American Railroads - Essay Example

Module American Rail Roads Railroads can be considered as the backbone of the American success in industrial development. Its impact did not only influence the industrial aspects but also the social and cultural aspects of American life. By linking the nation with a tight network of rail transport, the railroads placed America firmly at the forefront of the international trade, facilitating the cost effective transportation of production from mining and other big industries such as steel and agriculture. Beginning from mid-nineteenth century the railroad industry flourished through the mid-twentieth century as one of Americas first large-scale businesses, still continuing to play a vital role in the national economy. During the early periods, there were no complete and cohesive road systems to aid effective land transportation but “small sections of roads here and there, but the great body of the land was without any facilities of this kind” (Wikipedia 2004). Prior to developing railroads, the transport systems largely depended upon canales for bulk transportation of goods and produce. Transportation Canals were man-made waterways connecting lakes, rivers and oceans, which were used for transportation of goods and people through boats and ships. Although this was one of the most commonly used formes of transportation prior to railroads, the system was time consuming, unsuitable for perishables and costly as well. Another aspect was the inaccessibility in certain regions where the waterways were not located. Therefore this mode of transportation did not serve the needs effectively specially for areas located further from port cities. It was also not an effective means of transportation for large scale transportation of cattle herds and processed meat coming from Mid Western regions. Another means of popular transport during the time preceding railroad development were the stagecoaches. This was a four-wheeled enclosed passenger coach which sometimes doubled as a mail coach, drawn by four horses. This was more of a public conveyance mode than being suited for transporting goods. The main inadequacy of this system was the time consuming nature and the need for taking on fresh horses at relay stations approximately every 15 miles. With most parts of the land road network not being up to travesing conditions, stagecoaches had its limitations when it comes to accesing interior locations (Wikipedia 2004). Other means of transport preceding the railroad era included horse-drawn boat which involved a boat on a canal being pulled by a horse walking on a special side road along the canal, refered to as the tow-path. Transportation systems also used pack animals for transporting goods while using horses for directly riding or for pulling wheeled carts. Such modes also had its limitations of space and volume that can be trasnportaed at one time as well as not being speedy and having high cost per trip. Thus, systems of transportation which was in place prior to developing railroads were not able to offer cost effective and efficient means of coping with transportation of large volumes of good or large number of people. With the advent of the industrial revolution, the growth of big mining industries such as coal and silver as well as steel manufacturing industries laid the economic foundation for needing cost effective infrastructure in transportation of these produce. Influx of migrant workers and those who followed the lure of the gold promise also created need for more efficient means of people transportation than what was in use at the times of early 1800s.Such conditions prompted entrepreneurs and investors in the 1810s to explore the possibilities of developing rail transport and many were keen in investing in the potentially lucrative railroads in the United States. In year 1820, the first railroad of Baltimore and Ohio was incorporated and officially opened in 1830. This is followed by massive scale boom in railway industry during the 1860s period also referred to as the Gilded Age of America. Gilded Age, which marked the aftermath of the American Civil War was a time of massive and unprecedented economic growth. High investments during this period of reconstruction were mainly concentrated on rapidly expanding Midwest of the American continent. Most of this capital was used to exploit the rich natural resources of the newly found land that had not been touched by the native American Indians for centuries, and included industries such as coal, silver and other types of mineral mining, manufacturing of steel and rearing of large scale cattle herds on the fertile Midwestern plains. Such expansions of economic activities made it imperative that cost effective mode of transportation be developed to bring the products of the country to the city as well as transport the raw-materials and labour from the cities to the interior territories. Output of the industrial and agricultural development of America had to be transported effectively and efficiently to the ports to be shipped out to the Far East, Asia and Europe. Transporting needs of grains and cattle herds; processed meats and fleece; coal and other mined products as well as steel necessitated a mode, which allowed large volumes with space and speed. Another factor, which heightened the need for an effective means of transport was the dramatic increase in transient population marking this period in history. The creation of new jobs in the factories and mines as well as the gold rush lead to large number of people traveling in to certain areas of the country. This period was also marked with an unprecedented influx of immigrants who came to the United States. A total of approximately 37 million migrated to America from variious parts of the wrold during the 1830- 19000 period (Rogers 1991). Within such a backdrop, development of the railroad became not a mere idea but a absolute must. With the railroad demonstrating its practicality in the mid-1830s, the importance of building a nationwide network of railroads was realized and pursued with fervor by many across America. In 1853, Putnam’s Monthly Magazine noted that “A railroad from the Mississippi to California or Oregon is a foregone conclusion! it has been decided that it must be built” (Rails to the Pacific 2001). Congress Representative of California, James McDougall argued forcefully in congress of the want of developing the railroad system and stated that “the want of a railroad to the Pacific operates a direct loss to the people of the United States in time, property, and money, each year equal to the annual expense of the Federal government” (The Transnational Railroad 2001). While it the need for developing the American Railroads was firmly established, the federal government acted slowly in getting involved in the process of development. However, with the involvement of few visionary people the likes of Theodore Judah, Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, better known to history as the "Big Four," building of major railroads as Central Pacific and the transnational railroads became a reality. As effective as it was to develop the railroads, the massive sums of money required as capital posed huge challenges. The governments did not provide any direct subsidy but adopted a scheme of land grants and government loans to fund the project. In funding the Baltimore & Ohio project the capital was organised through the sale of B&O bonds to private investors. “Baltimore community leaders sold $1.5 million worth of B&O bonds and the city of Baltimore bought $500,000 worth of bonds” (Chaitkin 1998). Subsequently few grants were also issued by state governments. Such local and state government assistance amounted to more than half of the capital invested in early American railways. Small investors as merchants, local manufacturers, farmers, and tradesmen who stood to benefit from the proposed railroad contributed Balance capital. As per historian George Taylor, ``The New York Stock Exchange does not appear to have played an important role in providing capital for early railroad construction. Only a small proportion of railroad stocks were even listed before 1860, and among these, leading roads such as the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio, do not appear” (Taylor 1951). While the rail transportation in the modern USA is one of the most advanced in the world, such success can be attributed to those courageous and visionary people who saw railroads as a tool that would place the country at an economic advantage and as a driving forcer of the economic and social development of the nation. If not for the economic advantages and transport feasibilities brought around by the railroads, America may not have been able to capitalised on its land resources to develop the mining and agricultural industries nor would it have been able to manage the spreading of population across all regions of the country. Thus, it is fit to say that American Railroads had formed the backdrop for making the American dream of prosperity and development and reality. References Chaitkin, A. 1998. “How The Government And Army Built Americas Railroads” Executive Intelligence Review, July 17, 1998 http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/railroad.htm Daniels, Roger. “Immigration in the Gilded Age: Change or Continuity?” Organization of American Historians. 1991. 15 Feb 2006 http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/gilded/daniels.html “History of rail transport” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2006. 15 Feb 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_rail_transport&oldid=36550289 Lass, J. Genesis of the Railroad http://www.iltrails.org/knox/railroads/railroads.html Rails to the Pacific, California State Railroad Museum. http://www.csrmf.org/doc.asp?id=345 Taylor, G.R. The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860. New York: Rinehart & Co. 1951. The Transcontinental Railroad, California State Railroad Museum. 2001. 15 Feb 2006 http://www.csrmf.org/doc.asp?id=276 . Read More