The worst outcomes as a result of the transcontinental railroad were unquestionably what happened to Native American populations. Before the railroad was built, relatively few White settlers were able to travel west and colonize land where Native Americans lived, so the harms caused by that colonization were relatively small. But once it was built, White settlers came flooding in and taking over land that Native American peoples had held for generations. Often they were invaded by force, or even slaughtered intentionally. They lost hunting grounds, waterways, and forests; in a few decades many Native Americans were forced onto reservations far from their ancestral homes.
The railroad also had downsides for some of the early White settlers, who had sought out the west to live off the land away from other people, but suddenly found towns and cities sprouting up around them and huge locomotives pumping soot into their air. With higher populations came higher rates of crime and disease. Many of the companies building the railroad were corrupt all the way to the top, and the largest financial scandal of the 19th century was linked to Union Pacific, a key company responsible for building the railroad.
Finally, the railroad project was of course very expensive; it required a lot of tax money to support, as well as huge amounts of lumber and iron that could otherwise have been preserved as natural resources or used for other things. Even worse, most of the laborers were brought in from China, paid extremely low wages, and forced to work under grueling conditions. Hundreds died from overwork, accidents, or hazardous weather.
There were many who gained from the transcontinental railroad, and overall it was good for most people of the United States; but it certainly came with downsides, and many people lost their lives as a result of its construction.
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