Hodder Education History catalogue 2024 - Catalog - Page 45
BEN WALSH HISTORY
SECTION 2 THE AMERICAN WEST, C1835–C1895
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SOURCE 2
The spread of the railroad network
and its impact
The spread of the network
After the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad in
1869 the network then expanded massively. Many new railroad
companies started up, backed by wealthy investors in the East
who hoped to share in big profits. Thousands of miles of new
track were laid. By 1880, there were over 40,000 locomotives in
the USA and the railroads were the second largest employer after
agriculture. Not surprisingly, this expansion had very significant
effects on the country.
FIGURE 3
Seattle
CANADA
Helena
Portland
A poster published by a railway company
advertising homestead land for sale.
SOURCE 3
While we do not deserve all the
credit for the settlement of the
West – the Homestead Acts have
achieved great things – we believe
that the railroad companies
deserve most of the credit for the
settlement of the West. Without our
efforts the lands beside the tracks
would be completely unoccupied.
A statement by the Directors of
the Burlington and Missouri Rail
Company in 1873.
RETRIEVAL PRACTICE
1 Describe the expansion of
the railroad network in the West.
2 How big did the railroad industry
become?
3 What did the railroad companies
do to encourage homestead
settlement?
4 How does the railroad help explain
why South Dakota was settled
faster than North Dakota?
Boston
Bismarck
Promontory
Point
Cheyenne Omaha
Reno Salt
Denver
Sacramento Lake
San
City
Francisco
Santa Fe
Los Angeles
The Great
Lakes
Duluth
Phoenix
Chicago Cleveland
Kansas City
N
Albuquerque
Atlantic Ocean
Pacific
Ocean
MEXICO
Key
New York
Philadelphia
New Orleans
Houston
Major railways
Union Pacific RR San
Gulf of Mexico
Kansas Pacific RR
Central Pacific RR Antonio
Railroad network in the East
0
1000
km
The spread of the railroad network across the West from 1869 to 1875. This map shows
the major networks, but smaller local lines were built as well.
More settlers in the West
The railroads brought people into the towns and cities of the West.
San Francisco tripled in size between 1860 and 1870. Denver
in Colorado grew from 5000 in 1870 to 36,000 in 1880. In some
cases, completely new towns developed, such as Abilene in Texas.
But it was not just the towns that grew. The railroad companies
knew they could make money selling the land the government
had granted them to homesteaders (see Source 2). The
companies had overseas offices, particularly in Germany and
Scandinavia, to encourage people in these countries to emigrate
to America and settle on their lands. By 1880, the railroad
companies had sold more than 200 million acres of homesteads.
South Dakota, which had railroads, was settled twice as quickly
as North Dakota, which did not have them.
122
Sample pages from Ben Walsh History: Superpower relations and the Cold War,
The American West and Weimar and Nazi Germany
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