President Abraham Lincoln had a dream to build a railroad across the northern part of the United States to increase employment, move goods and people faster, and to create governments where none had been established yet. Building the Transcontinental Railroad would take years of planning and hard work, with plenty of ups and downs. Two railroad companies raced against each other to build more track than the other. Those two railroad companies were the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroad companies. The Union Pacific Railroad company built the railroad through what is now Wyoming.

In the accompanying lesson plans (found in the Support Materials), students will watch video clips and participate in class discussions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Students will apply what they learned about the Union Pacific railroad by creating a job flyer. The job flyer should convey information about the railroad job and include the benefits and dangers the job would bring.

• Students will engage in small group discussions answering pre-written questions based on the information from the videos.

View the entire documentary at End of Track