The Continental Railroad System In The Late 19th Century

One of America's greatest feat was the continental railroad system developed/finished in the late nineteenth century. During this time it was very crucial for America to link states or territories as much as they could. This would speed the process up of traveling across the country in an exponential rate. “By the end of the construction of the continental railroad there was approximately two-hundred and fifteen thousand total miles made up of tracks in the US.” (S1) This made it paramount to travel across the country and transporting goods as well to other settlements that lied in the west. “Traveling forty miles by foot/carriage would of took all day, but these locomotive could turn a long journey day of travel into a mere couple hours. Roughly the locomotives
It also lowered the price of transporting goods by carriage. “Originally Americans saw these new locomotives in New England where they found out that drop shipping by carriage around sixty to seventy percent in total.” (S2) It also helped new settlements connect to current and already populated cities. This would give them connection to help grow their settlements and get people to move out while taking a big risk. It will also allowed these urban areas to conduct business, such as, farming and selling to bigger cities. Both would profit from this and the farmer would have source of income and city folk who have a source of production of food. Meaning the economy would profit off of this. “The economy would gain so much that with a short time they would be ten times more profitable than in the past.” (S3) It also gave many people jobs all over America as well. During this time Americans were looking to journey and see new things. By taking the job to work on the railroad they would be able to experience the central part of America. The progression of the railroad would pave numerous pros for America such as; civilian transportation, livestock, or even goods to far distance in short