Skip to content
LessonPrint

The Transcontinental Railroad is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how the transcontinental railroad changed where goods were made and sold, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.11.3-5. It prints 6 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 21 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

The Transcontinental Railroad

D2.Geo.11.3-5

NameDate

Read the text and answer the questions, then circle the best answers.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

The Transcontinental Railroad

An information text written for this worksheet. In 1862, during the Civil War, Congress passed a law to build a railroad across the country. The Central Pacific Railroad built east from Sacramento, California. The Union Pacific built west from Omaha, Nebraska. Thousands of Chinese immigrants did most of the Central Pacific's work. They blasted tunnels through the Sierra Nevada and were paid less than white workers. Many Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans laid track for the Union Pacific. The two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, on May 10, 1869. A trip from coast to coast had taken months by wagon or ship. By train it took about a week. Ranchers could ship cattle to Chicago, and factories in the East could sell goods in the West. The railroad crossed the hunting lands of Plains nations such as the Lakota and Cheyenne, and brought hunters who killed millions of buffalo.

  1. 1. Which company built east from Sacramento?
  2. 2. How were the Chinese workers treated unfairly?
  3. 3. Who did most of the Central Pacific's work?
  4. 4. How did the railroad change where ranchers sold their cattle?
2.Why did new towns grow up along the railroad line?
  • A.Trains brought customers and carried away crops
  • B.Towns could only be built near tracks by law
  • C.The railroad paid people to live there
3.Before the railroad, how did most goods travel from New York to California?
  • A.By airplane
  • B.By ship around South America, or by wagon
  • C.By interstate highway
4.Why did Chicago become a center for meatpacking?
  • A.The ocean carried cattle to Chicago
  • B.Railroads brought cattle and hogs there from the West
  • C.Cattle were raised in downtown Chicago
5.Why did the buffalo herds disappear so quickly after the railroad came?
  • A.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
  • B.Buffalo were used to build the tracks
  • C.The buffalo all moved to Canada by train
6.How did refrigerated rail cars change what people ate?
  • A.People stopped eating meat
  • B.Fruit could only be eaten where it grew
  • C.Fresh meat and fruit could be sold far from where they were produced

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.11.3-5 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Transcontinental Railroad

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The Central Pacific Railroad. 2. They were paid less than white workers for dangerous work blasting tunnels. 3. Thousands of Chinese immigrants. 4. They could ship cattle by train to Chicago.
  2. 2.Trains brought customers and carried away crops
  3. 3.By ship around South America, or by wagon
  4. 4.Railroads brought cattle and hogs there from the West
  5. 5.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
  6. 6.Fresh meat and fruit could be sold far from where they were produced

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.11.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.