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Westward Expansion Of The Railroad System Between 1860-1890

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Railroad Systems 1860-1890
The railroad system between 1860-1890 expanded greatly and transported people and goods to many places in the United States. According to Transcontinental Railroad "They also brought rapid economic growth as mining, farming, and cattle-raising developed along the main lines and their branches" (Transcontinental Railroad, 2016). The Pacific Railroad act of 1863 authorized the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad (Haycox, 2001). The main idea in building was to link the United States from east to west. The Transcontinental Railroad not only made travel and shipping faster and cheaper, but it also contributed greatly to the Westward expansion of the United Stated (Haycox, 2001).
In 1830 America introduced the …show more content…

One company started in California while the other started in Nebraska. As they built they came closer and closer together until they met in Utah in 1869 (Haycox, 2001). The two railroad companies continued to build despite the dangers and difficulties they encountered along the way. Some of the workers were attacked by Indian tribes that were threatened by the progress of the white man. Indian tribes saw the railways as a threat to their native land. Brutal working conditions and hard labor made it hard to keep workers. Chinese immigrants were hired and proved to be hard workers. According to History.com "some 14,000 were toiling under brutal working conditions in the Sierra Nevada by early 1867" (History.com Staff, 2010). In order to blast through the harsh mountain terrain they had to use gun powder and nitroglycerine to blast the granite to make …show more content…

Before the Transcontinental Railroads there were few lines running West. There was a huge gap of hundreds of miles between many places. After the development of the Transcontinental Railroads manufactured goods as well as people could be quickly transported across the country. Many of the goods needed such as coal, timber, oil and iron could be carried to and from factories and mills. To encourage settlers to inhabits lands purchase prices were low but much of the land was turned over to railroad companies to continue to build additional

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