The Railroads

How has the use of railroads changed between the past and today?

Transcontinental Railroad Pacific Railway Act- (1862) gave Union Pacific & Central Pacific permission to build transcontinental railroad & offered free land Each mile of track required 400 trails which each took 10 spikes May 10, 1869 it was completed. Spectators had a ceremony at Promontory Summit, UT. Telegraphs sent news across nation. Celebrations held across country.

Union Pacific Engineer: Grenville Dodge Pushed westward from Omaha, NE in 1865 Conditions: blizzards in mountains, heat in desert, angry Natives Problems: labor, money, engineering problems Workers: Civil War veterans, Irish immigrants, frustrated miners & farmers, cooks, adventurers, ex-convicts At height, 10,000 workers Laid 1,086 miles

Central Pacific Engineer: Theodore Judah—sold stock to in company to Sacramento merchants, the “Big Four” Leland Stanford, Charley Crocker, Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington Workers: About 10,000 Chinese immigrants paid about $1 a day Supplies shipped from eastern US Started from west Laid 688 miles

Transcontinental Railroad

Growth Increased markets for products Companies spent money on railroad supplies Integrated railroad systems- large companies connected smaller lines Tourism Time Zones created in 1883 Before each community had its own time Ex: Boston 12 mins behind NYC

Robber Barons Robber Barons- industrialists who grew wealthy unethically Private investors received land grants from government Land sold to raise money for construction Railroad entrepreneurs became wealthy: Cornelius Vanderbilt & Jay Gould Accusations of swindling investors & taxpayers, bribing officials

Jay Gould Most notoriously corrupt railroad builder First involved in NY during Civil War 1867 director of Erie Railroad Began to fraudulently manipulate stock prices to keep Vanderbilt from gaining control of railroad Engaged in actions in gold market that led to financial panic & recession Began buying up new railroads in west, eventually owning more than 15,000 miles around nation

Crédit Mobilier Scandal Crédit Mobilier- construction company set up by stockholders of Union Pacific, including congressman, Oakes Ames Investors signed overpriced contracts with themselves Union Pacific paid inflated bills To convince congress to give railroad more grants, Ames sold other members of congress shares at price well below market value During election campaign of 1872, letter appeared in news listing members of congress who bought shares—led to investigation implicating several politicians Rep. Garfield (later president) & Vice President Colfax Didn’t file criminal or civil charges Scandal didn’t affect outcome of elections

Great Northern Railroad James J. Hill From WI/MN to WA No federal land grants or subsidies Hill identified goods that were in demand in China so his railroad could ship these goods to Washington, for delivery in Asia Railroad efficiently hauled goods both east & west Most successful transcontinental railroad & one of few not forced into bankruptcy

Great Northern Railroad

Questions How did government grants to build railroads result in large-scale corruption? How would you expect the growth of the railroad to influence settlement patterns? Create a Pro/Con list evaluating the role of railroad industrialists in the development of the U.S. Were they mostly positive or negative? Were they captains of industry or robber barons?