Michael P. Barrett, Emeritus Executive Director of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway, will discuss the The Transcontinental Rail Road, the 1869 completion of what was then the largest infrastructure project in American history turned the United States into a true continental power and opened the development of our “Wild West.”  Many of the personalities who were prime movers in the project had ties to the Capital District, and our local industrial base provided a number of the necessary parts that made the project possible.