds of miles.
Can you believe it?
Not the most precise bunch of
guys we've ever met but
fearless, nevertheless.
Now, if you were to actually add
precision to that kind of
fearlessness, the effect of