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Railroads Unite America

Railroads Unite America. The Transcontinental Railroad. Completed in 1869 Connected the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast Reduced travel time from months to days.

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Railroads Unite America

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  1. Railroads Unite America

  2. The Transcontinental Railroad • Completed in 1869 • Connected the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast • Reduced travel time from months to days

  3. By the 1890s, railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, mail, building materials, and access to markets.

  4. Made it faster and cheaper for homesteaders to settle the plains

  5. Railroads & mail-order merchants made it possible for people in remote rural areas to enjoy inexpensive consumer goods.

  6. In the West, railroads helped open new territory to economic exploitation

  7. Played a large part in the creation of the first national parks.

  8. Cornelius Vanderbilt • Built a trading company with his own steamships and expanded to ocean going ships. • Gained control of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1863 • Purchased several other railroads and merged them into one of the first giant corporations in American history. • Built the Grand Central Depot (Grand Central Station today) in 1871 • Streamlined railroad service in the U.S. • Built up a $100 million fortune (worth about $140 billion today) • Founded Vanderbilt University

  9. Railroad “barons” created vast railroad networks and monopolies with free land given by the government: Pacific Railway Act... • Raised money by selling many of their land grants • Used Chinese and Irish immigrants to lay tracks

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