bonnet: women’s hat
butte: a hill with steep sides and a flat top
caboose: the last car on a train with eating and sleeping rooms
coupling pin: a pin or bolt that connects one train car to another
cowcatchers (also known as the pilot): a metal device or set of rails attached to the front of the train to clear the tracks
depot: a railroad station or stop
dignitaries: people of importance
“Excursionists”: people who came west solely as tourists
gorge: deep rocky valley
handcar: small railroad car that consists of an arm like a seesaw which operators push down and pull up to move the car
“heathens”: a negative term for someone who is not a believer in God. Used as a way to describe Chinese immigrants.
maul: a hammer used to drive the spike onto a tie
Oregon Trail: a route used by settlers going from western Missouri to Oregon before the railroad was built
“Paddy”: negative term for Irish workers, probably short for Patrick, a common Irish name
pick and shovel: two tools used to break up the ground, a pick is sharp on both edges, a shovel allows you to pick up dirt
“Prairie Schooner”: a covered wagon used by settlers going west
ruffians: people who behave in a rough or violent way
sod hut: home made from dried squares of prairie grass
spike: large nail used to construct railroad tracks
stovepipe hat: tall tube-shaped man’s hat
survey: to make a map of an area
tie: large pieces of wood that support the rails
transcontinental railroad: a railroad that crosses and connects a continent
trestle: a system of support built to allow a train to go over a river or gap
Additional Vocabulary
Write down any additional words that you do not know the meaning of, and then look up their definitions and add them here.
This worksheet aligns to Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:
RHSS.6-8.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
MAJOR THEMES
Workers and Working conditions
• August 11, 13, 16 (pages 16-17, 19-20)
• September 18, 20 (pages 33-36)
• November 9, 29 (pages 48-49, 54-56)
• April 1, 5 (page 67-68)
• May 3 (page 71)
• November 14 (page 100)
• December 26 (pages 116-117)
• April 9 (pages 138)
Tension between immigrant groups
• October 26-28 (pages 45-46)
• September 1 (page 88)
• October 27 (pages 98-99)
• March 9, March 11-24 (pages 132, 134-36)
• April 28 (page 141-42)
• May 10 (pages 146-149)
Boomtowns
• August 8 (pages 9-10)
• September 21 (page 37)
• November 18, 15 (pages 50-51)
• March 7 (pages 129-30)
• May 20, 21 (pages 154, 156)
Corporate and government corruption
• August 29 (page 30)
• December 5 (page 56)
• November 3, 19, 23 (pages 100, 103-05, 107)
• January 8 (page 122)
• February 29 (pages 126-27)
• March 10 (page 133)
• April 10 (pages 138-39)
• May 6, 8, 19 (pages 145, 146, 153-54)
• Epilogue (pages 166-70)
MINOR THEMES
Conflict with Great Plains Indian tribes
• August 6, 7, 17 (pages 3-7, 20-21)
• April 24 (page 71)
• July 27 (page 82)
• May 21 (pages 156-57)
• Drawings (pages 171, 176)
The Natural Environment
• August 18, 28 (pages 22-23, 29-30)
• January 14 (page 59)
• Feb 13 (page 62)
• March 25 (page 66)
• May 21, 20 (pages 155, 157)
Living conditions of railroad builders
• August 8 (page 9)
• September 21 (page 37)
• November 18 (page 50)
• May 20 (page 154-55)
Transportation and technology
• August 7 (page 6)
• October 15 (pages 92-94)
• December 4 (page 109)
• June 8 (page 120)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
“Life in America in 1867” (Historical Notes, Images and Maps)
• Map of transcontinental railroad route (page181)
• Drawings of Indians, showing conflict with railroad (pages 171, 176)
• Photographs of historical figures and railroad workers, prints of railroad construction, boom towns, and living conditions the book (pp. 171-79)
These worksheets align to the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:
RHSS.6-8.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.  Â
WHSS.6-8.2. Write informative/explanatory texts.
RHSS.6-8.1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
RHSS.6-8.6. Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose.
WHSS.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Students will understand the experiences of Union Pacific railroad workers who built the transcontinental railroad in the Great Plains (Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah).
Students will understand the immediate effects of railroad construction on workers, Indians, settlers, and railroad owners.
Students will understand how and why the transcontinental railroad was a turning point in U.S. history by examining its effects.
This activity supports the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:
RHSS.6-8.1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. Â
RHSS.6-8.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.Â
RHSS.6-8.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
RHSS.6-8.6. Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose.
Step 1: Explain that the narrator and main character of this book is a fictional teenager named Sean Sullivan. Read aloud the entry “August 7, End of Track†(The Journal of Sean Sullivan, pp. 5-6) until the paragraph on page 6 ending in “in case of an Indian attack.â€Â
Ask students to summarize Sean’s general mood and feelings (excitement, nervousness, uncertainty). Have students reread the entry on their own and write down all the words and phrases related to nature and transportation and circle terms that they do not know.Â
Responses might include:Â
• Transportation: track, train, railroad towns, covered wagons, Oregon Trail, “prairie schooners,†sailing, mile, car, “excursionists,†“cowcatchers, pilots, station
• Nature: prairie, grass, wildflower, breeze, buffalo herd, animals
Hand out Vocabulary for the Journal of Sean Sullivan worksheet. Students should look review the definition of any of the unfamiliar vocabulary terms they circled earlier.Â
• (Optional) If you would like to focus on metaphors, ask students, whether or not a “Cowcatcher†is a person or a thing. Then, ask them to search for an image of a “Cowcatcher†online. Alternatively, show them a picture of a “Cowcatcher†(the front grill of a train).Â
Wrap up by discussing: “Based on this journal entry, what is the setting of the story?†Responses might include:Â
• End of the Track, Nebraska, Kearney, Great Plains
• the prairie, buffalo herds • end of the Oregon Trail and beginning of the railroad • men shooting buffalo, “Excursionists†[Common Core Reading Standards for Grade 5: Standard 4, 6]Â
Step 2: Explain that the novel contains a number of themes, or big ideas, about the building of the railroad that they will explore in “Theme Teams.†Divide the class into small groups of 2-4, and assign each group a theme (you will probably need to assign the same theme to more than one team).Â
Themes: (1) work and working conditions of railroad builders (2) tension among and between immigrant groups (3) corruption of railroad companies (4) conflict with Great Plains Indians (5) boomtownsÂ
Step 3: Handout the five Themes in The Journal of Sean Sullivan worksheets to the appropriate groups.Â
Teams should:Â
• Read the pages listed on their worksheet and then complete the reading questions and tasks in Part 1 as a team. [Common Core Reading Standards for Grade 5: Standard 1, 2, 4].
• Teams should add any unfamiliar vocabulary words and their definitions to the vocabulary list which you handed out in Step 1.Â
• Each theme worksheet includes a writing task in Part 2 that highlights a different historical perspective on the railroad. Students should complete this task on their own. [Common Core Reading Standards for Grade 5: Standard 6]Â
Step 4: After “Theme Teams†complete their worksheet and individual writing tasks, ask for volunteers to read their writing tasks to the class. You should try to cover at least three different themes/historical perspectives.Â
Discuss:Â
• What are some of the hardships that people faced during the building of the transcontinental railroad?Â
• How did various groups respond to these difficulties?Â
Step 5: For homework, assign the “Historical Note†chapter at the end of the book (pp. 163-70) and handout the “Technological Turning Points and their Impact†worksheet. Students should complete the worksheet using the information provided in the assigned reading.
Included as laborers, Mexicans found themselves excluded socially, kept at a distance from Anglo society. Like Caliban, they were isolated by the borders of racial segregation. Their world was one of Anglo over Mexican. Even on the large cattle ranches of Texas where Mexicans and Anglos lived together and formed loyalties and sometimes even friendships, integration did not mean equality. J. Frank Dobie, for example, described one of the workers on his family's ranch. This "old, faithful Mexican" had been employed on the ranch for over twenty years and he was "almost the best friend" Dobie had. "Many a time 'out in the pasture' I have put my lips to the same water jug that he had drunk from," he remembered fondly. But Dobie added: "At the same time neither he nor I would think of his eating at the dining table with me."
