Transcontinental Railroad Essay Outline

Transcontinental Railroad Travel predating the late 1860’s was a complicated and expensive opportunity. With the California gold rush of 1848 the push for a more universal mode of transportation was increasingly sought after. Men and families alike would either have to travel across the country westward by foot and wagon, or they would need to take a ship that would take them around much of South America before going back up north to California. The problem was not only did it cost in the thousands of dollars range, but the time in which it took was rather inefficient. The creation of the train in the 1830’s was just the beginning of the marvel that would form in the 60’s. Like all revolutionary genesis the Transcontinental Railroad started

The day after the last spike of the railroad went into Utah the railroad was shipping to Japan, therefore, increasing our ties with the Asian market. Instead of a majority of our products being shipped to us, the railroad is able to get the U.S shipping out more efficiently. One statistic from “ General Article: The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad” states that “Within ten years of its completion, the railroad shipped $50 million worth of freight coast to coast every year.” This points out the amount in which we were shipping and the success the TR brought the United States. An article by Richard White “Transcontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space states “The presence of elephants signaled the vast reach of American popular culture and the way the railroads could pull once isolated regions into new orbits. The arrival of railroads signaled the creation of a new set of spatial relations and a new set of material connections. Elephants disembarking from a railroad train also symbolized the increased speed with which the flora and fauna of continents could mix and mingle.” So now not only was the shipping limited to like with like

This is one of the reasons why the Transcontinental Railroad transformed the social aspect of the United States in the 1860s. The T. R. links together family members, business associates, and friends that normally would not be able to be linked very easily. The idea of movement of people also plays a role, with the gold rush of 1848 many of the men went down to California leaving their families in the east, now with the railroad it made it significantly more realistic for the family to head west as well, whether to live or just visit. Another huge part of the social aspects of the Transcontinental Railroad was the unification given to the United States. Before the T. R. the country was a sprawling mass. The Eastside while connected more than the west side never the less still was not as connected as it needed to be. For the Westside the unification is important because of the slavery issue, the North winning the Civil War got to pick where they wanted to place the railroad thus the unifying Californian/West-coast more tightly with the Union over the Confederates. The Transcontinental Railroad made business operations more likely because they could meet personally meaning there would be greater amount of trust in the deal then before. Because when you meet someone face-to-face you're able to decipher more of the character therefore more companies could be more willing to