East Meets West

By 1870, railroad mania is in full swing. Profits are so attractive that companies begin planning routes to places where there are barely any people. Like the mostly-empty new states of Nebraska and Nevada.

Railroad investors are confident that people will follow right behind the new track being laid. They can make money just by buying up land along the planned route, before the plans are announced.

Turbo-charging everything is the transcontinental railroad, stretching all the way to California. Investors had scouted possible routes for years, but the distance is immense, and mountains block the way.

Finally completed in 1869, it is financed with bonds sold by both the railroads and the federal government. Three different railroad companies handle construction, while the government kicks in free land and per-mile subsidies.


	Transcontinental By 1870, new railroads are crisscrossing the East, right up to the new prairie states of Kansas and Nebraska. Then comes a bold leap. The transcontinental railroad jumps over the mountains to connect California with the rest of the country. The federal government allocates a 20-mile-wide stretch of land along the entire route, half of which is given to the railroad companies, along with generous payments for each mile of track laid. It is owned by the government but operated by the railroads, making it America's first big 'public-private' partnership.



	Open for Business At nearly 2,000 miles in length, the transcontinental railroad is a triumph. It demonstrates that government backing can make big things happen. But the downside of government funding also quickly becomes apparent. In the rush to complete construction, and receive government subsidies for construction costs, railroad companies skimp on materials and construction methods. Almost immediately after completion, repairs and upgrades are needed to bridges, roadbeds and rails. High mountain sections are also a problem. With routine deep snowfall, long snow sheds are needed to keep the track clear. There is a brief bankruptcy scare, but soon the new rail line is prospering. Traffic expands briskly.


	Jumping the Mississippi Railroads are expanding everywhere in 1870, but especially in a region that used to be called the 'West,' but which today we call the 'Midwest.' With California now connected by rail, the whole western half of the nation is the new 'West.' GREEN lines on the map are railroads built between 1860 and 1870. ORANGE lines are older routes. The great bulk of the new routes extend west into the fertile farming region that butts right up against the great American prairie, which is a much drier, north-south zone running down through Nebraska and Kansas (dark on this map). Settlers are now streaming into these states, just as they had into every other region during the continuing push west.


	Harnessing Steam Steam locomotives are the most sophisticated mechanisms in America. Coal is shoveled into the firebox, heating air which is drawn forward through water in the boiler tank (BLUE highlight). Steam rises from the water just forward of the cab, and expands through pipes into the pistons, driving them back and forth to power the main drive wheels. In order to haul freight up long hills, locomotives need to produce the maximum amount of energy possible. The locomotive itself weighed 30 tons. The firebox has to be frequently fed with fresh coal from the tender, which is directly behind. At the same time, water boiling off as steam has to be continually replaced from the reservoir, which is also in the tender.


	Symbiotic Relationship All the newly-opened land in the Midwest acts as fuel for additional railroad expansion. Previous to the Civil War, almost all railroads were built to connect existing cities and supply hubs. After the war, however, new lines are pushing west into land which is barely even settled (darker areas on map). The YELLOW dots on the map indicate railroad stops. These are spaced along routes, usually 5 or 10 miles apart, and act like magnets for settlement. In the past, small towns often sprang up along a rail route at each stop, and this trend is expected to continue. The drier land in western Nebraska and Kansas, however, is less suitable for settlement. Trouble is brewing.


	Financing the Boom Most railroads built prior to 1870 are relatively small-scale operations, such as the Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railway in Wisconsin (GREEN line on map). Green Bay is the 'anchor' for this line, but at the time has only 5,000 residents. Typically, such railroads are financed by local stock offerings (top left). Banks and prominent citizens are eager to buy stock in proposed new routes, as are a surprising number of European investors, and the money is used to finance construction. New routes are less assured of success, however, in areas where settlements do not already exist. Meanwhile, the transcontinental railroad brings the telegraph along with it to San Francisco, putting the short-lived Pony Express out of business (top right).