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

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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. How were the Chinese workers treated unfairly?
  2. 2. Why could Eastern factories sell more goods in the West after 1869?
  3. 3. Why was the railroad a disaster for Plains nations?
  4. 4. How did the railroad change where ranchers sold their cattle?
2.What often happened to a town the railroad passed by?
  • A.It grew faster than every other town
  • B.It became the state capital
  • C.It shrank as trade moved to towns on the line
3.Why did the government give railroad companies land?
  • A.To punish them for building too slowly
  • B.To make farms for their workers
  • C.To encourage them to build lines across the West
4.Why could mail-order catalogs sell goods across the country by the 1890s?
  • A.Goods were sent by airplane
  • B.Trains could deliver packages to farm families far from stores
  • C.Every farm had its own store
5.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
6.How did the railroad help fruit growers in California?
  • A.They could grow oranges in the snow
  • B.They could ship oranges to markets in the East
  • C.They stopped needing water

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.11.3-5 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Transcontinental Railroad

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. They were paid less than white workers for dangerous work blasting tunnels. 2. Trains carried goods coast to coast in about a week instead of months. 3. It brought hunters who killed millions of buffalo on their hunting lands. 4. They could ship cattle by train to Chicago.
  2. 2.It shrank as trade moved to towns on the line
  3. 3.To encourage them to build lines across the West
  4. 4.Trains could deliver packages to farm families far from stores
  5. 5.Railroads brought cattle and hogs there from the West
  6. 6.They could ship oranges to markets in the East

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