<P> Most of the engineers and surveyors who were hired by the Union Pacific had been employed during the U.S. Civil War to repair and operate the over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of railroad line the U.S. Military Railroad controlled by the end of the war . The UP also utilized their experience repairing and building truss bridges during the war . Most of the semi-skilled workers on the Union Pacific were recruited from the many soldiers discharged from the Union and Confederate armies along with emigrant Irishmen . </P> <P> After 1864, the Central Pacific Railroad received the same Federal financial incentives as the Union Pacific Railroad, along with some construction bonds granted by the state of California and the city of San Francisco . The Central Pacific hired some Canadian and British engineers and surveyors with extensive experience building railroads, but it had a difficult time finding semi-skilled labor . Most Caucasians in California preferred to work in the mines or agriculture . The railroad experimented by hiring local emigrant Chinese as manual laborers, many of whom were escaping the poverty and terrors of the Taiping Rebellion in the Guangdong province in China . When they proved themselves as workers, the CPRR from that point forward preferred to hire Chinese, and even set up recruiting efforts in Canton . Despite their small stature and lack of experience, the Chinese laborers were responsible for most of the heavy manual labor, since only a very limited amount of that work that could be done by animals, simple machines, or black powder . The railroad also hired some black people escaping the aftermath of the American Civil War . Most of the black and white workers were paid $30.00 / month and given food and lodging . Most Chinese were initially paid $31.00 / month and provided lodging, but they preferred to cook their own meals . In 1867 the CPRR raised their wage to $35.00 / month after a strike . </P> <P> The Central Pacific broke ground on January 8, 1863 . Due to the lack of transportation alternatives from the manufacturing centers on the east coast, virtually all of their tools and machinery including rails, railroad switches, railroad turntables, freight and passenger cars, and steam locomotives were transported first by train to east coast ports . They were then loaded on ships which either sailed around South America's ((Cape Horn), or offloaded the cargo at the Isthmus of Panama, where it was sent across via paddle steamer and the Panama Railroad . The Panama Railroad gauge was 5 ft (1524 mm), which was incompatible with the 4 ft 8 1 ⁄ 2 inch (1435mm) gauge used by the CPRR equipment . The latter route was about twice as expensive per pound . Once the machinery and tools reached the San Francisco Bay area, they were put aboard river paddle steamers which transported them up the final 130 miles (210 km) of the Sacramento River to the new state capital in Sacramento . Many of these steam engines, railroad cars, and other machinery were shipped dismantled and had to be reassembled . Wooden timbers for railroad ties, trestles, bridges, firewood, and telegraph poles were harvested in California and transported to the project site . </P> <P> The Union Pacific Railroad did not start construction for another 18 months until July 1865 . They were delayed by difficulties obtaining financial backing and the unavailability of workers and materials due to the Civil War . Their start point in the new city of Omaha, Nebraska was not yet connected via railroad to Council Bluffs, Iowa . Equipment needed to begin work was initially delivered to Omaha and Council Bluffs by paddle steamers on the Missouri River . The Union Pacific was so slow in beginning construction during 1865 that they sold two of the four steam locomotives they had purchased . </P>

When did construction of the transcontinental railroad begin