Evolution of Transportation

Over time, transportation has shown to have an incredible impact on the United States. It has revealed to bring about economic and social changes in various ways. In the late eighteenth century ancient methods of traveling were still in use in America and it was often very slow. Americans were aware that if transportation advancement occurred, it would potentially increase foreign trade, increase land values as well as strengthen the American economy. In the mid 1800s it has been determined that transportation advancement has a drastic effect on our

The railroad construction started as soon as possible. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was founded in 1828 and its first section of rails was open in 1830. At its peak, The B&O Railroad spread from the east coast all the way to the Illinois, and was over 5,550 miles long! In 1831, the state of Maryland granted the B&O Railroad and charter to begin construction of a line connecting Maryland to Washington D.C.

In the second half of the 1800 's, the railroad, which was invented in England,

The building of the First Transcontinental Railroad was a key symbol of the Industrial Revolution beginning in the United States. The railroad crossed the middle of the country and connected the eastern portion to the west. The building began in Sacramento, California and continued all the way to Council Bluffs, Iowa, resulting in 1,776 miles of new rails that were a staple for both the transportation of people and goods. Less lives were lost on the hazardous trails through the Rocky Mountains and thus the West Coast experienced an increase in population. The railroad greatly impacted the nation, as it united the people and also allowed for the improvement of the speed of shipment and price of goods throughout the nation. With the constant

One important event during this time would be the development of the railroad. Railroads were very important to the increase in trade throughout the United States. By the start of the Civil War ,the railroads began to link the most important Mid West cities with the Atlantic coast. Railroads further opened the west and connected raw materials to factories and markets. A transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah (Kelly, n.d).

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 government really played an important role in this by giving many incentives to the building of the rail lines. Chiefly among the incentives was the free use of Federal lands and cash loans for each mile of track built. Other incentives given were tax exemption, banking privileges, monopoly protection and tariff remission. (Transcontinental Railroads- Lecture slides). The government did this so that they build more rail tracks as much as possible. With these incentives in place for the railroad companies, about 164,000 miles of tracks and $9 billion have been invested already (The Railroad Frontier-Lecture

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.

The significance of the transcontinental railroads and the impact they made is quite profound. The first transcontinental line’s construction was chartered by the government in the Pacific Railroad Act. Construction of the line, which ran between Omaha Nebraska to Sacramento California, began in 1863 and it was completed in 1869. By 1900, other transcontinental lines, like the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Great Northern Railway, were in place and connected by numerous feeder lines, junctions, and

Before railroads, cities were normally built on coasts or rivers, because the most effective way to ship goods was by boat. Traveling on land required horses and wagons, that mean it took extremely long time and had very low capacity. This meant that people could not transport fresh goods nor big loads of foods more than a few miles. Many people settled nearby rivers and coasts, so that they can receive goods they needed, or they could ship anything they produced. By 1828, the nation's first commercial railroad began, 32 years later the railroad network had grown to 30,000 miles long. It offered fast, reliable, had massive capacity, and made inland trade possible. Then cities began to emerge along the railroad lines, and big numbers of people began to move to these new cities for profit and new opportunities west of the Mississippi River. During the same time, the telegraph made it possible for much smoother communication throughout the nation. Using Morse code, a method of transmitting messages could be sent over electric wires, with each letter and number represented by its own pattern of electrical pulses. Initially, the telegraph was a service meant for businesses, and especially newspapers, rather than personals. It help speed the flow of information and brought uniformity to prices throughout the

In the early nineteenth century, the United States experienced a huge overhaul. Though the reformations and Jacksonian democracy were also important, the Market Revolution managed to transform the United States on a massive scale due to the expansion of transportation, the creation of new jobs, and the newfound prevalence of slavery. Prior to the Market Revolution, transportation was an issue. Whether it was the transportation of goods, the transportation of people, or the transportation of ideas, Americans, particularly those in the North, thought the transportation was too slow and came up with ways to combat the grueling speeds. From 1800 to 1830, a road stretching from Maryland to the Mississippi River was built.

In 1860, the United States had more railroad track than the rest of the world combined. Shipping freight by rail became much more practical and affordable, easily beating out the use of steamboats. The railroad directly led to the increase of urban centers. Chicago, for example, virtually quadrupled its population during the 1850’s. By the 1880’s, there were at least 93, 267 miles of rail that stretched across the plains and just ten years later, there were 163,597 miles of rail. By 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, which gave the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads responsibility for building the transcontinental railroad. Congress also granted both railroads lands and millions of dollars of government loans. May 10, 1869, after six long years of hard intensive labor, the tracks of the two railroads finally met at

"On February 28, 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railway chartered for the commercial transportation of freight and passengers" (Library of Congress). Co-created by John W. Garrett and William Patterson, the B&O Railroad served as the main connection from the east coast to the western frontier. This railroad became crucial during the Civil War (1861-1865), which was caused by the debate of slavery between the North and South. Although other railroads were used, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the most utilized and the most important because it transported artillery to soldiers during battle and cotton to market for profit.