HR0305 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0305 LRB101 12111 MST 59671 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, With the advent of the railroad in the 1820s, many Americans held a vision of binding the nation together through the construction of a railroad across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois recognizes the importance of honoring efforts that provide common benefit and promote opportunity for all its people; and

WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862 to provide federal support for the building of the first transcontinental railroad; and

WHEREAS, The Central Pacific Railroad Company started building in Sacramento, California and continued east across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, while a second company, the Union Pacific Railroad, built westward from the Missouri River near the Iowa-Nebraska border; and

WHEREAS, Building the first major national transportation infrastructure necessitated the employment of thousands of workers, many of them Chinese and Irish immigrants, Mormons, Native Americans, Free Blacks, and others who worked together to construct the railroad; and

WHEREAS, The Transcontinental Railroad required the building of over 50 bridges and trestles and 15 tunnels through the most challenging terrain; and

WHEREAS, United States industrialists recruited thousands of Chinese workers to assist in the construction of the railroad; these laborers, who made up to 80 percent of the western workforce, were paid substandard wages and faced grueling hours and extremely harsh conditions in order to lay hundreds of miles of track; and

WHEREAS, The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869 by the joining of the two tracks with a symbolic "golden spike" at Promontory, Utah; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Labor awarded the Chinese railroad workers a place on the department's Hall of Honor in 2014 on the 145th Anniversary of the railroad's completion; and

WHEREAS, Before the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, a journey across the United States took six months; after the railroad's completion, it took one week; the cost of such a trip was reduced from $1,000 to $150; and

WHEREAS, The impact of the Transcontinental Railroad in the 19th century has been likened to the impact of the internet in the 21st century, transforming communications, commerce, and industry and facilitating the movement of peoples across the country, greatly increasing the global presence of the United States; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that schools and leaders across the State of Illinois are encouraged to observe May 10, 2019 as the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and celebrate the tireless efforts of all of those who overcame brutal obstacles, both natural and technological, to achieve the dream of uniting the country from coast to coast; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we declare May 10, 2019 as "Transcontinental Railroad Day" in the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Illinois Department of Education and each Illinois state university.