"Union Pacific Announces the Opening of the Transcontinental Railroad"

An 1869 poster announces the grand opening of the first Transcontinental Railroad. In an elaborate ceremony in Promontory Summit, Utah, the Union Pacific met with the Southern Pacific, linking the eastern United States with California for the first time. While the poster emphasizes the line's luxurious accommodations, the Transcontinental Railroad revolutionized the American West, paving the way for exponential growth in its population and economy, rendering covered wagons and the Pony Express obsolete, and contributing to the demise of Native American populations in the Great Plains.

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