Chapter 24 - Industry Comes of Age, 1865-1900 I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron Horse 1. Railroads

Railroads were a huge step in innovations for the United States. The transcontinental Railroad was

For many American settlers, the Great Plains area didn’t spark much interest. But many were beginning to change their minds in the years leading up to the Civil War. As the Continental railroad was beginning to move westward, many were beginning to realize how wrong they were. “Settlers in Kansas found no desert, but millions of acres of fertile soil.”(DOC 1) Many settlers raced to the west to try to snag a plot of land in the west to hopefully start a new chapter in their lives. The transcontinental railroad also helped businesses boom by transporting goods much faster by the railroad. Also, the transcontinental railroad didn’t only transport goods to businesses, it also transported settlers from coast to coast. “After the transcontinental railroad was completed, it cost $150 and took one week. For the first time, U.S. Americans could freely travel from coast to coast. This radically changed both business and pleasure travel.”(How the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America) For many settlers, the transcontinental railroad was revolutionizing transportation. From delivering goods, to transporting people across the coast. We can all agree the transcontinental railroad

Immigrants from China arrived in the West looking for jobs in the building of railroads.

To start, I will explain the purpose of the Transcontinental railroad. In Source #1”Full Steam Ahead The Transcontinental Railroad”, it says “People had been asking for coast-to-coast rail travel for decades. Since the invention of the locomotive in 1825, companies had built many rail lines. These railroads connected eastern cities and seaports,splashing travel times and helping these areas grow. Crossing the country, however was much more difficult. People and trade goods traveled by horse, stagecoach, or wagon train. The trip took months. Not many made the journey.” So the government during the time thought that building a railroad, would help businesses “ sprout up like corn.” According to Source #1 it also says “ Two companies immediately got to work. Railroads already existed that stretched from the East of Omaha, Nebraska. Now, the Union Pacific Railroad began extending the tracks from Omaha out to the West. The Central Pacific Railroad began in Sacramento,California and laid tracks out East. Eventually, the two companies would meet in Promontory, Utah. So, basically the purpose of the railroad was to get people and goods from coast-to-coast.

“If any act symbolized the taming of the Northwest frontier, it was the driving of the final spike to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.”1 The first railroad west of the Mississippi River was opened on December 23, 1852. Five miles long, the track ran from St. Louis to Cheltanham, Missouri. Twenty-five years prior, there were no railroads in the United States; twenty-five years later, railroads joined the east and west coasts from New York to San Francisco.2

The Transcontinental Railroad was a technological breakthrough that managed to make the USA feel smaller to travelers. Railroad systems had been in place decades before the transcontinental railroad had been constructed. However, these systems were not in synch as there were many different railroad companies and even more laws in place from state to state. This was in part due to the civil war, during this period both governments wanted better transportation of goods and troops. This caused many factors like track gauge (spacings of the rails) lengths to differ vastly. These differences in factors caused the slowing of transportation as, many of the times, people and goods being transported had to move trains where these railways met up. Also, many railways would not intersect towns, causing them to board trains on the other side of town. The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the stepping stones towards standardization as these factors were enforced by law for uniformity, and towns began to be built around these railways. This allowed people to travel from the eastern coast to the western coast without having to swap railways many times and would bring people and their ideas closer together, and, most importantly, caused the massive increase in western expansion. The transcontinental railroad was brought forth due to the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, Chinese laborers, and western migration allowing for decreased travel times, bulk movement of resources and products, and

New advancements made an influential impact on the U.S. economy and led to its initial success. The rail business expanded greatly after the Civil War. Transcontinental lines linked the East and West and by 1870, railroads could carry goods and passengers from coast to coast. Railroads served as a cheaper way to transport goods and

“Before the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, it cost nearly $1,000 dollars to travel across the country. After the railroad was completed, the price dropped to $150 dollars.”(History.com Staff). Prior to the railroad the average citizen of America could not afford to travel across the country cheaply. America waited for a means of transportation which would connect them from the Western to Eastern states. The responsibility of creating the railroads were left up to construction companies. Once this invention was created, traveling became quick, easy and affordable. The Transcontinental Railroad could be defined as the most significant change in America, during the 19th Century.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution was changing the face and culture of the United States. Demand for raw materials and new inventions was increasing. From 1800-1850, territories claimed by the United States had grown to stretch from the East Coast to the West Coast. The spirit of “Manifest Destiny”, the California Gold Rush, and the promise of rich new land, ripe with raw materials and opportunity drew settlers ever westward. Following the invention of the steam engine, trains were becoming very important to the expansion of civilization and its infrastructure. Trains and the railroads they ran on soon became the lifeblood of industrialized economic development across the country. Public and private partnerships were formed with railroad companies to provide them with vast amounts of investment funding. Within a few decades, the railroad companies and their transcontinental railroads ushered in the Gilded Age and changed American society forever.

