Army engineers gathered information for Congress on the peoples, flora, fauna, and geology of the regions they surveyed, often relying on the knowledge of American Indians. This lithograph of Nez Perce inhabitants of the
Art by John Mix Stanley, lithography by Sarony, Major & Knapp
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Lithograph, “Nez Perces (Meeting in Woods),” U.S. Pacific Railroad Explorations and Surveys, ca. 1855
A Railroad to the Pacific
Settlement of the western territories in the 1850s increased the need for efficient rail transport to the Pacific Coast, but members of Congress could not agree on what route it should follow. Northern members wanted a northern route; southern members sought one advantageous to their region's interests. To inform this debate, in 1853 Congress authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to survey four potential rail routes. Intense sectionalism blocked further legislation until southern states seceded. In 1862, a northern-controlled Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act.
Army engineers gathered information for Congress on the peoples, flora, fauna, and geology of the regions they surveyed, often relying on the knowledge of American Indians. This lithograph of Nez Perce inhabitants of the
Art by John Mix Stanley, lithography by Sarony, Major & Knapp
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
