Synopsis

The contest between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads to build a transcontinental line across the United States concluded on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah. Narrator Michael Murphy describes the construction as "the engineering marvel of the 19th century—and a flat-out swindle." Historian Wendell Huffman, contributing as a commentator, notes it was also "the technological manifestation of Manifest Destiny." The railroad's completion irrevocably altered the destiny of the P