TRANSPORTATION AND THE EXCHANGE
OF PRODUCTS AND IDEAS
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:
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Transportation—the need to
move goods and people--has
always been a key driver of
economic growth
Highways and canals were
important in the early 1800’s
In the U.S., railroads replaced
canals as a primary mode of
transportation in the early
1800’s
CANALS IN 1840:
HIGHWAYS 1825 – 1830:
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
Union Pacific and Central Pacific complete first transcontinental
railway link at Promontory Point, Utah – May 10, 1869.
RAILROADS - 1870:
LOOKING AT TEXAS:
EARLY TEXAS RAILROADS:
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First railroad – Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and
Colorado
 Started
in 1852
 Reached 55 miles by 1855
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Promotion of railroad by Texas govt.
 First
lines were built close to ports
 State gave bounties of land to encourage railroad
building – 32,1550,000 acres
TEXAS RAILROADS:
THE RAILROAD COMES TO TEXAS

Need for a Better System of Transportation in
Texas for economic development:
There were few good roads in Texas at the time of
annexation. This continued to be a problem for a long
time.
 Most of the roads were in the south along the coast and
in East Texas.
 Roads were not useable at all during heavy rains.
 To haul people or products over these roads was
expensive and took a great deal of time.
 Rivers in Texas were not deep enough for large boats to
travel inland.
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RAILROADS – 1880:
RAILROADS – 1890:
RAILROADS – 1900:
RESULTS OF THE RAILROAD COMING TO TEXAS:
Products could be shipped out of Texas to market
faster and more easily.
 Products could be shipped into Texas faster and
more easily
 People could travel from one place to another
faster and more inexpensively.
 Many immigrants could travel to Texas and settle
more open territory to the west.
 Railroads encouraged large numbers of settlers to
move to Texas.

RESULTS OF THE RAILROAD COMING TO TEXAS:
Railroads improved the cattle industry in West
Texas. Cattle could be shipped to market without
long cattle drives.
 Fewer cowboys were needed as a result of the
cattle being shipped by railroads.
 Growth of railroads allowed more people to move
into larger cities contributing to the urbanization of
Texas.
 Economic activities changed as a result of the
coming of the railroad.
 By 1891, Texas had several railroads including the
Southern Pacific, Texas and Pacific, Colorado and
Santa Fe, and Great Northern.
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ECONOMIC EXTERNALITIES:
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Some towns died when the railroad bypassed
them. (See reading of Mrs. George Fowler)
 Old
Springfield died as settlers fled to Grosbeck or
Mexia because of the railroad.
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Some towns grew because the railroad went
through them.
 Amarillo
is the largest city in Texas that owes it
location solely to the railroad.
AND THEN . . .
After 1920, the car and the highway became
important. Trucks hauled cargo.
 Airlines took cargo and passengers from the
railroads.
 1931 was the peak of railroad activity—the amount
of freight hauled declined from then on.
 1992 – 11,285 miles of Texas track were actively
used, a decrease of 33% since 1931. Chemicals
accounted for 30% of railroad tonnage originating
in Texas.
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RAILROADS ARE STILL VITAL TO THE ECONOMY
AUTOMOBILES:
In the 1920’s, automobiles became commonly
owned by families, and there was a clamor for
better roads.
 One of those roads has a heritage peculiar to
the Panhandle of Texas – Route 66.
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ROUTE 66
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Construction began in 1926 on the 2,344 mile route.
At that time, only 800 miles was paved.
Across the Panhandle, the only pavement was from
Washburn, east of Amarillo, to what is now the western
city limits of Amarillo
The goal was to link “the main streets of America.”
ROUTE 66
The Jericho Gap, an 18 mile stretch of
Route 66 between Groom and Alanreed,
was one of the most treacherous stretches
of Route 66, and was the last to be paved.
It was notorious for bogging cars down in
the mud after rainstorms.
Local farmers and ranchers made
supplemental income by pulling stranded
motorists out of the mud for a fee. The
mud from the rich black soil was a gooey
mud the locals called “black gumbo.”
The Dustbowl and the Great Depression
slowed the paving, but in 1938, the Jericho
Gap, the last stretch of unpaved Route 66,
was finally paved.
ROUTE 66: “THE MOTHER ROAD”
These iconic pictures reflect the struggles of the families who left the Dust Bowl
behind, heading west to find new hope in California.
ROUTE 66: “THE MOTHER ROAD”
“And then the dispossessed were drawn west
. . . car-loads, caravans, homeless and
hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand
and a hundred thousand and two hundred
thousand. . . .The kids are hungry. We got no
place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for
food, and most of all for land.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
In his 1939 novel,
The Grapes of
Wrath, and the
movie made in
1940, John
Steinbeck
immortalized
Route 66.
ROUTE 66: “THE MOTHER ROAD”
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Economic consequences of Route 66:
The trucking industry began to rival the railroad for
preeminence in the American shipping industry.
 Route 66 symbolized the “road to opportunity” for
those leaving the Dust Bowl for California.
 The all-weather capability of the road on the eve of
WWII became significant to the greatest wartime
manpower mobilization in the history of the nation.
 A new tourism industry arose along the road,
including filling stations, restaurants, and a new
creation, the “motor hotel” or motel.
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ROUTE 66: “THE MOTHER ROAD”
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Route 66 gave us:
THEN TIME MOVED ON . . .
In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower started
the Interstate Highway system.
 Whereas the purpose of Route 66 was to
“connect the main streets of America,” the
Interstate Highway system bypassed them.
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