How was the route for the transcontinental railroad chosen?

Question

How was the route for the transcontinental railroad chosen? Was it the shortest route, the cheapest route, the easiest route, or what?

Answer 1

Theodore "Crazy" Judah and his survey parties mapped the route of the Central Pacific eastward from Sacramento, over (and through) the Sierra Nevada mountains and on eastward until arriving at Promontory Point, Utah.

Grenville Dodge, working for the Union Pacific, did the same working westward from Omaha, Nebraska, across the plains of the mid-west, over (and through) the Rockie Mountains, before meeting the CP in Utah.

Since it was considered to be most vital to connect into San Francisco on the west coast, the route ultimately was selected because the railroad could be constructed there.  Elsewhere was either longer or even more formidable in construction consequences. And as everyone knows, a straight line is the shortest distance between two points.

Also at play was, the further you built the quickest got you the most benefit in the form of land grants afforded to the railroads as a result of the Pacific Railway Act, which granted them 1 square mile of land, alternating between left and right sides, for each mile of railroad constructed.

It was a full on race, as there was no designated "meeting point" along the route surveyed.  Each built until they met.

Answer 2

While all three of the criteria you mentioned were employed to some degree when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific set out to meet and adjoin their two lines (partly because the two had free land to build them) most of the decision to complete them was based purely on speed and completing the railroads as quickly as possible (so building cheap also factored in).  While the original line completed at Promontory, Utah has since been abandoned, interestingly, even as quickly as the lines were completed they are mostly still in use today as major rail arteries.

Answer 3

There were a lot of criteria, the mountains had to crossed over the easiest passes but it also had to go through the most profitable areas, which would have meant the richest agricultural areas and established cities.

In addition, the first land grant railroads were given adjoining property for each mile of track built so they did go extra distances in some cases.

The original railroad barons made a ton of money, not all of it honestly.

The benefit to the country was enormous and it enabled the U.S. to settle it's wilderness at a rate that was unprecedented in the history of the world.

The raliroads that had to buy their own right of way chose the shortest cheapest route.

Answer 4

It was a tough route because at the time it was begun the southern states had seceded from the union. It would have been easier had it gone through the south but as the south wasn't part of the country it was impossible.