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

The Transcontinental Railroad

D2.Geo.11.3-5

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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. Why was the railroad a disaster for Plains nations?
  2. 2. Why could Eastern factories sell more goods in the West after 1869?
  3. 3. How did the railroad change where ranchers sold their cattle?
  4. 4. Who did most of the Central Pacific's work?
2.Why did the buffalo herds disappear so quickly after the railroad came?
  • A.Buffalo were used to build the tracks
  • B.The buffalo all moved to Canada by train
  • C.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
3.What did the railroads set up across the country in 1883?
  • A.The first highways
  • B.The first telephone lines
  • C.Standard time zones
4.Why did the government give railroad companies land?
  • A.To make farms for their workers
  • B.To encourage them to build lines across the West
  • C.To punish them for building too slowly
5.How did the railroad help fruit growers in California?
  • A.They could ship oranges to markets in the East
  • B.They could grow oranges in the snow
  • C.They stopped needing water
6.How did refrigerated rail cars change what people ate?
  • A.Fruit could only be eaten where it grew
  • B.Fresh meat and fruit could be sold far from where they were produced
  • C.People stopped eating meat

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

Answer key — The Transcontinental Railroad

Set 5. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It brought hunters who killed millions of buffalo on their hunting lands. 2. Trains carried goods coast to coast in about a week instead of months. 3. They could ship cattle by train to Chicago. 4. Thousands of Chinese immigrants.
  2. 2.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
  3. 3.Standard time zones
  4. 4.To encourage them to build lines across the West
  5. 5.They could ship oranges to markets in the East
  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.