The Origin, History and Evolution of the Transcontinental Railroad - Essay Example

Transcontinental Railroad of the of the Introduction A transcontinental railroad refers to a contiguous network consisting of railroad trackage systems which are spread over different contents and crosses any kind of continental mass of land and includes terminal points at different continental borders or oceans. These networks can be constructed via the tracks of any single railroad or over railroads which are controlled and owned by more than one Railway Company. A transcontinental railroad follows a continuous route with terminals at fixed points. The first transcontinental railroad system was developed in the United States of America in the year 1863. This research paper aims at studying the origin, history and evolution of the transcontinental railroad and its impacts on the United States of America. The positive as well as the negative impacts of the construction and establishment of the transcontinental railroad are identified and analyzed. The research paper is suitably concluded by summarizing the findings and highlighting the main points as identified from the study. Discussion Origin and History of the transcontinental railroad The transcontinental railroad was built in the United States of America over the last half of the 19th century. The transcontinental railroad network was set up as a nationwide transportation and connectivity network which aimed at uniting the country through an interconnected rail system. The transcontinental railroad of the United States include a series of railroads of which the first was built in the year 1863 by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad for linking the San Francisco Bay located in Oakland, California to the exiting eastern railway systems located at Omaha and Nebraska. This transcontinental railroad was 3103 kilometers long and was the first transcontinental railroad to be established in the world. The construction of this the transcontinental railroad took six years to complete and it was formally inaugurated for public use in the year 1969. The construction of the transcontinental railroad was made possible through the passing of the Pacific Railroads Acts sanctioned in the years 1862, 1864 and 1867, by the federal government of the United States of America (Schwantes and Ronda, 2008). Role of the transcontinental railroad in changing the course of American history The transcontinental railroad construction and operation has played a major role in the development of the United States of America and has also contributed sufficiently to the opening up of the lesser populated interior areas of the country for exploration and settlement. One of the main objectives of setting up a transcontinental railroad is to create viable communication modes in the scarcely populated and lesser developed regions of a continent which would not be possible without the development of a transportation network that spans across both urban and rural areas of different continents (Cooper, 2005). The transcontinental railroads formed in the United States of America have emerged as the backbones for the freight transportation services and networks as well as the cross country passenger transportation networks. The country is said to be united by the establishment of the transcontinental railroad. Also, the transcontinental railroad system helped to link the western developed territories of the United States with the comparatively developed eastern regions, thereby enabling commerce and business activities to proliferate within the native traditional way of life of the American people. The transcontinental railroad in the United States of America is a continuous rail line network in which a location within the United States pacific Coast is connected to one or multiple railroads which lie in the eastern trunk line railroad system of the nation (Ambrose, 2001). The eastern trunk line railroads of the United States operate between the United States Atlantic coast and the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. The first plan for setting up a transcontinental railroad in the United States of America was given by Asa Witney in the year 1845 to the Congress Government which was ruling the country at that time. The first transcontinental railroad was built in the United States of America in the period 1863 to 1869. This railroad connected the western and eastern parts of the country and was initially know as the Pacific Railroad after its construction. Reflects and consequences of the construction of the transcontinental railroad There were major constraints faced in the process of the construction of the transcontinental railroad. One of the primary issues encountered by the United States government in the process of manufacturing the transcontinental railroad was the shortage of labor in the western regions of construction in the country (Duran, 2008). Also, the construction of the transcontinental railroad network called for extensively high amounts of capital investment which was more than USD 10 billion. This amount was accessed by selling bonds which were government guaranteed and were sold on the basis of returns for per mile of the completed tracks in the railroad network. Funding was also raised by selling the stocks and bonds of the railway companies to the interested investor groups in the country. Though the obtaining of the capital investment amount was difficult, yet the land grants, sale of commercial and government bonds and stocks and the financial incentives associated with the project