“The Railroads”
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Linking the Nation
By 1900: U.S. had over 200,000 miles of railroads
Boom began in 1862: Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act
Govt. offered each company land
Competition between 2---each wanted as much land and money as possible
The Union Pacific and Grenville Dodge
Grenville Dodge: engineer of Union Pacific
Began from Omaha, NE in 1865---west
Faced blizzards, mountains, heat, Native Americans
Workers: veterans, immigrants, miners and farmers, cooks, ex-convicts
Union Pacific employed 10,000 workers
Life: dirty and dangerous
The Big Four and the Central Pacific
Theodore Dehone Judah: engineer of Central Pacific
Sold stock to 4 Sacramento merchants (the Big Four)
Made huge fortunes from investments
Leland Stanford: gov. of CA, founded Stanford Univ.
Central Pacific: shortage of workers-hired 10,000 Chinese
All equipment came from East
Railroads Spur Growth
_______________________ railroad spurred industrial growth
Increased the size of markets for products
Smaller railroads began consolidating
_______________________: famous railroad consolidators
1869: formed New York Central-NYC to Buffalo---extended to Chicago
The Benefits of a National System
Before 1880s: communities set clocks at sun’s ____________________________
Interfered w/ train travel---___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
1883: American Railway Association divided country into ________ time zones
Federal govt. ratified change in 1918
Railway operation more efficient: _________________________________________________
The Land Grant System
Building/operating railway lines required money
Federal govt. gave land grants to ____________________________
Railroads: sell land to settlers and businesses to raise money
Pacific Railway Act of 1862 and 1864: _______________________________
Robber Barons
Railroad entrepreneurs: built fortunes illegally??
Bribing govt. officials and cheating contracts
Jay Gould: practiced “insider trading”---____________________________________________
Railroad investors bribed members of Congress----____________________________________
The Credit Mobilier Scandal
1872: Credit Mobilier--___________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Investors had made several million dollars
Scandal led to investigation---_____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
The Great Northern
James Hill: built the Great Northern Railroad---_______________________________________
Didn’t use any _________________________________________________________________
Offered low fares to settlers along the route
Made money from ______________________________________________________________
Great Northern became most successful _____________________________________________