Railroad Development in America Essay

America was rapidly changing with the growth of ideas and inventions in the early nineteenth century. A major factor that allowed the United States to flourish in the late nineteenth century was the installment of the railroad system. The push to build railroads in the United States began in the 1830s and carried on far into the 1870s. The railways became an important system that guided settlement and delivered economic opportunity for much of the United States. Railroads allowed access to places that people had no means of getting to and provided an opportunity to develop cities and towns. The impact of the railways allowed the United States to become more mobile and efficient as it was going through a period of change. The railways

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

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

“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 iron rail, flanged wheel and puffing locomotive appeared in America by 1830. In the next twenty years the railroad brought a new dimension and added a new flavor to American transportation. The first railroads frequently helped American cities (and in turn were aided themselves) as they sought a larger share of western markets. (Stover, p10) As the canal craze was replaced with the rail craze, America once again found a means to connect north to south and east to west. Rails could do what canals could not; they could penetrate the dry arid areas, steep mountainous areas, span rivers, go up, over, or down under any impedance. But the penultimate advantaged was speed and time saved.

Amid the 1800’s, America was experiencing a period of development known as the Industrial Revolution. America was in its first century of being an autonomous and creative nation. One of the greatest commitments to this huge innovative progression was the foundation of the Transcontinental Railroad. The westward expansion designed to be the key to a nation-building project and a change for the United States.[1] The Pacific Railroads cleared the path in which built the remaining railroad tracks connecting the West to the Midwest and East. The Union Pacific Company built from Omaha, Nebraska towards the west meeting up with the Central Pacific Company who started building from Sacramento, California.[2] This

At first, overland travel was slow and expensive, and the west was isolated from the rest of the nation. Canals, steamboats, and railroads began to appear, resulting in faster travel, cheaper transport, and greater economic growth. The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, connected New York City to the Great Lakes. It cut the trip time from twenty days to six days and made it much cheaper to ship goods, which later inspired many new canal projects. Additionally, steam engines used the steam produced by boiling water to drive machinery. They were developed as a new source of power in the early 1700s and improved by James Watt in 1765 to be used in factories and for transportation. In 1807, Robert Fulton used the idea of steam power to built one of the first boats powered by a steam engine. These steamboats could travel against the wind and against river currents, increased the speed and lowered the costs of river travel and shipping, and opened up the South and West to more travel and trade. Furthermore, in the 1830s, railroads were developed. Steampowered locomotives pulled trains of cars. Travel by train was faster than travel by horse and trains carried more cargo than other land transportation did. Thus, railroads could be built where there were no rivers. Before long, railroads spread rapidly across the United States and the miles of railroad tracks increased from 3,000 miles in 1840 to 30,000 in 1860. They were concentrated in the North, made shipping cheaper and faster, linked the East and the West, and helped industry

During the Antebellum era there were a large number of advancements in transportation technology, such as railroads being placed all over the United States. There was also the building of numerous bridges and canals, and the development of the steamboat. During the pre-civil war period there was a huge expansion of railroads all over the country According to the web site quizlet, “From 1833 to 1850 the amount of railroad tracks increased from 136 miles to 9,000 miles” (http://quizlet.com). The first steam engine was built in 1804 by Richard Trevithick. The steam engine that was most commonly used on rail ways was that built by George Stephenson. According to Mary Bellis the author of The History of Railroad Innovations, “Stephenson's locomotive pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour” (http://inventors.about.com). The growth of railroad use was a huge advancement in technology, because it helped transport people and goods to

During the 18th century, railroad building was on the rise to help with the economy throughout the United States. History with the railroad dated back as early as 1815 when Colonel John Stevens created the first rail charters, running along the Atlantic Seaboard which then later to the central and western states. Railroad history in America has its earliest beginnings dating back to 1815 when Colonel John Stevens gained the first railroad charter in North America to build the New Jersey Railroad Company, although it was never actually constructed until 1832, and would eventually become part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (american-rails.com). Colonel Stevens was considered as a big inspiration to the United States bringing jobs to many Americans that was in dire need.

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

The growing industry of travel in the United States can be somewhat attributed to the massive birth of railroads in the 18th century. Incredibly fast movement of both goods and people along rails has changed how business plan expansion, where people live, how ideas and knowledge move around the continent, as well as how people travel for pleasure. This paper details the development of the locomotive and railroad over the 18th century, describes the societal and economic impact of railroads, and lists the desires reflected within the United States that led to the advent of railroads.

The first transcontinental Railroad is being called one of the best civil engineering marvels of 19th century.

The formation of the rail line conveyed an original mode of transportation. Voyagers and goods were transited more rapid than any alternative mode of travel would have performed. In an article authored by a history professor, Robert W. Cherny, "Entrepreneurs and Bankers: The Evolution of Corporate Empires," it validates how fast railroads advanced. He expresses that, "between 1865 and 1890, the railroads grew from 35,000 miles of track to 167,000 miles." The first railroad completed was the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869. By 1893, four more railways were rendered! This advanced way of travel revolutionized America. The tracks allowed for immigrants to migrate to the West and to ship farm products back to the East. The Great Plains and the Far West were the most populated during this generation. Americans were allowed to travel from coast to coast. In the era of the Civil War in 1861, the trains were used for military operations such as relocating troops. The Compromise of 1877 challenged for a

Railroads became extremely popular in America in the 1800’s. The railroad industry itself began to boom; it was supported by its reputation for speed and efficiency. But, along with the booming industry of railroads came the strong debate that

In addition with the invention of the steam engine came the steam locomotive. As the development of steam engines progressed through the 18th century, various attempts were made to apply them to road and railway us. In 1812 Matthew Murray was the first to build a successful steam locomotive, and it hauled 27 carts of around 95 tonnes at 3 mph. Accompanied with this came Richard Trevithick’s 40 psi steam locomotive, The Penydarren Locomotive, “the world's first ever railway journey that ran 9 miles from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal, South Wales.” This creation lead to many more innovations, which will lead to speedy land travel for goods and products.