The Age of the RailroadsChapter 14 Section 2

Ms. Bonifazio & Mr. Piernick

Inventions Promote Change

Thomas Alva Edison-Established the world’s first

research laboratory.

-Invented the light bulb

-Invented electrical system

1.Electrical power ran numerous machines, from fans to printing presses.

2. Became available to homes

3. Industry grew like never before

George Westinghouse-The first air brake, making

braking a safer venture and thus

permitting train to travel at higher

Speeds.

Inventions Promote Change

Christopher Sholes-Invented the typewriter

(Changed the world of work)

Alexander Graham Bell

-Invented the telephone

(open the way for worldwide communication network)

The Expansion of Industry Natural Resources

The use of oil known as “black gold” became useful.

Edwin L. Drake decided that the best way to find oil was to dig for it. He used an old steam engine to power the drill. Which produced a steady flow of oil a day. The breakthrough started an oil boom.

Petroleum-refining industries arose-transforming oil into kerosene

Gasoline a byproduct of the refining process became the most important form of oil

The deposit of coal and iron

Removing the carbon from iron created a lighter; more flexible and rust-resistant metal-steel

The Transcontinental Railroad

Railroads had already transformed life in the East, but at the end of the Civil War railroad tracks still stopped at the Missouri River. For a quarter of a century, men had dreamed of building a line from coast to coast. Now they would attempt to lay 1,775 miles of track from Omaha to Sacramento.

Slide #1

The Transcontinental Railroad

U.S. Government hired Union Pacific and Central Pacific U.S. Government hired Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railway Company to extend railways across the United Railway Company to extend railways across the United States. States. The Central Pacific was to push eastward from Sacramento, over the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Union Pacific was to start from Omaha Nebraska, cross the great plains and cut through the Rockies.

Slide #4

The Transcontinental Railroad

In 1862, Congress loaned the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads Money. Congress also promised each company acres of federal land for every mile of track it laid.

Slide #13

The Transcontinental Railroad

The Union Pacific and Central Pacific were soon locked in a race to see who could lay the most track -- and therefore get the most land and money.

Slide #5

The Transcontinental Railroad

The Central Pacific Railroad employed Chinese immigrants and the Union Pacific hired Irish immigrants.

All the immigrants worked for low pay and in horrible weather conditions.

About 2000 employees died and 20,000 were injured due to either accidents or diseases.

Slide #14

.. x

Omaha, Nebraska

Sacramento, California

Promontory Point, Utah May 10, 1869

Union Pacific Railroad

Central Pacific

Railroad

·Two companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, began building the first transcontinental railroad.

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Scheduling was a major concernBefore the railroads, each town kept its own time, based on the position of the sun. The time differences from town to town created confusion. . Railroad companies, however, needed more exact time tables. They devised a system with four time zones – eastern, central, mountain and pacific time. Everyone living in a particular zone would follow the same time. However, the U.S. Congress didn’t officially adopt railroad time as the standard for the nation until 1918.

Slide #18

USA Time Zones

Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern Time.

The Impact of the Railroads

• Easy for people to travel long distances.

•Economic growth.

•Steel-workers turned millions of tons of iron into steel for tracks and engines.

•Lumberjacks supplied wood for railroad ties.

•Miners dug coal to fuel the engines.

•Increase in trade among cities, towns, and settlements.

•Creation of new towns.

Slide #22

A “CompanyTown”:

Pullman, IL•George M. Pullman built a factory for manufacturing sleepers and other railroad cars on the Illinois prairie.

•He built a nearby town for his employees that provided basic needs. Pullman resident lived in clean, well-constructed brick houses and apartment building.

•However, Pullman tried to control many aspects of their lives.

•They were not allowed to loiter on their front steps or drink alcohol.

•He wanted to control a stable work force environment. But due to his refusal to lower rent after cutting his employee’s pay led to the violent strike in 1894.

A “CompanyTown”:

Pullman, IL•George M. Pullman built a factory for manufacturing sleepers and other railroad cars on the Illinois prairie.

•He built a nearby town for his employees that provided basic needs. Pullman resident lived in clean, well-constructed brick houses and apartment building.

•However, Pullman tried to control many aspects of their lives.

•They were not allowed to loiter on their front steps or drink alcohol.

•He wanted to control a stable work force environment. But due to his refusal to lower rent after cutting his employee’s pay led to the violent strike in 1894.

Pullman CarsPullman Cars

A Pullman A Pullman porterporter

The Grange and the Railroad

Farmers were especially disturbed by what they viewed as railroad corruption.

Members of the Grange (farmers’ organization) began demanding governmental control over the railroad industry.

Railroad abuses:

*selling government land grants to business rather than to families

*setting high shipping prices to keep farmers in debt.

Credit Mobilier

Pullman created his company town of the desire of control and profit.Members of the Union Pacific Railroad formed a construction company called Credit Mobilier.They gave their company contracts to lay railroad track at two or three times the actual cost. They kept all the profits.

The Grange and the Railroads

Railroad fought back against the Grangers, challenging the constitutionality of the regulatory laws.

In 1877, the case of Munn vs Illinois, the states won the right to regulate the railroads for the benefits of the farmers and consumers. In 1886, the Supreme Court ruled that a state could not set rates or interstate commerce.

In response to public outrage, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 – the right of federal government to supervise railroad activities and established 5 member Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) for that purpose.

The ICC did have difficulty regulating railroad rates because of long legal process and resistance from the railroad.

Panic and Consolidation

Although the ICC presented few problems for the railroads, corporate abuses, mismanagement, overbuilding, and competition pushed many railroads to the brink of bankruptcy. Railroads were forced out of business, which led to the Panic of 1893.The Panic of 1893 was the worst depression up to that time. 600 bank and 15,000 business failed and 4 million people lost their jobs.By 1894, railroads had been taken over by financial companies such as J.P. Morgan & Company who reorganized the railroads.This caused the Large Firms to start buying up the railways, which paved the way for Big Businesses

The End