Railroads expand and dominate ,000 miles of track180,000 miles of track

The Workers Chinese immigrants for the Central Pacific Irish immigrants & Civil War veterans for the Union Pacific 2,000 killed 20,000 injured In 1888 alone!

First Transcontinental Railroad - May 10, 1869 Central Pacific RR meets the Union Pacific RR at… Promontory, Utah United States was physically united

Central Pacific starting in Sacramento, California Union Pacific starting in Omaha, Nebraska The Great Race The Transcontinental Railroad Sacramento, CA Promontory, UT Omaha, NB

United by time 1869: railroads support plan by C.F. Dowd to create time zones worldwide Why? So that they could schedule their trains

United States had four times zones November 18, 1883 railroad crews synchronized their watches and “railroad time” was born

cities, and towns before railroads - independent, self-sufficient

Railroads, cities, and towns after railroads - interdependent, specialized

Minneapolis - major grain industry Chicago - major stockyards Specialization of big cities

Please write and answer the following question in your notes: What were the effects of railroad expansion?

The Crédit Mobilier Scandal Railroad Corruption: Union Pacific RR stockhol ders create A construction company called Crédit Mobilier hires build Pays three times the cost of construction

Crédit Mobilier Scandal Railroad corruption Union Pacific RR stockholders create A construction company called Crédit Mobilier hires buildextra goes back to RR stockholders

Crédit Mobilier Scandal Railroad corruption Union Pacific RR stockholders create A construction company called Crédit Mobilier hires buildextra goes back to RR stockholders Later some of the money goes to pay off politicians

Please write and answer the following question in your notes: How did RR owners use Credit Mobilier to make huge, undeserved profits?

How we went from Granger Laws to the Interstate Commerce Act Granger Laws Grangers (Populists) elect state legislators, pass laws that lower RR rates, prohibit discriminatory rates Munn vs. Illinois Railroads challenge Granger Laws, go to Supreme Court- Railroads lose - states can regulate RR for public benefit Problem: Supreme Court rules states can’t regulate railroads crossing state lines (interstate commerce) Interstate Commerce Act Congress passes Act in 1887 to allow federal government regulate RR between states - ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) set up to regulate RR rates

Railroads companies fall apart… Railroads suffer from… Mismanagement Corruption Overbuilding Six major companies go bankrupt BANKRUPT Bringing on the Depression of 1893

…and railroads are re-invented Several big investment firms take over the bankrupt railroads J.P. Morgan and Company Eventually seven companies hold two thirds of American railroads

Question time! How did the Grangers, who were largely poor farmers, do battle with the giant RR companies?

George M. Pullman’s Model Town Pullman sets up a factory to build sleepers and other railroad cars

He created a model town for his workers

Town of Pullman provided… Apartments Doctor’s offices Sport’s fields Shops And expected… Rent No alcohol No loitering

Letters from the citizens of Pullman “One fine morning a number of men...will knock at your door and tell you that they have come to whitewash your house. They will not bother you with questions...but they just go in and do it...all charges for repairs....will be DEDUCTED FROM YOUR WAGES next pay day. You would have liked to wait another week...because you wanted to buy a pair of shoes for your boy. The company can't care about that!”

“Pullman was all very well as an employer, but to live and breathe and have one's being in Pullman was a bit too much. Residents paid rent to the Pullman Company, they bought gas of the Pullman Company, they walked on streets owned in fee simple by the Pullman Company, they paid water-tax to the Pullman Company...They sent their children to Pullman's school, attended Pullman's church, looked at but dared not enter Pullman's hotel with its private bar, for that was the limit. Pullman did not sell them their grog [liquor]...The lives of the working men were bounded on all sides by the Pullman Company; Pullman was the horizon in every direction.”

Railroad Expansion Markets Expand Industry grows Increase in immigration and migration to the west Employs and endangers many immigrants Unites country in time and space