1. Railroads Unite America

2. The Transcontinental Railroad
Completed in 1869
Connected the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast
Reduced travel time from months to days

3. By the 1890s, railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, mail, building materials, and access to markets.

4. Made it faster and cheaper for homesteaders to settle the plains

5. Railroads & mail-order merchants made it possible for people in remote rural areas to enjoy inexpensive consumer goods.

6. In the West, railroads helped open new territory to economic exploitation

7. Played a large part in the creation of the first national parks.

8. Cornelius Vanderbilt
Built a trading company with his own steamships and expanded to ocean going ships.
Gained control of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1863
Purchased several other railroads and merged them into one of the first giant corporations in American history.

9. Cornelius Vanderbilt
Built the Grand Central Depot (Grand Central Station today) in 1871
Streamlined railroad service in the U.S.
Built up a $100 million fortune (worth about $140 billion today)
Founded Vanderbilt University

10. Railroad “barons” created vast railroad networks and monopolies with free land given by the government: Pacific Railway Act...
Raised money by selling many of their land grants
Used Chinese & Irish immigrants to lay tracks

11. Created the first system of time zones to ensure schedule accurate train travel