Pony Express Case Study

The article, “Creating the System: Railroads and the Modern Corporation”, informs us all about the development of the transcontinental railroad and how it helped drive the nation west and also transformed western North America into a economy that had many opportunities. The railroads have always interested me when it comes to this period of time. What I learned from the reading that I didn’t know before was that the Western railroads were primary carriers of grain, other agricultural produce, livestock, coal, lumber and minerals. Also seeing the prices that the farmers shipped their products for, and what they paid for the freights rates was very interesting. Overall, if the railroads wouldn’t have been built in a time when there was so little

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

Business growth on both sides of the country was expedited by a new form of cheap distribution into profitable, expanding markets. Easy transportation facilitated the concept of business travel and expansion on an unprecedented scale. However, some of the largest impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad can be seen through the cross­country exchange of ideas. Before the railroad existed, the only fast exchange of information was written through the pony express. The Transcontinental Railroad created an outlet of communicating new ideas and information in person. A smooth and swift cross­country exchange of people and ideas not only made America more infrastructurally sophisticated ­­ it acted as a foundation for the Western United States to grow from very little to the political, social, economic, and technological center that it is today.

The term "Pony Express" recieved its' name because mail was delivered by horses traveling for hundreds of miles. Only 180 men were hired for this very important job. The route of the Pony Express stretched from Missouri to California. Obstacles encountered were the drastic changes of weather. Sandy deserts, ridgid mountains, and grassy plains were few types of the different landscapes. Nearly

The research in this paper will come from three basic sources. The first source is over the internet. Using the key words Underground, Railroad and Ohio, articles and books will be found. The library will be the second source. Again the key words, Underground, Railroad and Ohio will be used to find and books and newspapers containing valuable information. A local specialist by the name of Mr. Henry Burke will be the third source for this paper. He will provide newspaper articles and stories that he discovered during his research. Interviews with him will also provide valuable insights into the knowledge he has gained throughout his research.

According to a Case Study-United States Postal Service (Jan 06, 2010), retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/bakeursilly/usps; since 1175 when Benjamin Franklin was appointed as the first postmaster general of the United States, the agency known as the United States Postal Service (USPS) has grown to become an institution that delivers about half of the world’s mail in snow, rain, and the dark of the night. Employing about 656,000 workers and 218,684 vehicles, 36,496 total retail and delivery facilities nationwide, 599 processing facilities, 584 million pieces is the average volume per day, and a total work hour of 1,258,025 per year delivering over 200 billion items per year via air and highway.

Its social and economic impacts dwell greatly in the 1800’s to the era of 2000’s as trains have always turned America into something greater in those times where travel and transport were at its hardest, but in 1862 congress passed a bill in which it would forge new history all together with the Pacific Railroad Bill and several grants that allowed financial support for Railroad companies primarily Central Pacific

They made the pony express for faster communications. During the express, the men in the pony express rode a horse to send mail. At one point , there was around 100 stations of the pony express. They used 400 to 500 horses that around 80 men would ride. The pony express service lasted around 19 months. It ended in October 24, 1861. The men rode 250 miles in a day. An honorable pony express rider was Buffalo Bill.

Goods from eastern manufacturers were transported in trains to the Upper Midwest and through the Great Plains. Livestock and grains from the West came in on trains to Chicago and from there to the

“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

Along with this, another major milestone was accomplished, the first transcontinental railroad was established. The development of the transcontinental railroad would bring huge economical growth to the U.S, making it the highway of nations (Henretta, pg. 476). This railroad would prove to be huge, as it would allow for easy transportation of resources, personnel and other goods cross country. San Francisco, which at this point in time was the only major city on the West coast, would benefit huge from the transcontinental railroad. Handling $7.4 million in imports in the 1860’s they would see an increase to $49 million by 1890 (Henretta, pg. 476.) Although the transcontinental railroad helped bring huge economical growth, railroad companies also faced a problem. In 1877 The Great Railroad strike took place, crippling and bringing rail travel to a halt when railroad workers walked off the job, causing $40 million in damage and killing over fifty people (Henretta, pg. 529). During this time period the U.S also looked towards incorporating the West, through mining, railroad construction, and the hunting of bison. Prospering at first, ranchers and farmers of the Western pains would soon face devastating blizzards and drought, making the Central and Northeastern parts of the U.S the agricultural stronghold for America (Henretta, pg.

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

The transcontinental railroad was the most influential innovation of the United States, that brought a revolution of how people traveled. One year after the Civil War ended the people of the United States were looking for a way to unite their country back together. This helped mold the United States as to what it has become today. It helped people cross the country and improved how goods were transported. The man that was forming the transcontinental railroad was a merchant named Asa Whitney. He had asked the government for funding to construct one of the greatest innovation of the United States. “Two railroads, the Central Pacific starting in San Francisco and a new railroad, the Union Pacific, starting in Omaha, Nebraska, would build the rail-line.” (ushistory.org). One fear of building the railroad was the danger of the “Great American Desert” because of the lack of resources. The Central Pacific was primarily made by Chinese immigrants. The Union Pacific was primarily made up of Irish immigrants. By spring of 1866 the Central Pacific had only build 68 miles of track from Sacramento, while the Union Pacific going west from Omaha built 200 miles of track in less than a year. Therefore the Union Pacific made millions more. The next three years the railroads would continue to try and make history.

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

The Transcontinental railroad could be well-defined as one of the vast changes in America in the 18th century. The railroad has played significant roles in westward expansion and growth. From the West Coast to the East Coast no longer would people have travel in wagon's nor ships that would take months to reach the other side of the states. They could now travel faster, safer, and cheaper by train (Nelson). In addition, people, people’s belongings, like mail, supplies, and trade goods could now be shipped across the country in just a few days.