Hudson River Railroad Research Paper

Unfortunately, with few exceptions, navigable rivers and lakes did not link up conveniently to form usable transportation networks. Before the war of 1812m some Americans considered canals as a likely solution, but enormous costs and engineering problems had limited canal construction to less than 100 miles. After the war, the entry of development opened the way to an era of canal building. New York State was most successful at canal development. In 1817 the state started work on on a canal that would run over more than 350 miles’ form Lake Erie to the Hudson River. About three thousand workers worked on digging a huge ditch that would eventually form the Erie Canal. The last leg was completed in 1825 and the first freight boat made its way from Buffalo to Albany and then on to New York

Railroads were faster and cheaper than canals to construct, and they did not freeze over in the winter. Steamboats played a vital role in the United States economy as well. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could ship their products out to other countries. Due to the foreign trade it helped strengthen the trade relationship between New England and the Northwest. The transportation development had many positive economic changes in the United States.

One thing that you need to make sure to do when you are coming to a railroad is to slow down. There is no reason to speed through a railroad crossing, it could cost your life. Another thing you should make sure to do is never pass a car that is going your direction over the railroads. Also, make sure to stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail to you. There are big, fast trains that are flying past you and they have too much inertia to stop for you. If you get in front of a train with your

Can you imagine living in a car for six months? If not then try to imagine how hard it would be to be living in a wagon thats always moving. Everyone having to pitch in by either collecting firewood, walking beside the wagon to make the load lighter for the horses, or taking care of seven or eight children, the exhuastion knocking you out every night. Then when you finally get to the land you travelled so far to get a piece of, there is more work then thought. The railroads changed all of that worry and hard labor. On September 8th, 1883 the railroad came to Washington State making almost everything alot easier. The railroads had a major influence on washintons development. The railroad

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.

Transportation began to fuel the American economy during the Market Revolution by adding many different ways to transport goods and to get around the country. These roads were made of mud, which happened to be quite an issue during the different seasons. In the spring,all roads turned to mud, in the summer all roads were dust and in the winter these roads were snow and ice which made it difficult to travel on. The national road was made and was the only road funded by the national government, all of the other roads were funded by private investors. The national road opened up travel through the East and the West, which began to help foster a national community. Canals were starting to expand from not only running North and South, but creating ways to get East and West as well.The farmers began an eight year long project, which was taken over by Irish immigrants and they created the Erie

"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.

The Transcontinental Railroad was the largest project the United States had ever seen. Due to lack of technology, the enormous size of the project, and the environmental conditions, the railroad seemed to be an impossible task.  This construction project posed a huge challenge to those working on it. The railroad’s route would span nearly seven hundred

remember about railroad tracks is that you should always think that a train is coming because most

Building of the railroads during the 1800s was beneficial to the American people and the Industrial Revolution. The invention of the railroad came from a man in Great Britain; the first steam locomotive was purchased from Stephenson Works in England. The Americans had gone over to England before the Civil War began to see how the steam locomotives operated and how they were built (Early American Railroads).

One of the most talked about railroads in the history of the United States was never an actual railroad. “The Underground Railroad is every route that the enslaved took, or attempted to take to freedom. It is a vast network of paths and road, through swamps and over mountains, along and across rivers and by sea, that cannot be documented with precision [sic].” (Landau 71) The people helping lead the runaway slaves to freedom were called conductors and the houses where the runaway slaves stayed while on their journey to freedom were called stations. People who donated money to help the runaway slaves find freedom were called stockholders. The runaway slaves were the passengers. The success of the Underground Railroad depended on its ability to be an extremely secretive mission.

New York City developed and (attractiveness) that attracted many people to what it provides. Thousands of people wanted to arrive into the Big Apple and several businessmen recognized that demand and tapped into it accordingly. A number of railroads were established and built with some type of a service to New York City. However, only one railroad, the New York Central Railroad, was able to have its trains actually enter in New York City via Grand Central Terminal. Unlike the (previously mentioned) railroad, which developed its transportation route in a (North-to-South fashion - [reword this part]), the other railroads were running from West/South to East/North. The Pennsylvania Railroad, Erie Railroad, (Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western),

In this photo, the bridge seen contains a railroad track, allowing trains to cross over the East River. “Bridges of many sorts, like this Chicago lift bridge, were built by the thousands and facilitated both highway and railroad connections within as well as between cities” (Pursell 82). Having the option to use the railroad as a mode of transportation was a massive step forward for America; now items of any kind could be moved all over the country in minimal time. “Nothing did more than the railroad to connect the cities and farmlands of the East and open up the West for conquest and settlement” (Pursell 81). Cities that were not connected to the rail system did not see the same progress and prosperity as the rest of the country was experiencing. To follow, Pursell explains that the cities ended up dying as a result of being stranded from railway access (81). Also seen in this photo along the river are docks. The docks are empty which meant that the

The main reason for the planting of the idea of a bridge was because of the increasing amount of cars that waited to cross the straits by ferry. Doubts arose in many people’s minds about having a bridge that spanned the straits. Many people said that it could not be done. Their reasons were because of the high wind storms that once in awhile raged at seventy miles an hour, and also the extremely thick ice that the straits get covered in every winter- anywhere from one to three feet thick. A third reason was that some studies had showed that the bedrock under the straits was unstable (Boring,

Though the first public railways were built in England, one of the most significant public railways was the American Transcontinental Railroad. Before this railroad was built, slower, more inconvenient forms of transportation had to be used such as horse and wagon. The construction of this historic railway began in 1863. Workers built westward from the town of Omaha, Nebraska and at the same time they built eastward from Sacramento, California. The end result was 2,900 kilometers of rails. Before this railroad was built, one would have to take a wagon, horse, or a combination of shorter railroads and several ships to reach the other side of the country. Where the builders met working from east and west, both sides of the rails were sealed together with golden nails on May tenth, 1869 in northern Utah. The point where the two rails met is now a national monument. The railroad took six years to build. It was the invention of the steam engine that enabled the development of the railroad.