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The proposal for the transportation system was presented to Congress by Asa Whitney
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Congress passes and President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railroad Bill. The Bill charters Central Pacific to build the California line and the Union Pacific Railroad Company to build west from the Missouri River.
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The Central Pacific Railroad Company spikes its first rails to ties.
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Central Pacific contractor Charles Crocker decides to employ Chinese workers in an attempt to shore up the rapid turnover in his predominantly Irish labor force.
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The Civil War ends with the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant. Thousands of demobilized soldiers soon head west looking for work and finding it on the railroad.
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The first Union Pacific rails are laid in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Casement drives the Union Pacific to lay 60 miles of track in a month.
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The first passenger train to cross the Sierras on the Central Pacific route arrives in Reno.
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The first transcontinental railroad is officially completed, as the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines join some 1,700 miles of track connecting to the eastern networks. Representatives of both railroads take turns driving the final golden spike into the ground during a ceremony at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory.
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Total miles of railroad track in the United States reaches three times the 1860 total.
