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 8 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. Why could Eastern factories sell more goods in the West after 1869?
  2. 2. Why was the railroad a disaster for Plains nations?
  3. 3. How did the railroad change where ranchers sold their cattle?
  4. 4. How were the Chinese workers treated unfairly?
2.Why did the buffalo herds disappear so quickly after the railroad came?
  • A.The buffalo all moved to Canada by train
  • B.Buffalo were used to build the tracks
  • C.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
3.Why did the government give railroad companies land?
  • A.To punish them for building too slowly
  • B.To encourage them to build lines across the West
  • C.To make farms for their workers
4.What often happened to a town the railroad passed by?
  • A.It shrank as trade moved to towns on the line
  • B.It became the state capital
  • C.It grew faster than every other town
5.Why could Great Plains farmers grow wheat to sell far away?
  • A.Trains could carry their wheat to distant markets
  • B.Wheat could not grow anywhere else
  • C.The government bought all their wheat
6.Why did new towns grow up along the railroad line?
  • A.Towns could only be built near tracks by law
  • B.Trains brought customers and carried away crops
  • C.The railroad paid people to live there

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.11.3-5 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Transcontinental Railroad

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Trains carried goods coast to coast in about a week instead of months. 2. It brought hunters who killed millions of buffalo on their hunting lands. 3. They could ship cattle by train to Chicago. 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.To encourage them to build lines across the West
  4. 4.It shrank as trade moved to towns on the line
  5. 5.Trains could carry their wheat to distant markets
  6. 6.Trains brought customers and carried away crops

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