Gilded Age

The Way West… Settlers had three main methods of heading West: By foot or wagon. By boat. By train.

Railroads 1865-1900

Why Build Railroads? Used to connect people. Towns to cities, states to states, East Coast to West Coast. Help people move from place to place, settle new areas. Used to connect resources and production. Cattle to butchers to the dinner table; gold from mines to smelters to banks; corn from farms to markets to the dinner table. Make money. Capitalists who specialized in buying, building, and running, Railroads to make turn a profit for themselves and (sometimes) for share holders.

Which statement best describes the role of railroads in the industrialization of the United States? They were the earliest form of commercial transportation. They are more important to industry today than they were 100 years ago. They provided an efficient means of transportation during the Age of Big Business. They were unable to compete in areas that had good water transportation

Early Railroads Miles of Railway 1865 35,000 Miles of Railway 1900 Were primarily in the Northeast. Connected markets to producers. Expanded greatly after the Civil War. Thousands of miles of track were added every year. Miles of Railway 1865 35,000 Miles of Railway 1900 192,556

How is a Railroad Built? What is needed? Land Labor (people) Wood Fuel (wood, coal, later diesel) Iron & Steel Organization Capital (money) Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Railroad iron is a magician’s rod, in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water."

Land Railroads were provided land on which to build. (Right of way) Railroads were given every other square acre of land to sell to help pay for building the railroads. Land grants helped to promote railroad building.

Railroad Towns Frontier villages competed to become a stop along a railroad Sometimes blackmail and bribes were offered Those not linked to the railroad became Ghost Towns

Industry Industry grew with the Railroads. Iron and Steel, Coal and Wood. Leaders emerged who build (and lose) fortunes providing what the railroad companies needed. Pushes innovation and creates new technologies.

Which factor was most critical to the building of transcontinental railroads after the Civil War? government ownership of the railroads capital investment by labor unions land and money provided by the Federal Government willingness of Native American Indians to leave tribal lands

Connecting East and West Needed to connect both halves of the country together.

The Union Pacific Railroad Commissioned by Congress to start westward from Omaha, Nebraska

Central Pacific Railroad Commissioned by Congress to build railroad starting in California and moving east.

Which two developments following the Civil War most helped open the American West? the building of the Erie Canal and the purchase of he Louisiana Territory the discovery of gold in California and the construction of the Panama Canal the annexation of Texas and the invention of the cotton gin the implementation of the Homestead Act and the completion of the transcontinental railroad

People Building and running a Railroad is extremely labor intensive. Thousands of workers were needed for the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

RR Workers Hard to find those willing to brave the conditions to build the railroads: Indians who attacked the UP line. Snow avalanches that struck the CP. Working with dynamite, hot sun, bad food, bad shelter, and poor pay.

“Paddies” Irish immigrants and out of work Civil War veterans laid most of the tracks of the Union Pacific

The Chinese Immigrants Nearly 10,000 Chinese laborers laid track for the CP, cutting into the Sierra Nevada Mts.

Deadly Jobs The Railroads provided jobs for thousands of workers during construction and after. Quickly became the nation’s largest employer. Hundreds died every year and thousands were maimed.

The Transcontinental Railroad is Complete Promontory Point, Utah The Transcontinental Railroad is Complete May 10, 1869 The Golden Spike

What’s Missing?

Effects of the Transcontinental RR Magnificent engineering feat Welded West Coast to the Union Increased trade with Asia Sometimes laid down railroad that led from “nowhere to nothing” Paved way for the growth of the West Quickened demise of Native Americans Cut through their lands, helped kill buffalo

“Ours is a country where people “Ours is a country where people...can attain to the most elevated positions or acquire a large amount of wealth...according to their talents, prudence, and personal exertions.”

Leading the Way to Wealth “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt Jumped at any chance to advance 1st in the Steamboat Revolution Transported goods in the War of 1812 Worked for Gibbons in the NY waterways Started his own fleet of steamboats to transport goods

How About Here and the Northeast? Amassed fortune of $100 million in the railroads Helped Consolidate railroads in East During the Panic of 1873 and the resulting depression, Vanderbilt began construction of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, offering employment to thousands who otherwise would have been unemployed. Donated $ to start Vanderbilt University

“Manufacturing has positive benefits to offer society and therefore should be encouraged by government.” The author of this statement would most likely be an advocate of allowing them to develop with few restrictions governmental control over prices charged by manufacturers for their products government ownership of big business antitrust legislation

East Becomes Standard Steel replaced iron for use as tracks Standard Gauge of track – allowed railcars to switch from line to line without changing cargo

Why were railroad lines constructed where they were? What cities are linked within New York? Why do you think these were linked? How were locations in New York affected by the railroad?

I LIKE to see it lap the miles, And lick the valleys up, And stop to feed itself at tanks; And then, prodigious, step   Around a pile of mountains,         And, supercilious, peer In shanties by the sides of roads; And then a quarry pare To fit its sides, and crawl between, Complaining all the while         In horrid, hooting stanza; Then chase itself down hill   And neigh like Boanerges; Then, punctual as a star, Stop—docile and omnipotent—  At its own stable door.

Scandal Credit Mobilier construction company Insiders pocketed $73 million for $50 million in breakneck work Bribed congressmen to look the other way VP Colfax forced to resign President Ulysses S. Grant linked to scandal

Price Fixing Railroads were quickly concentrated into the hands of a few businessmen. Some of these railroad men took advantage of the public and charged some more than others. Farmers were particularly hard hit as they had little money and were routinely charged more. Called for Government control of the Railroads.

Compare and Contrast the Viewpoint

Jasper Francis Cropsey – Starrucca Viaduct, Pennsylvania