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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.

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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. Who did most of the Central Pacific's work?
  3. 3. What does this text not tell you about the workers?
  4. 4. How were the Chinese workers treated unfairly?
2.Why did the buffalo herds disappear so quickly after the railroad came?
  • A.Buffalo were used to build the tracks
  • B.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
  • C.The buffalo all moved to Canada by train
3.Before the railroad, how did most goods travel from New York to California?
  • A.By ship around South America, or by wagon
  • B.By airplane
  • C.By interstate highway
4.Why could Great Plains farmers grow wheat to sell far away?
  • A.Trains could carry their wheat to distant markets
  • B.The government bought all their wheat
  • C.Wheat could not grow anywhere else
5.Why did the government give railroad companies land?
  • A.To make farms for their workers
  • B.To punish them for building too slowly
  • C.To encourage them to build lines across the West
6.Why did Chicago become a center for meatpacking?
  • A.Railroads brought cattle and hogs there from the West
  • B.The ocean carried cattle to Chicago
  • C.Cattle were raised in downtown Chicago

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.11.3-5 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Transcontinental Railroad

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The Central Pacific Railroad. 2. Thousands of Chinese immigrants. 3. It does not tell you how many workers died building the railroad. 4. They were paid less than white workers for dangerous work blasting tunnels.
  2. 2.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
  3. 3.By ship around South America, or by wagon
  4. 4.Trains could carry their wheat to distant markets
  5. 5.To encourage them to build lines across the West
  6. 6.Railroads brought cattle and hogs there from the West

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