of the transcontinental railroad helped to cover up most of the initial capital investment required for setting up the railroad network (White, 2010). However, within some months after the inauguration of the first series of the transcontinental railroad system, it was acknowledged that the construction ultimately led to better organized industrial system in the country and paved the way for the urban and rural development of America. Therefore, the construction of the Pacific Railroad in the US was followed by the subsequent constructions of many more railroads in the project of the transcontinental railroad development. Benefits for America from the transcontinental railroad The setting up of the transcontinental railroad system has been a significant driver of the transformation of America as a nation. The construction of the transcontinental railroad is considered to be one of the greatest milestones in the history of technological innovation and usage in the United States. It is also recognized as the greatest technological feat of the country in the 19th century. The construction of the transcontinental railroad has led to major long term benefits for the economy of the country. The transcontinental railroad serves as a main link which facilities travel, trade and commerce activities into and out of the country and has also helped in opening up wide regions in the North American heartland for development and settlement. Before the establishment of the transcontinental railroad, the United States was largely dependent on its navigable watercourses for conducting the trade, commerce and shipping activities. The transcontinental railroad created new opportunities for the country by connecting it to different significant regions of the globe and by making it possible to reach destinations which were far and time consuming when the general watercourse was taken (Cooper, 2010). The transcontinental railroad network also provides safe, cheap and fast transportation for the people of the United States as well as the people of other countries travelling in and out of America. The transcontinental railroad acts as a strong replacement for the hazardous and slow traditional wagon trains and stagecoach lines which were used as common modes of transportation in the nation before the establishment of the transcontinental railroad. Also, the transcontinental railroad has helped to reduce the number of emigrants into the country by driving lesser usage of the California and Oregon Trail (Willumson, 2013). Additionally, the transcontinental railroad has been the root cause for other beneficial factors for the county like the sale of the grant lands and railroad lands. The transcontinental railroad provided for the transportation of crops and timbers to different underdeveloped regions of the United States of America which is identified as one of the main drivers of the settlement of the Great American Desert within a short period of time (Public Broadcasting Service, 2014). The completion of the project of the transcontinental railroad system led to major transformations in the economic, social and cultural aspects of the nations and reinforced the belief of the Americans on the need of developing an assembly line and organized structure to ensure the economic growth of the nation. Conclusion The positive impacts of the transcontinental railroad network have been immense for the United States of America. It is commonly said that the establishment of the transcontinental railroad network has formed the platform for the future economic infrastructure of the country. The development of the transcontinental railroads have provided the required technology for facilitating the creation of much cheaper, faster and safer transportation system for products and emigrants in the country. Also, these railroads have continued to agricultural progress in the remote areas of the country, thereby boosting the economy of the nation to a great extent. Thus, it can be summarized that the construction of the transnational railroad system in the United States was a great technological endeavor on the part of the US government as well as the railway companies operating in the country. Though the initial capital investments for the project were very high, the benefits provided by the project was massive in terms of creation of employment sources, surging of interstate trade and commerce processes, agricultural development of different regions of the country and enhancing the public discourse related to transportation networks in the nation. References Ambrose, S. E. (2001). Nothing like it in the world: the men who built the transcontinental railroad, 1863-1869. New York: Simon and Schuster. Cooper, B. C. (2005). Riding the transcontinental rails: overland travel on the pacific railroad 1865-1881. Philadelphia: Polyglot Press. Cooper, B. C. (2010). The classic western American railroad routes. New York: Chartwell Books. Duran, X. (2013). The first U.S. transcontinental railroad: expected profits and government intervention. Journal of Economic History, Vol. 73(1), pp. 177–200. Public Broadcasting Service. (2014). The impact of the transcontinental railroad. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-impact/. Schwantes, C. A. & Ronda, J. P. (2008). The west the railroads made. Washington: University of Washington Press. White, R. (2010).  Railroaded: the transcontinental and the making of modern America. New Jersey: McGraw Hill. Willumson, G. (2013).  Iron muse: photographing the transcontinental railroad. California: University of California Press. Read More