Golden Spike - the Union Pacific Grade and the Central Pacific Grade

View of the Union Pacific Grade (left) and the Central Pacific Grade (right). The United States Congress established the route of the Transcontinental Railroad during the Civil War. "The Central Pacific Railroad started construction in Sacramento, Californiain January 1863. Crews of the Union Pacific, 8,000 to 10,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, had pushed west from Omaha, Nebraska, while laborers including over 10,000 Chinese built the line east from Sacramento, California (Kraus 1969)." (NPS, 2006). The labor force also included ex-slaves, and both Union and Confederate veterans of the Civil War (Bain, 1999).