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 9 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. Where and when did the two lines meet?
  2. 2. Why could Eastern factories sell more goods in the West after 1869?
  3. 3. Who did most of the Central Pacific's work?
  4. 4. What does this text not tell you about the workers?
2.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
3.Why could mail-order catalogs sell goods across the country by the 1890s?
  • A.Goods were sent by airplane
  • B.Every farm had its own store
  • C.Trains could deliver packages to farm families far from stores
4.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
5.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
6.What often happened to a town the railroad passed by?
  • A.It shrank as trade moved to towns on the line
  • B.It grew faster than every other town
  • C.It became the state capital

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.11.3-5 · Set 9 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Transcontinental Railroad

Set 9. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. At Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, on May 10, 1869. 2. Trains carried goods coast to coast in about a week instead of months. 3. Thousands of Chinese immigrants. 4. It does not tell you how many workers died building the railroad.
  2. 2.By ship around South America, or by wagon
  3. 3.Trains could deliver packages to farm families far from stores
  4. 4.Trains carried hunters in and buffalo hides out to Eastern factories
  5. 5.Fresh meat and fruit could be sold far from where they were produced
  6. 6.It shrank as trade moved to towns on the line

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