Essay On Transcontinental Railroad

The Railroad And Its Influence on Frontier Life The technological innovation of the railroad was a very impressive feat. Not one person can be credited with the invention, as it involved the discovery of iron and steel along with the steam engine (Railroad Invention and History). The Transcontinental Railroad is one of many inventions of the Gilded Age, including the telephone, electricity, light bulbs, and skyscrapers. Of course, all of these inventions were essential to the time period, however, the railroad was the most influential to frontier life because no other invention altered as many aspects of life as the railroad with its changes to the environment, population, and development of the West. The railroad lead to some important
The railroad is responsible for a lot of the agricultural development of the Gilded Age. Agriculture was spreading further and further West due to the railroad. In fact, the railroad helped agriculture spread past the 100th meridian. A geologist named John Wesley Powell warned that this meridian line was the line that separated land that got more than 20 annual inches of rain, and the land that did not receive 20 inches of rain every year. This led to dry farming, which was a main reason for the Dust Bowl. Therefore, the railroads are also partially responsible for the Dust Bowl. Also, passing the 100th meridian also lead to the rise of a new crop of Russian wheat. Railroads also affect the farmers by pushing the to develop a form of union. Railroad companies were fixing the freight prices unfairly against the farmers. The farmers anger about this issue is one of the main reasons that they decided to unite and form The Grange and The Farmers’ Alliance. Also, railroads altered the meat packing industry because cattle in the west could go back to Eastern cities much more effectively than before. The railroads played a role in all of these developments, which make it “an essential artery for rapid development of the frontier” (End of the