History Resources

Inside the Vault: Building the Transcontinental Railroad

by Gilder Lehrman Institute Staff

The transcontinental railroad transformed America. As the largest engineering project of its time, the railroad was critical for connecting the country coast to coast, and required arduous manual labor. While initially barred from hire, Chinese workers became crucial to the effort, ultimately making up 90 percent of the Central Pacific Railroad’s workforce. We feature photographs of the completion ceremony in May 1869, where workers and engineers celebrated side by side.

On June 5, 2025, our curators discussed the construction of the transcontinental railroad with Stanford University professor Gordon H. Chang. 

Download the slides from the presentation here. 

FEATURED DOCUMENTS

USE THE TIMESTAMPS TO JUMP TO THE TOPIC YOU WANT TO VIEW

0:14–1:30: Today’s Document
1:31–7:11: Timeline
7:12–9:10: Around the World in Eighty Days
9:12–11:32: Andrew J. Russell
11:33–17:14: Map of the railroad
17:16–19:02: Across the Continent
19:04–20:09: Gold spike
20:12–20:49: Pacific Railway Act 
20:51–21:49: Leland Stanford 
21:52–24:08: Laying the last rail 
24:10–25:37: Chinese laying last rail
25:39–27:00: Guangdong, China, to the Sierra Nevada
27:02–30:59: Railroad builders
31:02–39:30: Alfred Hart photos
39:32–40:27: Chinese camps
40:29–41:08: Work and death
41:10–41:57: Payroll
42:00–42:25: Westward migration
42:28:–42:40: Buffalo hunting
42:42:–42:13: Chinese Railroad Workers Oral History Project
43:16–44:00: Archaeological record 
44:03–44:34: Dr. Chang’s books
45:56–58:03: Q&A

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