II The Railroads Major railroads including the transcontinental

II. The Railroads • Major railroads, including the transcontinental railroad, were constructed rapidly after the Civil War ended. • Railroads required massive capital investment and government land grants • The potential profits led to some corruption as well

Linking the Nation • How did the transcontinental railroad transform the West?

Linking the Nation 1865: U. S. had 35, 000 miles of railroad tracks 1900: 200, 000 miles of tracks

A Network Of Rails • Early RR lines were short and served local communities. • Different lines used different gauges- or widths o In 1886 RR’s adopted the North’s gauges. • Once track was standardized the RR formed a network- or system of connected lines all across the country.

Different Gauges

New and Improved! • 1864 George Westinghouse invented the air brake. o Allowed engineer to stop all rail cars at once. o Much Safer!

New and Improved! • 1864 George Pullman invented the sleeping car. o Eventually they added bathrooms and dining cars as well.

Stop and Think • What was the significance of Railroad gauges being the same? • List and explain 3 improvements made to trains during the late 1800 s.

Pacific Railway Act • 1862 Lincoln signed Pacific Railway Act railroad boom began • Gave two companies permission to build the railroad o Union Pacific o Central Pacific • Offered each company land along the right-ofway

Union Pacific • Engineer Greenville Dodge (Union Pacific) o Pushed westward from Omaha, Nebraska in 1865 o Laborers faced blizzards o Heat in the desert o Angry Native Americans o Labor o Money and engineering problem • Union Pacific workers o Civil War veterans o Irish immigrants • Height of project Union Pacific employed 10, 000 workers

Central Pacific • Engineer Theodore Judah (Central Pacific) • Sold stock to Sacramento merchants • Leland Stanford (one of the Big Four) o o Made a fortune Became governor of California Served as U. S. senator Founded Stanford University • Hired 10, 000 Chinese workers • Paid $1. 00 a day

The Transcontinental Railroad • All equipment was shipped from the East • Traveled around Cape Horn (South America) • Overland Isthmus of Panama

The Transcontinental Railroad • Completed in 4 years o Each mile of track required 400 rails o Each rail required 10 spikes • Central pacific laid 688 miles of track • Union Pacific 1, 086 miles of track • Promontory Summit, Utah two were joined o Used silver and gold spikes

Railroads Spur Growth • Transcontinental first of many lines • Railroads increased the size of markets for products • Spent huge amounts on steel, coal, timber • Large connected with small to integrate railroad systems • Integrate- to combine two previously separate things

Railroads Spur Growth • Southern states improved transportation • New industries like tourism to Florida • Freight prices dropped by half from 1860 – 1900 • Railroads unified the nation’s clocks • Created 4 time zones • Time zone – geographic region in which standard time is kept

Linking the Nation • How did the transcontinental railroad help unite the nation?

Robber Barons • How did government grants to build railroads result in largescale corruption?

Robber Barons • Investors could not raise all the money the railroad needed o Investors – one who puts money into a company in order to gain a financial reward • Federal government gave land grants o Land Grants – a grant of land by the federal government, especially for roads, railroads, or agricultural colleges

Robber Barons • Companies sold the land to raise money • Bribery occurred because government helped to fund the railroads • Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould were accused of swindling

The Credit Mobilier Scandal • Corruption became public in 1871 • Credit Mobilier construction company set up by several stockholders • Oakes Ames member of Congress • Investors signed overpriced contracts with themselves • Union Pacific paid inflated bills • Ames sold other members of Congress share below market price

The Credit Mobilier Scandal • 1872 New York Sun listed all members of Congress who bought shares • Investigation implicated several politicians • Including representative James Garfield (later becomes president) and sitting Vice President Schuyler Colfax • Neither criminal or civil charges were filed

The Great Northern Railroad • Robber Baron- term used to describe industrialists who grew wealthy unethically • James J Hill built the Great Northern from o o Wisconsin Minnesota Washington With no federal grants

The Great Northern Railroad • Identified goods that were in demand in China (shipped from Washington) • Railroad efficiently shipped goods East and West • Became the most successful • One of few not eventually forced into bankruptcy

Robber Barons • Why did the Robber Barons bribe people in Congress?

Robber Barons • They wanted Congress to give them more federal land grants