Developing the Transcontinental Railroad
Year: 1869
Location: Promontory, Utah
The Transcontinental train (the first) was built between 1863 and 1869, and this photograph was one of many shot along the 1,911-mile-long train line. The railroad connected San Francisco Bay and Bluffs, Iowa. The project cost roughly $60 million, which is equivalent to $1.2 billion now. In terms of human costs, thousands of laborers died as a result of weariness, an unintentional explosion, falling rocks, and other reasons while working to build this massive infrastructure.
Developing the Transcontinental Railroad
Annie Oakley Shooting Backwards
Year: Late 1800s
Location: Western U.S.
Annie Oakley is one of the most famous markswomen of all time, and this image depicts one of her numerous feats. She’s using a little pocket mirror to aim at a target behind her (which she’ll undoubtedly hit). Oakley honed her sharpshooting talents as a young child, hunting to feed her family in Western Ohio. At the age of fifteen, she won a shooting contest against legendary marksman Frank Butler, and her legend began until she became the champion star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West exposition.
Annie Oakley Shooting Backwards
