FREE ESSAY ON EFFECT OF THE RAILROADS ON THE UNITED STATES

EFFECT OF THE RAILROADS ON THE UNITED STATES

There were numerous revolutionary inventions that contributed to the giant leap made by
some nations during the Industrial Revolution. From inventions in the textile industry to
inventions in transportation, these many innovations played a central role in the rise of
the industrial nations. Among the significant inventions that contributed foremost to the
rise of nations such as the United States, the railroad stands out.
The railway system originated in the European nation, England, which had a dense
population confined to a small geographic area. This was not the situation in the United
States; however, this did not stop the railroad from reaching the Americas in the early
1800s. Unlike the railroad system in England, which was allotted a large budget and which
had relatively little land to cover, railroads in America had to meet the demands of a
population that was greatly dispersed across larger distances. They had to meet this goal
on a limited budget. Though railroad companies experienced remarkable success in both
situations, they were especially successful in the young United States. Before the Civil
War, and even in the era that followed, the railway system played an important role in
the transportation, expansion and economy of the United States.
Before the introduction of the railroad into American society, transportation across land
was slow and dangerous. Railroads carried more goods and people across larger distances
at a much faster rate of speed than any other method of transportation that existed at
that time. The confines of the railroad car protected goods and travelers from the
turbulence of the changing weather and terrain, as well as from the dangerous animals and
criminals that might be encountered along its trails.
In only 60 years, the United States railway system expanded from a minor 23 miles of
track to an estimated 166,703 miles of track. This expansion made transportation cheaper.
With the reduction of transportation costs came the increase in the volume of postal
traffic. The price of postage dropped from five cents for 300 miles to three cents for
every 3000 miles, a dramatic decline in only a few years.1 Soon after, the railroad
become the sole transporter of approximately two-thirds of all American commerce to and
from the West.
Along with the increased volume of goods that could be transported, the railroads also
increased the efficiency of postal service because of its reliability. Canals and wagons
pulled by horses along a trail were the major forms of communicating and transportation
before the boom of the railroads.
Unfortunately, they could often be set back by undesirable weather conditions such as
storms, high water levels, and low water levels.2 When the railroads became the major
form of transportation, travel became more efficient because ...railroads go everywhere,
they carry everything, and they perform their transportation services without
interruption at all seasons of the year.3 It was with this more efficient form of
transportation that communication and trade became more vast and reliable, but it had
other far reaching effects.
Before the railroads there were approximately 13 million people living in the United
States, and the majority of them lived east of the Mississippi River.4 This was evident
by the location of the larger cities in the United States. Of the five cities in the
country with a population of more than 250,000 people before the 1930s, none of them lay
west of the Mississippi.5 This was soon to change with the building of the first
passenger train tracks to head west. According to the Poyntz Tyleris text, the railroads
took the small towns with lied along its tracks and turned them into centers of
industry.6
It was the railroads that facilitated the expansion west. The first states and major
cities of the United States were all located on some body of water, be it lake, river, or
ocean. The railroads made it possible for the new states that lay inland to become major
centers of trade and industry with their increase in population: The railroads opened
this area partly by making it reasonably accessible to settlers.7
Chicago, Illinois is an example of one of the new cities that was located inland that
benefited from the coming of the railroads. In 1858 the Gelena and Chicago Union Railroad
opened in Chicago, connecting it to the states out east and west. Within the next 15
years Chicago became the center of 10 major railroad lines. This massive increase helped
transform Chicago into the largest populated city in Illinois and the state's leading
industrial city.
Although the railroads contributed significantly to other areas of life in the United
States, they probably had their greatest effects on the economy: The railroads began to
have a revolutionary effect on the American economy in the decade of the 1850s.8 Alfred
Chandler argues that So great are their [railroads] benefits that, if the entire cost of
railroads between the Atlantic and western States had been levied on the farmers of the
central west, their proprietors could have paid it and been immensely the gainers.9 As
stated before, because the railway system reduced transportation costs and minimized
distance as a barrier, it became the major form of transporting goods.
The shift in the importance of the railroads affected nearly all methods of business. The
first of these would be the shift of the western states to mass production. Before the
railroad boom, farmers could only produce the amount of crops that would be in demand in
nearby areas because shipping the crops out east could cost more than they would be able
to profitably pay. With the railroad boom, there was a huge increase in what could be
transported to the eastern market. Therefore farmers out west began to try to maximize
their production. An example of this is the production of wheat in the top five
agricultural states in the mid 1800s. In the 1850s, these states produced less than
40,000,000 bushels of wheat, but by the 1860s that number doubled to almost 80,000,000
bushels.10 It also had a positive effect on the cattle business, allowing ranchers to
increase their livestock numbers.
This mass production of goods greatly helped the farmers because with the opening of new
markets, they could produce and sale more at higher prices. This gave the western farmers
as a whole a multi million dollar annual profit. With this new incentive, the level of
production reached a height that was unknown anywhere else in the world. This is where
the mid-west got its name The Bread Basket of the World. New world markets were opened
out east for these farmers and soon the majority of what they produced was put on trains
and shipped to the east coast where it was then put on boats and shipped over seas.
The trains increased the amount of production in other areas besides agriculture. The
mining industry also benefited from the railroads. With the expansion of the railroads,
there was a greater demand for resources like iron, coal, glass, and rubber.11 This was
evident in the huge increase of mining between 1847 and 1859. During this 12 year period,
the tons of mining increased from 2.7 million to 9.1 million.12 Along with the increase
in the need for different resources is the increase in the number of jobs involving the
trains and the areas around them.
The trains did not only help the American economy, even though it was one of the key
beneficiaries. Transcontinental trade also realized marked increases due to the reduction
of transportation costs. On the average, goods shipped from west to east increased in
price due to the larger market, while goods going east to west decreased in price because
it retained the same market but could now get them there for a lot less. As a result,
more goods were available, helping both manufactures and farmers in the west and the
east. This increase in goods would then impact the market in Europe.
While the railroad of today seems inconsequential to the major American economy, the
railroads or early America had an effect on almost all aspects of American life. Making
more areas accessible, railroads opened new markets, sparking a greater rate of expansion
in the country. Because there were a number of facilitators to early American economic
expansionism, the phenomenal profit increases of this booming period can not be credited
entirely to the railroads; however, ...it is safe to say that one half [if] this sum is
due to the influence of railroads.13 So indeed, it was the iron horse that threw the
country on its back and carried it forward.
Selected Bibliography 
Bibliography
Stovor, John F. American Railroads. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961.
Tyler, Poyntz, ed. Outlook for the Railroads. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1960.
Wolf, Winfried. Car Mania: A Critical History of Transport. Chicago: Pluto Press, 1996.
Chandler, Alfred D., ed. The Railroads. Chicago: Harcourt, Bruce & World Inc., 1965