1. Connecting the West to the East
The Iron Horse
Connecting the West to the East

2. During the Civil War Trains carried: Due to a superior rail system:
Troops
Weapons
Supplies
Due to a superior rail system:
The Union won the Civil War

3. After the Civil War Trains carried: Due to a superior rail system:
People
Products
Resources
Due to a superior rail system:
The United States enters the Industrial Revolution

6. Rapid Expansion 1860: 1900: 30,000 miles of track
By the 1890s, five railway lines crossed the country!

7. Railroad Companies
Expansion of the railroad system made consolidation necessary:
Large railroad companies bought smaller companies or drove them out of business
Large companies became more efficient because they owned more lines
Consolidation: the practice of combining separate companies

8. Railroad Barons
Consolidation leads to a few powerful individuals controlling America’s rail traffic
Aggressive and competitive
Few laws existed to control their actions
Instrumental in building the nation’s infrastructure
Pools: secret agreements to divide regions ending competition in those regions

9. Collis P. Huntington & Leland Stanford
Railroad Barons
Cornelius Vanderbilt
NYC Great Lakes
James J. Hill
MN WA
Collis P. Huntington & Leland Stanford
CA UT

10. (George Westinghouse)
Railway Improvements
Standard Gauge links all railways to each other
Air Brakes
(George Westinghouse)
Janney Car Coupler
(Eli H. Janney)
Refrigerated Cars
(Gustavus Swift)
Pullman Sleeping Car
(George M. Pullman

11. Economic Stimulus New links throughout the country:
Carried raw materials to factories
Carried goods from factories to markets
Carried food from farms to cities
Construction of railroads:
Steel industry expands
Lumber industry expands
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
Stimulus: something causing a response

12. “Go West young man, and grow up with the country.” -Horace Greeley

13. Social/Demographic Changes
Railroads allow fast, easy travel:
Homestead Act (1862): Makes settling in the West cheap and legal
People move into the Great Plains and West
People move from rural areas to cities
Industries move west (ex. flour) taking workers with them