Economic Impact of Development of the Railroads
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The development of the railroads was a key element in the expansion of the United States and in the economic well-being of the nation during the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. The railroad was a transportation and communication marvel compared to anything that had existed previously. It crossed the territories of the nation and made it possible to travel from one end of the country to the other or to send mail and goods along the same routes. The development of the railroads was itself a matter of business expansion on a grand scale, starting with small lines and ending with vast networks of tracks which nurtured cities and towns all along their length. In terms of business history, the development of the railroads was not only the first big business venture in America but also made it possible to expand other businesses into not merely local entities but regional and national corporations. Distant business offices could now be linked to the central office, allowing a business to cover a much wider range than was ever possible prior to that time. The railroad has also been credited as a major force in the opening of the West and in the development of the United States as a unified social and political entity. The development of the nation's railroads is usually treated as a romantic subject, and the Age of Railroads was part of both the Industrial Revolution and the era of nation-building. Trade between east and west was increasing before the adven
. . .
heir application or practicality.
The first true railroad pioneer was George Stephenson, who learned all there was to know about steam engines as a young man, and he began work on a steam locomotive for the mines of the Killingworth Colliery in 1814. The first true steam locomotive in the United States came into being in 1828, created by John Jervis for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; the track covered a nine-mile stretch between the company's mines and the end of the canal at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It was intended to be horse-operated, but as the grades were so steep, Jervis decided to use a locomotive. In 1832, a transportation line started on the Camden and Amboy Railroad between New Jersey and New York and Philadelphia.
The decade just before the Civil War was very productive in terms of railroad building. In 1850 there was only a broken skein of short lines from Maine to Georgia and a few stray rail lines connecting the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. The discovery of gold in California along with the lure of the trans-Pacific trade created a new force, and the federal land-grant policy also energized many to try to move West. This resulted in a shift in the prevailing traffic patterns for transport from
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Civil War, Alfred Chandler, , Actually Smolensky, Central Pacific, Maury Klein, Paul Black, George Douglas, Mississippi Rivers, Columbus Ohio, civil war, development railroads, united economic, business history, economic growth, economic history, railroad meant, transportation communication, competition regulation, american economy, railroad transportation communication, business history review, united economic growth,
Approximate Word count = 2860
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Economic Impact of Development of the Railroads
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
