Travelling and transporting goods were very inconvenient before railroads were built in 19th-century. “Before railroads, shipping a ton of goods 400 miles could easily quadruple the price. But by rail, the same ton of goods could be shipped in a fraction of the time and one-twentieth of the cost.”9. These made the economies of the American West bad and difficult to improve. John Steele Gordon describes it as: “there really was no "American economy." Instead there was a myriad of local ones. Most food was consumed locally, and most goods were locally produced by artisans such as blacksmiths. The railroads changed all that in less than 30 years.”8 This implies that the development of the railroad had very important impacts on the American West …show more content…
The 13,000-mile sea route via Cape Horn was dangerous and took even longer, while the overland stage from St. Louis to San Francisco, if “only” 2,800 miles and thirty days long, was full of discomfort and danger.3 The wagon trains also were slow, expensive, and not well suited to heavy goods. The transcontinental railroad seemed like the only possible solution for this problem. The government began the discussion to start building the transcontinental railroad in the 1850. There were a lot of controversies while the discussion was going on. One of them was when the road was assigned to be constructed by private interests. As a solution, a bill had been introduced in April 1860. The bill stated that the government would support private parties with a sixty-million-dollar loan in the form of U.S. bonds plus land grants. After that, many congressmen suspected fraud, and the discussion raged for months until the matters rested there. Two years later, legislation was reintroduced and finally passed by the Senate on June 20, 1862, and by the House of Representative on June 24. One week after that, on July 1 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed bill into law: “An Act to aid the Construction of a Railroad and The Line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure the Government the Use of the same for …show more content…
“Formerly, most textiles and metalworking industries had been situated in areas where water power was available and distances were small. With the growing network of railroads, coal as fuel became a real alternative to water power, and railroads provided transportation of the finished products of the mills.”17 This happened because transporting goods have become easier with the help of railroads. The time taken to move the goods from one place to another did not take too much time anymore as it were before. The cost to transfer the goods also were lower than before. Thus, agricultural products, coal, and minerals were able to move freely from the west to the east coast. The weight of goods moved increased enormously after the railroads were completely built, “from 90 million tons in 1860 to 235 million tons in 1880 and 425 million tons in 1900.”15 Since transporting goods with railroads were convenient, it became the driving force for economic growth of the American. This is because western farmers could make more money by shipping cattle and wheat to the east. Businesses in the east also were able to ship goods to western towns and mining camps.4 As a result, most of the small-scale subsistence farming shifted toward market-oriented
Completed in 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad opened new doors for the United States. In order for this to happen though, some had to be closed. Our country was in desperate need on some of these changes, but some we could have lived without. This great connection of the coasts brought with it many positive and negative effects on the Native Americans, society, and the environment.
The rise of cities and large towns altered the culture and economy of the Pacific Northwest in tremendous ways. At that time, there was a new type of economic and social development emerged in the town of Portland and around Puget Sound. Therefore, Portland had suddenly became the most important city in the Pacific Northwest. Farm products from the Willamette Valley, minerals from Idaho, and wheat from around Walla Walla are all transported to Portland’s market through Columbia and Willamette rivers. This leads to the emergence of an urban and industrial economy that would eventually surpass and engulf the farm economy started in the Willamette Valley during the 1850s and after.
SIOUX SMOKE SIGNAL This is Steve McQueen of the Sioux tribe writing for the Sioux Smoke Signal. Today we are talking about how the Transcontinental Railroad affected our Native American way of life. The Transcontinental Railroad is a railroad which stretches from Omaha, Nebraska to San Francisco, California.
West of the Appalachians, transportation was nonexistent (Murrin pg. 294). Many boatmen who made a trip from Louisville to New Orleans would spend a whole month navigating through dangerous waters through unsettled territory (Murrin pg. 294).
