1. Railroads Unite America

2. The Transcontinental Railroad  Completed in 1869  Connected the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast  Reduced travel time from months to days

3.  By the 1890s, railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, mail, building materials, and access to markets.

4.  Made it faster and cheaper for homesteaders to settle the plains

5.  Railroads & mail-order merchants made it possible for people in remote rural areas to enjoy inexpensive consumer goods.

6.  In the West, railroads helped open new territory to economic exploitation

7.  Played a large part in the creation of the first national parks.

8. Cornelius Vanderbilt  Built a trading company with his own steamships and expanded to ocean going ships.  Gained control of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1863  Purchased several other railroads and merged them into one of the first giant corporations in American history.  Built the Grand Central Depot (Grand Central Station today) in 1871  Streamlined railroad service in the U.S.  Built up a $100 million fortune (worth about $140 billion today)  Founded Vanderbilt University

9.  Railroad “barons” created vast railroad networks and monopolies with free land given by the government: Pacific Railway Act...  Raised money by selling many of their land grants  Used Chinese and Irish immigrants to lay tracks