6.2 The Age of Railroads How did the growth of the nation’s railroad industry effect the nation?

Railroads Span Time and Space In 1869, the nation completed work on its first transcontinental railroad, which crossed the entire continent By 1890, more than 200,000 miles of rail lines zigzagged across the United States Railroads made long-distance travel a possibility for many Americans However, railroad schedules were hard to keep because each community set its own times based on the movement of the sun

Difficulties Building and running the railroads was difficult and dangerous Most of the work was done by Chinese and Irish immigrants and desperate out-of-work Civil War veterans Accidents affected thousands of rail builders each year By 1888, more than 2000 workers had died and over 20,000 were injured

Continued To fix the time/schedule problem, officials came up with the time zone solution in 1870, which divided the Earth into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day Under this plan, the U.S. would contain four time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific The railroads and most communities supported this plan

Opportunities Railroads made it easier for people to travel long distances They also helped many industries (iron, steel, coal, lumber, and glass) grow partly because the railroads needed their products Railroads also increased trade among many towns and settlements, which allowed them to prosper

Continued Railroads led to the creation of new towns In 1880, George Pullman built a factory on the prairie outside of Chicago, and eventually just created a town, Pullman, for his workers to live in The industry also offered people the chance to become rich, often through corrupt means The Credit Mobilier company was created by Union Pacific officers, and essentially paid their own company at 2-3 times the actual cost to lay railroad track They paid off Congressmen to keep the govt. out, and eventually were uncovered

The Grange and the Railroads One group angered by corruption in the railroad industry were farmers, who thought the railroads kept land from families and set high shipping prices to keep farmers in debt The Grangers took political action, and convinced Congress to step in and challenge states’ rights to regulate the railroad Munn v. Illinois in 1877 ruled that the government could regulate private industries in order to protect public interest

Continued In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, which gave the federal government even more power over the railroads Rail companies continued to resist even after this legislation In 1893, a depression struck the country and affected numerous institutions, including the railroads Many companies failed, and were taken over by financial firms By 1900, seven companies owned most of the nation’s railways