In 1862, when Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were established to fulfill the long-awaited American dream to link the coasts of the United States. The Union Pacific started from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific was based in Sacramento, California. The Central Pacific began construction in 1863, more than a year and a half before the Union Pacific, but the two railroad lines had markedly different terrain to cover. The Central Pacific was tasked with traversing the Sierra Nevada, a much more difficult route than the level ground of the Great Plains, over which the Union Pacific was laying track. As a result, when the two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific had laid more than two-thirds of the 1,776 miles of track between Omaha and Sacramento. The Transcontinental Railroad represents one of the nineteenth century's greatest feats of engineering. The tale of its construction is one of great heroism, brutal dispossession, rampant corruption, and sheer will. Book jacket.