Why did the government chose a northern route for the transcontinental railroad

The government chose a norther route for the transcontinental railroad because it was commissioned during the American Civil War.

hope this helps

Explanation:

answer: the time zones used to be whatever the local authority wanted them to be. one town might have 6am whenever the sun came up and another town had 6am 10 minutes later.  

the trains had a hard time when their orders said to be at a certain point at 6am.  

6am, but who's 6am.  

the railroads got together and set the time zones more or less along the longitude lines across the country.

explanation:

troy donahue,   i think.