In the United States today a person could board a non-stop flight in New York City and arrive in San Francisco in less than seven hours. American’s today are spoiled in many ways, especially when it comes to travel. Imagine, instead of taking a flight to San Francisco you would have to travel by horse and buggy for up to six months in order to make the same trip. From the horse and buggy, travel evolved in the 1800s to railway and trains, which severely reduced the travel time. The Transcontinental Railroad influenced the westward expansion and transformed travel and economics of the United States in the late 1800s.
The Transcontinental Railroad not only made travel and shipping faster and cheaper, but it also contributed greatly to the Westward expansion of the United Stated (Haycox, 2001). In 1830 America introduced the
The Transcontinental Railroad “May God continue the Unity of our country as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world - David Hewes” (gliderlehrman.com). The Transcontinental Railroad was built to make traveling from the East to the West easier. By doing that it also created a connection between the East and West part of the United States (history.com). The railroad was successfully built but also had struggles with the planning and building of the Union Pacific and of the Central Pacific. Before the Transcontinental Railroad was built, the journey westward was a real risk.
Transcontinental Railroad Tera Richardson, 4336787 History 102 B008 Sum 17 Professor Traci Sumner American Military University July 22, 2017 Abstract The transcontinental railroad was one of the biggest advocates for the industrial economy and westward expansion. The railroads could transfer goods and people across the country with ease, and quickly. While some bad came from this miraculous progression, such as the panic of 1873 and a yellow fever epidemic, the good outweighed the bad as it enabled the United States to fulfill its Manifest Destiny through westward expansion.
Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern
The railroad business in the 19th century America was a lucrative one, many people became very rich from the investment. There was always the question by historians on if the railroads were built ahead of demand for it, or if the railroad was built for demand. Both had their risks and rewards, and each had their own invectives. Investing in the railroad ahead of demand is quite the risk. If one puts all their money into the railroad and it ends up being a flop like the pony express then all that money has gone to waste.
The lack of convenience transportation creating the opportunity for people to build a railroad. The railroad arrived at 1880s and it is marked as one of the key turning points in the Pacific Northwest. With the introduction of railroads in the area, it increased the economics of the Pacific Northwest by using the railroads as a transportation that’s makes them able to travel faster. The railroads exported the Northwest and also imported the East to the Northwest. Conquering distance, railroads is able to disseminate the modernizing ways of the 19th century.
Leah Kurland 5/7/18 US-1/CPE Transcontinental Railroad Focus / Comprehension Questions (14 pts) Directions: Read the handout , watch the video clip and answer the following questions in complete sentences, including a proper topic sentence. Post your responses to the Schoology drop box provided. Video Notes: - Great plains → vast; untouched - Takes 6 months to cross - Lincoln signs transcontinental railroad into effect; 2,000 miles long - The Union Pacific starts from Omaha - Central Pacific starts in Sacramento - They meet in Utah; promontory point - Government doesn’t have enough money; pay companies in federal land - Must dig through the mountain; use Chinese laborers for the most deadly jobs - Use an explosive to demolish
The Tremendous Impact of Railroads on America In the late 19th century, railroads propelled America into an era of unprecedented growth, prosperity, and convenient transportation. Prior to the building of the railroads, America lacked the proper and rapid transportation to make traveling across the country economical or practical. Lengthy travel was often cumbersome, costly, and dangerous.
According to the article The Railway Journey, modern transportation “created a definite spatial distance between the places of production and the place of consumption did the goods become uprooted commodities” (40 Railroad Journey). Basically, this means that since the railroad allowed goods to be shipped to further distances at faster rates which resulted in mass productions and shipments of goods which resulted in a stable economy for the United
The first way that the economy was impacted was that with the ease and efficiency of the railroads, they created a large demand for goods and labor because they needed a lot of people to help build the railroads and also needed a large quantity of steel for the rails and wood for the railroad ties. Secondly the railroads created a huge national market because of the simplicity of delivering goods from place to place. The railroads helped the people in even the most rural place prosper with the cost efficient transportation of the trains. From 1830 to 1861, the United States laid aproximately 30,000 miles of railroad track, which led to an increase in demand for coal which was used to produce iron for the