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Railroads expand and dominate
1856 189030,000 miles of track 180,000 miles of track
The Workers
Chinese immigrants for the Central Pacific
Irish immigrants & Civil War veterans for the Union
Pacific
2,000 killed
20,000 injured
In 1888 alone!
In 1888 alone!
First Transcontinental Railroad - May 10, 1869
Central Pacific RR meets the Union Pacific RR at… Promontory, Utah
United States was physically
united
Central Pacific starting in Sacramento, California
Union Pacific starting in
Omaha, Nebraska
The Great Race
The Transcontinental Railroad
Sacramento, CA
Promontory, UTOmaha, NB
United by time1869: railroads support plan by C.F. Dowd to create time zones worldwide
Why? So that they could schedule their trains
United States had four times zones
November 18, 1883 railroad crews synchronized their watches and “railroad time” was born
• cities, and towns
before railroads - independent, self-sufficient
Railroads, cities, and towns
after railroads - interdependent, specialized
Minneapolis - major grain industry
Chicago - major stockyards
Specialization of big cities
Please write and answer the following question in your notes:
• What were the effects of railroad expansion?
The Crédit Mobilier Scandal
Railroad Corruption:
Union Pacific RR
stockholders
create A construction company called Crédit Mobilierhires
buildPays three times the cost of
construction
Crédit Mobilier Scandal
Railroad corruption
Union Pacific RR
stockholders
create A construction company called Crédit Mobilier
hires
buildextra goes back to RR stockholders
Crédit Mobilier Scandal
Railroad corruption
Union Pacific RR
stockholders
create A construction company called Crédit Mobilier
hires
buildextra goes back to RR stockholders
Later some of the money goes to pay
off politicians
Please write and answer the following question in your notes:
• How did RR owners use Credit Mobilier to make huge, undeserved profits?
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
Problem: Supreme Court rules states can’t regulate
railroads crossing state lines (interstate commerce)
Interstate Commerce Act Congress passes Act in 1887 to
allow federal government regulate RR between states - ICC (Interstate Commerce
Commission) set up to regulate RR rates
Railroads companies fall apart…
Railroads suffer from…
Mismanagement
Corruption
Overbuilding
Six major companies go bankrupt
BANKRUPT
Bringing on the Depression of 1893
…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
Question time!
• How did the Grangers, who were largely poor farmers, do battle with the giant RR companies?
George M. Pullman’s Model Town Pullman sets up a
factory to build sleepers and other railroad cars
He created a model town for his workers
Town of Pullman provided…
Apartments
Doctor’s offices
Sport’s fields
Shops
And expected…
Rent
No alcohol
No loitering
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!”
“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.”
Railroad Expansion
Markets ExpandIndustry grows
Increase in immigration and migration to the west
Employs and endangers many
immigrants
Unites country in time and
space
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