After the construction of the railroad, more and more cargo was given the opportunity to be shipped between states. Raw materials from the newly found land in the West were able to be quickly shipped to the East. This change helped the states ship over 50 million dollars worth of cargo between each other in the first ten years after construction. The railroad allowed the Eastern states and Western States exchange goods easily and efficiently. Shipping between states was now easier and cheaper than ever before causing commerce to increase rapidly. Farms began to pop up along the railroad. The goods manufactured at these farms were easily distributed because of the transcontinental railroad. Markets were extended because of the railroad construction. More people wanted to start new businesses because they saw opportunities with the railroad and how much easier it was to sell and ship goods. Items that were once scarce and hard to buy were now greatly manufactured and simple to purchase and receive. The transcontinental railroad also expanded the area as to where items can be shipped to. Items were once only able to be sold locally, but since the railroad helped create an outlet for more products, commerce extended majorly. The now larger market made manufactured goods more convenient to buy which increased

The development of the railroads was the beginning of a new transport system in America, it connected the east and west, and the communication across the continent grew easier. With the railroads brought new life to deserted towns, people settled along the railways, it was faster for people to travel from one way to the next, it was cheaper, and it led to new industries in lead,coal, and

The 1800’s were a period of technological rapid growth and change for America. The Industrial Revolution was in full force, and new advances were made in substantial numbers. One of these breakthroughs was the steam engine powered locomotive, which was first used in 1830. Railroads were built all over the east coast and encouraged travel and commerce among cities east of the Missouri River. By 1850, there were almost 9,000 miles of railroad tracks on the east coast, but very little on the west coast. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln passed the Pacific Railroad Act, which permitted the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads to begin building the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Railroad would begin building in Sacramento, and the

Didn't the traveling time from coast to coast use to take months? Aren't you glad you don't have to take hazardous and slow wagons currently? During the Industrial Revolution, many factors contributed to the rapid expansion of the West. Before the transcontinental railroad was fully completed, the travel time from coast to coast was costly and took months through very troublesome terrain. Even though there were several constructive results from inventions, there were also dire consequences. The improvements made were great but, they came with substantial economic and political costs. One of these great improvements was the construction of the railroad. This helped many Americans to travel west in a week instead months. Towns sprung up all along the railways, increasing the population of the west dramatically.

In 1860s a great iron band was built between Omaha and San Francisco. That iron band was the Transcontinental Railroad. An engineering feat many thought was impossible. Surprisingly, during the carnage of the Civil War it served as a leap of faith for America that the country will survive. It was fraught with challenges from the start ranging from political to financial. Yet it 's completion started a new pivotal era for America. The Transcontinental Railroad connected the citizens of America, linking the East and West Coast in ways not seen at that time.

At the peak of expansion in the 1800’s, communication between the east and west was at the forefront of importance. A document from the State of Pennsylvania regarding railways in 1825 remarked that there is extreme “importance and necessity of effecting a communication between the eastern and western divisions of the commonwealth” (Wade, 5). The appearance of the railroads in the early 19th century decreased and nearly diminished the communication gap as it provided a reliable and speedy method of communication. As the railroads became more prominent across the United States, the western states naturally became linked to the Midwestern and eastern states through the Union Pacific Railroad. This railroad running from the east coast to the west coast opened up new doors in trans-continental communication. Businesses between the east and the west were able to communicate more effectively, and thus, trans-continental trade became more defined throughout the United States. The mail services began using railroads as well, which was a large factor in improving communication across the US. Trans-continental communication was broadened simply by the increased number of people traveling across the country. And, even when the railroads seemed an impractical method of transportation, “they might make possible long