By Patrick Allitt, Emory University
The railways were the first American organization that took the view that they were going to run whatever the season. Throughout most of American history until then, everything had been governed by the season. The cost of building the railway was so immense that they couldn’t possibly countenance the idea of leaving them idle for several months of every year.
Inventions for Safety
The telegraph made it possible for Morse code messages to be sent along the track to improve safety, and to make sure that everyone knew where the trains were, to prevent them from meeting head-on.
Another important invention was of air brakes by George Westinghouse. Early trains were very short because only the locomotive had brakes. Therefore, when a locomotive put the brakes on, the inertia of the rest of the train would tend to continue to push it.
With the development of air brakes, however, it became possible for every vehicle in the train simultaneously to slow down, which was an enormous increase in safety, making it possible for the trains to be much longer, too.
Another extremely important invention was steel carriages, which were patented and manufactured starting in 1904. Until then, the carriages had largely been made of wood. What was so dangerous about wooden carriages was the fire risk. The locomotive itself had a big fire, and sparks were constantly coming out of the chimney, which could potentially set fire to the train.
Building the carriages from steel, therefore, was an enormous jump forward in safety.
This is a transcript from the video series A History of the United States, 2nd Edition. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Development of Tourism
The railroads also played an important part in the development of American tourism. One of the later transcontinentals to be finished was the Santa Fe, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Their line ran through New Mexico and Arizona. It was they who developed the Grand Canyon and Taos Pueblo as tourist attractions.
In the late 19th century, Arizona was regarded as the ugliest place in America, but the area was developed as a tourist spot. If one was going to the West Coast on the Santa Fe line, they could opt to stop at Santa Fe and take a tour out to Taos Pueblo, one of the attractive old Pueblo Indian villages. The railroad company paid the Indians who lived there to dance for the tourists, and make turquoise jewelry for them.
Western Tourism
Moving on from Santa Fe, when the train got to Flagstaff, Arizona, again one could pause, get off the train, and go on a tour to the Grand Canyon. It was the Santa Fe Railroad that opened up the Grand Canyon as a tourist attraction. They’d arrange for people to take a donkey ride down into the Canyon itself.
The Northern Pacific Railroad played a similar role in the development of Glacier National Park up on the Canadian border. There was, then, a very, very close link between the development of Western tourism, and the railroad companies’ search for useful business along the way.
Settlements in the Great Plains
Also, it was the building of the railroads that made it possible for farmers to settle in the Great Plains, and it made possible the creation of nationwide marketing networks for the new entrepreneurs like Rockefeller. Gradually, the whole nation had become crisscrossed by an effective railroad network.
They were the lifelines for isolated Plains communities. They brought in things that were lacking locally, particularly wood, coal and manufactured goods to the farmers, while carrying back the great grain surpluses that they began to grow.
Subsidies to Settlers
For the railroad company, it was much better to have the land along the track settled than to have it deserted. The railroad companies therefore got into the business of subsidizing settlements. If one were a settler, an aspiring farmer living back East, or even one in Britain or Norway, they could be subsidized by, for example, the Northern Pacific Railroad, to move out into the Dakota or Minnesota plains to create a farm, and gradually, as their farm became established, to pay back the railroad company that had subsidized their going out there in the first place.
The Northern Pacific had offices in Norwegian and British towns because of this.
Nationwide Delivery System
Corporations began to design national advertising and marketing plans, because now it was suddenly possible to manufacture a good in one place and literally distribute it throughout the whole nation, so that customers everywhere could get it. It became effective and worthwhile to have a nationwide advertising campaign.
By 1890, all but the most perishable goods could literally be sold anywhere in America. It was also in the 1890s that rapid improvements to refrigeration made it possible even for perishable goods to be grown in one place and consumed elsewhere.
It wasn’t until refrigerated trains were perfected that a New Yorker, for example, could hope to eat strawberries or lettuce in the winter, once they could be brought from Florida or southern California. That, again, is overcoming some of the consequences of the seasons, and it was the railroads that were making this diminution of seasonal difference possible.
Thus, between the 1830s and the 1890s, railroads really transformed nearly every aspect of American life, binding the two coasts of the nation close together, and bringing all citizens potentially into much closer proximity.
Common Questions about How Transcontinental Railroad Transformed American Life
Firstly, the telegraph made it possible for Morse code messages to be sent along the track to make sure that everyone knew where the trains were, to prevent them from meeting head-on. Another important invention was of air brakes, which made it possible for every vehicle in the train to slow down simultaneously, ensuring increased safety. Then was the invention of steel carriages, which prevented fires that had been a risk with earlier wooden carriages.
If one was going to the West Coast on the Santa Fe line, they could opt to stop at Santa Fe and take a tour out to Taos Pueblo, one of the attractive old Pueblo Indian villages. Next, when the train got to Flagstaff, Arizona, one could get off the train, and go on a tour to the Grand Canyon.
The railways brought in things that were lacking locally for isolated Plains communities, particularly wood, coal and manufactured goods, and carried back the great grain surpluses.
