1. Railroad Barons Powerful individuals Control railroads in USA Cornelius Vanderbilt Leland Stanford Made lots of money Aggressive, risk takers Gave money away later in life

2. Railroads Stimulate the Economy Created economic links Carried natural resources and farm goods Carried manufactured goods Stimulated steel,iron,lumber, & coal industries Created 1,000’s of jobs

3. Railroad Improvements and Technology Standard gauge- all RR’s same width Westinghouse-air brakes Janney-linking system Swift-refrigerator cars Pullman-sleeping car

4. Competing for Customers 2 kinds-passengers and businesses Most money from businesses Rebates-secret discounts to customers Pools-agreements between big RR companies Force smaller RR out Govn’t tried to stop

5. Railroads change the USA Growth of industry in the West Flour milling to Great Plains Ag equipment to Midwest Beef production - Chicago

6. Time Zones People travel more Concerned with hours rather than miles Regions of country were united 4 time zones in the continental USA created Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific

8. Questions How did the RR change life for farmers and ranchers? How did the RR change industry in the USA? How did the RR unite the USA? Which change in RR’s was the most important?