On 10 May 1869 the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met at Promontory Summit, completing a continuous rail line across the United States. The line cut transcontinental travel from months to about a week and was built largely by Chinese and Irish immigrant labour under harsh conditions. Railheads and junctions spawned new towns across the interior, while existing settlements competed for connection. It accelerated the displacement of Native peoples from the plains.
It made the railway the decisive force in nineteenth-century settlement, founding gridiron railroad towns and tying the layout of new cities to the line and the depot.
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