How Did Trains Impact the Early Development of the United States?

The development of railroads in the US greatly affected the economy in early development.

One major event of railroad growth was the Transcontinental Railroad. In 1862 Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Bill and several grants so that they had the land and funds to build the railroad. Construction started in early 1860’s. The railroad started from the east and west coast and was built inland. Life as a transcontinental railroad worker was very rough. The workers got paid an average of 1 dollar per day with is worth about $22.

72 today. The had to work through all weather and terrain. When it rained it would often wash out the railroad. They had to work through all of winter and summer. They had to work through the great plains which had little to no shade.

They also had to work through the Rocky Mountains. They had to make tunnels and bridges. When the railroad was finished in 1869, it met at Promontory Summit, Utah. The railroad was about 1,912 miles or 3,077 kilometers long. After the completion of the transcontinental railroad was complete, cities started to be built around popular train stations. Mines and factories started to be built in order to extract the resources in the west.

The population started to spread out making more business which created more jobs. More railroads were being built off of the transcontinental railroad. Resources and people were being transported from coast to coast. If trains never existed we would not be as advanced as we are today. Coal power plants rely on trains because 71% of coal is transported by them. 19% percent of energy produced in the United States is from coal.

The railroads industry employs more than 300,00 jobs. The united states economy would drop significantly if railroads didn’t exist.