Web sites and great reading to take you deep into the transcontinental railroad experience and to make a historical journey of your own.

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Links >> Transcontinental Railroad History Sites | Your Own Journey
Reading >> Highly Recommended | Focus on Utah|
______------Difficult to Find, Worth the Hunt | General Reference

Links

Dozens of Web sites exist to take you deep into the transcontinental railroad experience. Over the course of researching the KUED documentary PROMONTORY, the program producers visited many of the existing Web sites. Here are a few starting points for online research that the producers found most interesting for those eager to learn more about the transcontinental railroad.

Transcontinental Railroad History Sites

THE CENTRAL PACIFIC ON LINE RAILROAD MUSEUM

This site has something for everyone, from children looking for information for a school report to academics interested in exacting detail. Filled with photographs, recommended readings and an electronic archive of stories from the era, the CPRR site offers a wonderful means of understanding the construction of the railroad from California to Utah.

www.cprr.org

THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD'S ON LINE HISTORY SITE

Created and maintained by the Union Pacific, this site tells the story of building the transcontinental line overland from Omaha to the Great Salt Lake. More than 1,000 photographs, and excellent links to other railroad web sites.

www.uprr.com/aboutup/history

THE GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

A web site developed by the National Park Service which administers and maintains the "Golden Spike" site as part of the national park system. The access page for this site is extremely limited. However, a simple click on the "In Depth" icon will transport you to pages filled with history and things to do during a visit to the historic site west of Brigham City, Utah.

www.nps.gov/gosp

THE HISTORIC OGDEN UNION STATION SITE

A Web site produced by the Historic Ogden Union Station, which features online galleries of the various musuems hosted by the Union Station Foundation. The museum and Web site celebrate the diversity of peoples that have worked hard to construct, maintain and preserve railroads in Utah.

www.theunionstation.org

Your Own Journey

Feeling adventurous? Launch your own archival search using two excellent search tools provided by the United States government.

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

The statutory repository for government records, the National Archives allows you to do fast searches of the nation's holdings in maps, documents, photographs and motion pictures using their "NAIL" search system. Many of the holdings have been digitized, so you can pull up full versions of photographs or documents as you journey through the nation's history.

www.nara.gov

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

If the National Archives is our official records center, the Library of Congress is like the nation's library. Its on-line access allows you to view photographs, retrieve documents and view maps from the pages of history. A great way to introduce yourself to the LoC's historical holdings is to click on the "American Memory" icon you will find on the LoC's home page. This will link you to a very good search engine that will allow you to access digital images of thousands of historic photographs.

www.lcweb.loc.gov