Racial etiquette defined proper demeanor and behavior for Mexicans. In the presence of Anglos, they were expected to assume "a deferential body posture and respectful voice tone." They knew that public buildings were considered "Anglo territory," and that they were permitted to shop in the Anglo business section of town only on Saturdays. They could patronize Anglo cafés, but only the counter and carry-out service. "A group of us Mexican s who were well dressed once went to a restaurant in Amarillo," complained Wenceslao Iglesias in the 1920s, "and they told us that if we wanted to eat we should go to the special department where it said 'For Colored People.' I told my friend that I would rather die from starvation than to humiliate myself before the Americans by eating with the Negroes." At sunset, Mexicans had to retreat to their barrios.
In the morning, Mexican parents sent their children to segregated schools. "There would be a revolution in the community if the Mexicans wanted to come to the white schools," an educator said. "Sentiment is bitterly against it. It is based on racial inferiority. . . ." The wife of an Anglo ranch manager in Texas put it this way: "Let him [the Mexican] have as good an education but still let him know he is not as good as a white man. God did not intend him to be; He would have made them white if He had." For many Anglos, Mexicans also represented a threat to their daughters. "Why don't we let the Mexicans come to the white school?" an Anglo sharecropper angrily declared. "Because a damned greaser is not fit to sit side of a white girl."
In the segregated schools, Mexican children were trained to become obedient workers. Like the sugar planters in Hawaii who wanted to keep the American-born generation of Japanese on the plantations, Anglo farmers in Texas wanted the schools to help reproduce the labor force. "If every [Mexican] child has a high school education," sugar beet growers asked, "who will labor?" A farmer in Texas explained: "If I wanted a man I would want one of the more ignorant ones. . . . Educated Mexicans are the hardest to handle. . . . It is all right to educate them no higher than we educate them here in these little towns. I will be frank. They would make more desirable citizens if they would stop about the seventh grade."
Serving the interest of the growers, Anglo educators prepared Mexican children to take the place of their parents. "It isn't a matter of what is the best way to handle the education here to make citizens of them," a school trustee in Texas stated frankly. "It is politics." School policy was influenced by the needs of the local growers, he elaborated. "We don't need skilled or white-collared Mexicans. . . . The farmers are not interested in educating Mexicans. They know that then they can get better wages and conditions."
Railroads transformed the West and forever changed the lives of Native Americans.Â
The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. Over the next twenty years, railroads carried farmers and ranchers who settled on the Great Plains, soldiers who fought Indians wars, and hunters who killed buffalo for sport and profit. The farmers, ranchers, soldiers, and buffalo hunters, together with businessmen who came to develop the West's mineral and lumber resources, spelled destruction for the Great Plains Indians and their way of life.Â
Union generals who had won fame in the Civil War, like William Tecumseh Sherman and Phil Sheridan, went west to mobilize U.S. troops against Native Americans. While it encountered fierce resistance and sometimes heavy losses, the U.S. army ultimately succeeded in removing Indians from their traditional lands and onto reservations.Â
The policy of Indian removal succeeded in part because of superior U.S. firepower. But just as crucial was the annihilation of buffalo herds. Central to the religion, culture, and sustenance of Indian hunters, the buffalo served many purposes. It yielded meat for food while its hides provided robes for clothing and tepees for shelter. But by the 1880s, the buffalo was near extinction. Powerful, steam-belching railroad locomotives, or iron horses as the Indians called them, now rode the Plains where buffalo once roamed.Â
Railroad companies organized buffalo hunts for eastern sportsmen. In just two years, from 1872 to 1874, hunters using high-powered rifles with telescopic scopes, some never leaving the comfort of their railroad cars, slaughtered 3,550,000 buffalo.Â
Urging the hunters, General Phil Sheridan exhorted: "Let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo is exterminated, as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance."Â
By destroying the Indian's subsistence in food, clothing, and shelter, Sheridan explained in 1874, the buffalo hunters "have done more in the last two years, and will do more in the next year, to settle the vexed Indian question [removing tribes to reservations] than the entire regular army has done in the last thirty years."Â
As the trans-Mississippi West opened for white settlement, the federal government denied Indians on the Plains traditional rights and access to much of the land where herds of buffalo roamed. Tribes were pushed further westward onto smaller and smaller reservations. The plan was to discourage an economy based on hunting and to encourage agricultural settlement.Â
The flip side of the policy of Indian removal was the distribution of cheap land by federal, state, and local governments. Some lands went to pioneering family farmers. Much more land came under the control of big corporations. The biggest land give-away was to railroads. After the Civil War, Congress, state legislatures and town councils distributed 180 million free acres to railroad companies to encourage construction. The free acreage was equivalent in size to the entire land mass of Texas and Oklahoma.Â
With free land from the government, the transcontinental railroads created a transportation network from the Atlantic to the Pacific. By doing so, they joined the west to a worldwide marketplace and transformed nature, work, culture and economic relations on the Great Plains.Â
The settlers brought by the railroads came with a culture and economy very different than that of Native American hunters on the Plains. These new farmers and entrepreneurs believed in property rights, which put them in conflict with the Indians. Title, or proof of ownership, is important to anyone who farms, develops, buys, or sells land. But property ownership is meaningless to hunting and gathering economies. What good is a title if the buffalo you hunt never crosses your property. A hunter must go where the buffalo goes, which means that out of necessity hunting tribes have little respect for boundaries, fences, titles or property. Â
By 1890 the iron horse had replaced the buffalo and U.S. soldiers, settlers, adventurers, prospectors, miners, lumbermen, ranchers, farmers, merchants, investors, and government officials populated the West where Indians in the millions once lived.
