Railway Expansion!

         The industry of the railroads wasn't anything new for the people of the United States during the second industrial revolution. People were already familiar with this way of transportation. This industry was previously successful in its works, but around the 1860's it boomed. 

        Railroads were previously already crossing through the Northwest and Southeast parts of the United States, even around the Great Lakes area. The part where the railroad industry struck gold, was when the United States congress commissioned and aided for a transcontinental railway to be made.  "The Union Pacific laid tracks westward from Omaha, Nebraska. It hired thousands of Irish, German, English, African American, and Native American workers to build its part of the line." 

      Working near Nebraska wasn't much of a hassle because the terrain there was mainly rolling hills and prairies. "Workers for the Central Pacific laid track toward the east, starting in Sacramento, California. These workers—primarily Chinese—labored on tougher terrain. They had to cross deserts and blast through the granite mountains on the California-Nevada border. " Laying down tracks for the Central workers was a bit more difficult mainly for the sense that Native Indians were killing off many of the workers.