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Railroads expand and dominate

Railroads expand and dominate. 1856. 1890. 30,000 miles of track. 180,000 miles of track. The Workers. Chinese immigrants for the Central Pacific. 2,000 killed. In 1888 alone!. 20,000 injured. In 1888 alone!. Irish immigrants & Civil War veterans for the Union Pacific.

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Railroads expand and dominate

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  1. Railroads expand and dominate 1856 1890 30,000 miles of track 180,000 miles of track

  2. The Workers Chinese immigrants for the Central Pacific 2,000 killed In 1888 alone! 20,000 injured In 1888 alone! Irish immigrants & Civil War veterans for the Union Pacific

  3. First Transcontinental Railroad - May 10, 1869 Central Pacific RR meets the Union Pacific RR at… Promontory, Utah United States was physically united

  4. The Transcontinental Railroad Promontory, UT Omaha, NB Sacramento, CA The Great Race Central Pacific starting in Sacramento, California Union Pacific starting in Omaha, Nebraska

  5. United by time 1869: railroads support plan by C.F. Dowd to create time zones worldwide Why? So that they could schedule their trains

  6. United States had four times zones November 18, 1883 railroad crews synchronized their watches and “railroad time” was born

  7. cities, and towns before railroads - independent, self-sufficient

  8. Railroads, cities, and towns after railroads - interdependent, specialized

  9. Minneapolis - major grain industry Specialization of big cities Chicago - major stockyards

  10. Please write and answer the following question in your notes: • What were the effects of railroad expansion?

  11. Railroad Corruption: The Crédit Mobilier Scandal Union Pacific RR stockholders create A construction company called Crédit Mobilier hires Pays three times the cost of construction build

  12. Railroad corruption Crédit Mobilier Scandal Union Pacific RR stockholders A construction company called Crédit Mobilier create hires extra goes back to RR stockholders build

  13. Railroad corruption Crédit Mobilier Scandal Union Pacific RR stockholders A construction company called Crédit Mobilier create hires extra goes back to RR stockholders build Later some of the money goes to pay off politicians

  14. Please write and answer the following question in your notes: • How did RR owners use Credit Mobilier to make huge, undeserved profits?

  15. How we went from Granger Laws to the Interstate Commerce Act Granger Laws Grangers (Populists) elect state legislators, pass laws that lower RR rates, prohibit discriminatory rates Munn vs. Illinois Railroads challenge Granger Laws, go to Supreme Court- Railroads lose - states can regulate RR for public benefit Interstate Commerce ActCongress passes Act in 1887 to allow federal government regulate RR between states - ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) set up to regulate RR rates Problem: Supreme Court rules states can’t regulate railroads crossing state lines (interstate commerce)

  16. Railroads companies fall apart… Railroads suffer from… Mismanagement Corruption Overbuilding BANKRUPT Six major companies go bankrupt Bringing on the Depression of 1893

  17. …and railroads are re-invented • Several big investment firms take over the bankrupt railroads • J.P. Morgan and Company • Eventually seven companies hold two thirds of American railroads

  18. Question time! • How did the Grangers, who were largely poor farmers, do battle with the giant RR companies?

  19. George M. Pullman’s Model Town Pullman sets up a factory to build sleepers and other railroad cars

  20. He created a model town for his workers

  21. Town of Pullman provided… Apartments Doctor’s offices Sport’s fields Shops And expected… Rent No alcohol No loitering

  22. Letters from the citizens of Pullman “One fine morning a number of men...will knock at your door and tell you that they have come to whitewash your house. They will not bother you with questions...but they just go in and do it...all charges for repairs....will be DEDUCTED FROM YOUR WAGES next pay day. You would have liked to wait another week...because you wanted to buy a pair of shoes for your boy. The company can't care about that!”

  23. “Pullman was all very well as an employer, but to live and breathe and have one's being in Pullman was a bit too much. Residents paid rent to the Pullman Company, they bought gas of the Pullman Company, they walked on streets owned in fee simple by the Pullman Company, they paid water-tax to the Pullman Company...They sent their children to Pullman's school, attended Pullman's church, looked at but dared not enter Pullman's hotel with its private bar, for that was the limit. Pullman did not sell them their grog [liquor]...The lives of the working men were bounded on all sides by the Pullman Company; Pullman was the horizon in every direction.”

  24. Industry grows Markets Expand Unites country in time and space Railroad Expansion Employs and endangers many immigrants Increase in immigration and migration to the west

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