In the late 19th century, the United States was a rising world economic power and sought to expand its influence, both economic and diplomatic, in Latin America. The U.S. government encouraged business investments there, hoping they would stabilize the region and promote U.S. influence. Consequently, by the end of the 19th century Mexican President Porfirio DÃaz, with substantial financial support from U.S. investors, pursued a plan to modernize the nation’s railroad network. He wanted to improve the country’s trade prospects and consolidate his regime’s control over the country. However, the construction of railroads caused many people to be displaced from their land, and Mexico simultaneously experienced consecutive years of drought and high unemployment. When a revolution against the DÃaz government broke out in 1910, the railroad network it had built (with U.S. investment) made it possible for many members of the Mexican peasantry to flee the upheaval and immigrate to the United States.
During this same period, the states and territories of the southwestern U.S. (namely Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico) were in desperate need of cheap labor. New irrigation projects transformed vast tracts of previously arid land into fertile ones, making possible the rise of large-scale agribusiness. Silver and copper mines expanded all across Arizona, California, and New Mexico. Labor was needed to cultivate crops and to extract the region’s resources, and Mexicans, both geographically close and eager for work, were recruited for the tasks. Men generally performed work in the mines, but in agriculture Mexican women (and oftentimes children) worked alongside men in the fields. Agricultural workers tended to migrate from job to job, following the planting and harvesting of different crops, rather than staying in one place. This made it difficult for Mexican field laborers to band together to demand better wages and working conditions. Mexican immigrants did establish their own mutual aid societies (mutualistas), but the need for many Mexican immigrants to migrate in search of work sometimes made it difficult to sustain these organizations.
U.S. immigration policy during this time period was increasingly shaped by nativist impulses. The passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 restricted almost all immigration from China, the Immigration Act of 1891 denied entrance to immigrants deemed “likely to become a public charge,†and the Immigration Act of 1917 established a literacy test for all new immigrants. But enforcement of these conservative national immigration laws was rare in the American Southwest. Big employers there rightfully saw these new laws as direct threats to their economic interests and successfully lobbied to exempt Mexicans from them. They portrayed Mexicans as a harmless population of peasants, crucial to the economic well-being of the region. Conversely, in Hollywood and in popular culture, Mexicans were depicted as hot-blooded bandits, revolutionaries, and romantic Latin lovers. These different and often contradictory stereotypes reflect the complexity of this period of Mexican immigration.
By 1915 the increasingly large Mexican population in the southwestern U.S.—realizing both their importance to the region’s economic success and the unequal working conditions they faced compared to their white peers—began to organize themselves and strike for better working and safety conditions. In mining, many strikes concerned a pay scale tied to the price of copper (or other ore), no blasting while workers were inside the mines, and additional manpower for operating heavy machinery. National labor organizations such as the Western Federation of Miners incorporated some Mexican members, though not without controversy. Other Mexican immigrants laid the track for new railroad lines linking the Southwest to the Midwest, and once there found work on beet farms, in steel mills, and in meatpacking plants.