It made it easier to travel.
There had to be stations for passengers and to fill water. It made it easier for Cattle Ranchers to deliver cattle. With all this going on you need a place to spend the night and a place to board your horses, place to eat etc. Before you know it you have a town. It helped to settle pioneers in the Great Plains.
The Transcontinental Railroad was the result of the U.S. commitment to Manifest Destiny and its burgeoning industrial might. Long distances and slow transportation hampered contact between eastern and western commercial centers. Both the United States government and entrepreneurs sought faster transportation to link the two sections. For a decade after 1850, Congress studied possible http://www.answers.com/topic/transcontinental routes, but arguments
Great Northern Pacific Railroad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.)
On the great plains, the homes of settlers were called homesteads. These types of people were farmers, cowboys, miners and railroad workers. Also ranchers and single workers settled here.
By the time there was anyone settling the Great Plains in the 1800's few were European immigrants. The settlement of the plains came as small homesteads and farms. The plains still exist as it did over a 100 years ago. Great expanses of grasslands still exist and the ruts of covered wagon wheels can still be seen. Most of the people were heading to California , Oregon, or Washington instead of staying in the plains area. Life in,the plains was hard with no trees, little water, and the weather could range from hot days to blizzards.
The Great Plains
Because the Indians lived in the great, big plains.
transcontinental
The Great Northern
The construction of the transcontinental railroad led to the destruction of the buffalo population, a vital resource for many Native American tribes on the Great Plains. It also resulted in the loss of their ancestral lands, forced relocations, and increased conflicts with settlers and the U.S. government, ultimately disrupting their traditional way of life and causing immense suffering.
Great Northern
Santa Fe - Great Northern.
I would say, from a few websites I found, that 11,000 Chinese people worked on the railroad. They worked the hardest and had great skills to work on hard to fix problems they used to fix for the Great Wall of China. -KKBURT
Ogden,Utah
Well first of all people on the Transcontinental Railroad traveled much faster than people on wagons. Second, since the Great Plains was very dry, and treeless the railroad could simply deliver water, and timber for homes, and other buildings
railroad companies. from studyisland.com
Great Northern Pacific Railroad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.)
The passing of the Homestead Act in 1862 greatly increased settlement on the Great Plains after the Civil War. This act provided free land to settlers who agreed to live on and cultivate the land for a certain period. Additionally, the completion of the transcontinental railroad made it easier for settlers to travel to and from the Great Plains, further stimulating development.
Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico