they wanted it done as quick as possible,the gold rush was on,civil war was cooking or at least imminent. Western union telegraph was invested. The west was booming. The fed wanted to expand its reach and control ocean to ocean. cross country without the RR was 1 year,by ship around the cape was 6 months and really risky. No panama canal yet Texas and westerly were threatening to form another country. The spanish and French wanted to colonise a piece of the new world. the RR also put Alaska 1/2 a world closer to Washington Probably more but that is what I remember from MS Hudson's history class 1957 [old biddy ] but she made us learn
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