What was the effect of railroads On industry

The impact of the railroad on the geographic, economic, and political future of the United States was enormous, and not just because of the sheer physicality of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad connecting the entire continent east to west in 1869. 

This massive amount of construction was only a tiny piece of the large and varied impact of rail travel on the development of the United States, beginning some 30 years earlier. 

The first railroads in America were horse-drawn, but with the development of the steam engine, railroads became a viable enterprise. The era of railroad building began in 1830 when Peter Cooper's locomotive called the Tom Thumb was put into service and traveled 13 miles along what would become the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line. Over 1,200 miles of railroad track were laid between 1832 and 1837. And, in the 1860s, the construction of the Transcontinental Railway brought the two coasts closer together.

The impact of railroad traffic was no less than a revolution of communication for the new territories of the rapidly expanding United States. 

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Railroads created a more interconnected society. Counties were able to more easily work together due to the decreased travel time. With the use of the steam engine, people were able to travel to distant locations much more quickly than if they were using only horse-powered transportation. In fact, ​on May 10, 1869, when the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at ​Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, the entire nation was joined with 1,776 miles of track. The Transcontinental Railroad meant that the frontier could be extended with a greater movement of population. Thus, the railroad also allowed people to change their place of living with greater ease than ever before.

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The advent of a rail network expanded the available markets for goods. An item for sale in New York could now make it out west in a much shorter time, and the railroads allowed the movement of a wider variety of goods much farther distances. That had a two-fold effect on the economy: the sellers found new markets in which to sell their goods and individuals who lived on the frontier were able to obtain goods that had previously been unavailable or extremely difficult to get.

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The railroad system allowed for new settlements to thrive along the rail networks. For example, Davis, California, where the University of California Davis is located, started around a Southern Pacific Railroad depot in 1868. The end destination remained a focal point of settlement and people were able to move whole families great distances much easier than in the past.

However, towns along the route also thrived. New towns sprung up at regular intervals as stations where travelers could find layover points and residents find new markets for goods.

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The construction of the transcontinental railroad also facilitated European settlement of the west to a large extent by disrupting and impacting the Indigenous peoples that lived in the Plains states. The construction altered the landscape, leading to the disappearance of wild game, in particular, the American buffalo or bison. Before the railroad, an estimated 30 to 60 million buffalo roamed the plains, providing meat, furs, and bone for tools to the people. Massive hunting parties traveled by trains, killing buffalo by sport. By the end of the century, only 300 bison were known to exist. 

In addition, new White settlers established by the trains put them into direct conflict with Indigenous peoples who fought back. In the end, those efforts were fruitless.

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Not only did the railways provide greater opportunity through extending markets, but they also stimulated more people to start businesses and thereby enter the markets. An extended marketplace provided a greater number of individuals the opportunity to produce and sell goods. Whereas an item might not have had enough demand in a local town to warrant production, the railroads allowed for the shipment of goods to a greater area. The expansion of the market allowed for greater demand and made additional goods viable.

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The railroads also played a vital role in the American Civil War. They allowed the North and South to move men and equipment vast distances to further their own war aims. Because of their strategic value to both sides, they also became focal points of each side's war efforts. In other words, the North and South both engaged in battles with the design to secure different railroad hubs. For example, Corinth, Mississippi was a key railroad hub which was taken first by the Union a few months after the Battle of Shiloh in May 1862. Later, the Confederates tried to recapture the town and the railroads in October of the same year but were defeated. Another key point about the importance of railroads in the Civil War was that the North's more extensive railway system was a factor in their ability to win the war. The transportation network of the North allowed them to move men and equipment longer distances and with greater speed, thus providing them with a significant advantage.

The steel highway improved the lives of millions of city dwellers. By the 1890s, the United States was becoming an urban nation, and railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, building materials, and access to markets. The simple presence of railroads could bring a city economic prosperity. Railroads even helped shape the physical growth of cities and towns, as steam railroads and then electric street railways facilitated growth along their lines and made suburban living feasible.

Mail, sorted enroute aboard Railway Post Office (RPO) Cars, permitted reliable and rapid communication. Railway express and the rise of mail-order merchants permitted people in the most remote rural areas to enjoy inexpensive consumer goods. Telegraphy and railroading had been inseparable since the beginning, and virtually everywhere there was a railroad, there was a telegraph wire.

In 1893, the United States celebrated the 400th anniversary of the "discovery" of the New World with a spectacular fair in Chicago. The Transportation Building at the "World's Columbian Exposition" featured railroad exhibits and equipment from around the world, but the most lavish displays were from Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Pullman Palace Car Company, and other American companies. The B&O erected a huge exhibit tracing the entire history of the railroad, while the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads had separate exhibit buildings.

The world's fair marks the high point of the railroad in American life. By the mid-1890s, almost the entire North American transport network was oriented around the 200,000 miles of track extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and also connecting with substantial networks in the neighboring countries of Canada and Mexico.

By then, New York Central's Empire State Express had exceeded 100 miles per hour on its runs to Chicago, leaving no doubt about rail travel's potential for speed. As for comfort, Pullman cars of the day rivaled the finest hotels for the level of service and creature comforts provided. Railroads offered convenience, taking travelers across the continent in less than a week-or down branch lines to the most remote Appalachian hamlet in a matter of days.

In the West, railroads helped open new territory to economic exploitation, and then played a large part in the creation of the first national parks. They also pioneered modern forms of hotels, resorts, and restaurants. As the nineteenth century ebbed, every aspect of society and culture was reflected in the railroad. When the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was legal, railroads in the South responded with "Jim Crow" cars having "separate, but equal," accommodations. There also were special Temperance Movement trains, as well as excursions promoting the vote for women.

Americans celebrated the railroad in song, literature, and art. The fledgling motion-picture industry turned its hand-cranked cameras on speeding trains because they were the most exciting things on wheels. Virtually every form of entertainment traveled by rail, from the latest popular magazines to touring circuses and New York theater companies.

By 1900, the people of Canada, Mexico, and the United States had settled a vast continent that the best minds of Thomas Jefferson's day thought would take a thousand years to occupy. Largely because of railroads, it took only a few decades.