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How Trains Changed America

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The idea of trains has been around since 2nd and 1st millennia BC in Persia. One of the earliest forms of the use of the concept of train and railroads was in Persia they had dedicated roads which had cut out ruts in the rock which allowed wagons being pulled by horses or bulls. Because of the ruts in the ground the wagons required no steering by the merchant driving on the road. This lead to a major connection between major cities and trade posts.With the development of trains and the steam engine nations began further development. The invention of trains enabled modern industries to suddenly grow and enabled the reaching of modern times. Trains and railroads changed America by providing a strong infrastructure, providing jobs, and giving reason for inventions and innovations. The very first trains had a stream engine however they were not as productive or efficient as those in the 1800s. In 1763, “James Watt took the simplistic designs of Thomas Savery and combined them with the work of Thomas Newcomen,” which introduced the crankshaft that could transform the power of steam into circular motion. This lead to the train to …show more content…

Many of the first railroad workers were Irish immigrants however, they did not have a very strong work ethic and Central Pacific officials thought that the Irish immigrants wasted their wages on liquor. This caused a demand for a more efficient type of worker officials forced work group leaders to higher Chinese workers. In the beginning work leaders were against bringing in chinese immigrants. they soon found these immigrants to be extremely useful in more dangerous, harder jobs and they just had a stronger work ethic. “The railroad made little progress before 1865,then the company decided to hire Chinese laborers to level roadbed, bore tunnels, and blast mountainsides. Eventually the Central Pacific employed more than 12,000 Chinese workers, more than ninety percent of the

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