edHelper.com The United States Grows (1865-1900)

Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory

---

Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 7 to 9
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.54

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		bloodshed-natives, crews-all, derail, natives-took, Oakes, railroad-building, roadbed, east-west, outcry, investors, accordingly, amidst, best, telegraph, rightly, well-organized
	content words:		Pacific Railroad Act, Union Pacific Railroad Company, UP Vice President Thomas Durant, Oakes Ames, Credit Mobilier, Union Pacific, Civil War, Plains Indians, Native Americans, Great Plains

---

Print Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory

Print Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format

	Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
	Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format

Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity

Print a proofreading activity

---

Feedback on Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory

Leave your feedback on Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Rails Across America - The Union Pacific Railroad in Indian Territory By Toni Lee Robinson

---

¹     In the 1860s, most Americans were clamoring for a railroad that would bridge the east-west gap. The question was how to get the Herculean job done. Some scoffed at the idea. It was impossible! What about the mountains? What about the Indians? What about the costs? Hardly anyone was willing to invest in what seemed a very risky venture.
 
²     Changes to the Pacific Railroad Act in 1864 gave more land and loans to the railroad companies. Investors perked up their ears. $16,000 for twenty miles of road built on the level and $48,000 in the mountains? Mineral rights as well as 128,000 acres per mile along the railway? Maybe there was money to be made here after all.
 
³     The Union Pacific Railroad Company took shape. UP Vice President Thomas Durant was the force behind the company. Durant went to Washington, D.C., to smooth the way for the railroad. Money and stock were given as gifts to government officials. Oakes Ames and other congressmen were among those who received gifts for their services.
 
⁴     Durant set up a secondary company, the Credit Mobilier of America. Through the CMA, Union Pacific executives could award railroad-building contracts to themselves. They could set as high a price as they wanted. The government would be billed accordingly. The actual construction could then be subcontracted at as cheap a price as possible. The inflated profits would go into the pockets of Durant and the elite group of stockholders.
 
⁵     The Union Pacific's groundbreaking took place in Omaha on December 2, 1863. From then on, it was a wild ride. Civil War veterans, North and South, worked side by side with thousands of Irish immigrants on the UP crews. In the veterans, the UP reaped much of what the war had sown. The men knew how to work together. They were tough, disciplined, and happy to be free of the misery of war.
 
⁶     The building of the railroad was as well-organized as any military campaign. On the front lines were the surveyors, laying out the route. Next came the graders who made the roadbed. Then came teams who set the ties in place. Last were the "iron men": crews who laid the rails, crews who checked the "gauge" or distance between rails, crews who set the spikes, and lastly, those who hammered the spikes in place.
 
⁷     Everyone worked at a trot, and each was part of a specialized team. Miles and miles of track came into being like magic. The whole thing was smooth and fast, a well-designed machine building its own shiny track as it advanced. Frequently, though, there were bumps in the road.
 
⁸     One of the biggest bumps was the existence of the Plains Indians. The Native Americans resisted the coming of the railroad. They saw the gleaming metal lines cutting through their territory as a permanent trespass. Wildlife, particularly the buffalo, needed the endless acres of Great Plains grass to survive. The great herds of buffalo and other game, and the freedom of the vast prairie were the basis of Native American life.

Paragraphs 9 to 16:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

The United States Grows
(1865-1900)

The United States Grows (1865-1900)

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

---

United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

---

United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

---

50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

---

Document Based Activities

Document Based Activities

---

More Activities, Lesson Plans, and Worksheets

Back to School Graphic Organizers Alphabet Worksheets Sight Words Math Worksheets Mazes 50 States Education Teaching Monthly Themes January February March April May June July August September October November December

Fractions Place Value Time and Calendar Money Earth Day Solar System Analogies Nouns Following Directions Listening Capitalization Cursive Writing Patterns and Sequencing Dinosaurs All About Me Kindergarten First Grade Second Grade Third Grade Fourth Grade Fifth Grade Sixth Grade

Multiplication Division Main Idea Cause and Effect Measurement Decimals Rounding Order of Operations Verbs Community Helpers Adjectives Plants Grammar Addition and Subtraction Contractions Bulletin Board Ideas Word Searches Crossword Puzzles Printable Puzzles Reading Comprehension Reading Skills English Language Arts

Copyright © 2013 edHelper