Transcontinental Railroad Song

While working on a unit of instruction on the Transcontinental Railroad for my M.A in Teaching, I wrote this song which is sung to the tune of "Deep In The Heart Of Texas." I shared it with a local music teacher and she suggested I share it with you. It is a song that should help kids remember some of the basic facts surrounding the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

"Transcontinental Railway"

(sung to the tune of "Deep In The Heart Of Texas")

By: Clay Erps

In eighteen hundred sixty two

Thanks to ole crazy Judah

The Congress passed a bill to build (the)

Transcontinental Railway

The Big Four of the Central tracks

Started in Sacramento

And headed east with Chinese packs

Their task was monumental

In Omaha, the Union trains.

They started roaring westward

Across the vast Nebraska plains

And Rocky Mountain grandeur

In Sixty Nine, the race they'd seen

Would end in all its glory

As Jupiter and One-nineteen

Were joined at Promontory.

Now east and west, from sea to sea,

Were joined across the country,

By golden spikes they drove into (the)

Transcontinental Railway.