1. The Railroads

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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. Transcontinental Railroad

7. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Great Northern Railroad

14. 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?