Railroads 1826 to 1911

In the 1800s, the spread of railroads enabled the growth and spread of the United States. Although slow by today’s standards, trains traveled more quickly than other forms of transportation available at the time. By train, it took roughly four days to reach San Francisco from Omaha, Nebraska. By contrast, it had taken covered wagons four to six months, and stagecoaches around a month. In addition to travel, railroads facilitated trade and economic growth. Prior to railroads, people relied on a system of roads and canals for transportation of goods and crops. But this system could be unreliable depending on road conditions, the weather, and many other factors. Trains brought products made in the factories of the East and Midwest to the rest of the country and carried farm produce and livestock to urban markets. The first railroad charter was granted to John Stevens in 1815, and several railroads were in service by 1830. Early rail development was haphazard, financed by individual investors and built without government oversight. Rail gauges, or the distance between rails, could be different depending on the company. This caused a lot of problems for connecting railroads, because only trains designed for that gauge could use those sections of track. Despite miles of track being built, people were generally still skeptical about the usefulness of railroads. In 1843, the Western Railroad of Massachusetts proved to Americans that trains could transport crops and other goods long distances at low costs. By 1861, there were 35,400 kilometers (22,000 miles) of track in the North and only 15,300 kilometers (9,500 miles) in the South. Troops and supplies could be transported quickly using trains. Many battles, like the Battle of Bull Run, were fought over control of Southern railway depots, and tracks were used to move both Confederate and Union soldiers to battles. After the Civil War, railway construction increased significantly. In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act with the goal of building a transcontinental railroad. The first, built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company in the West and the Union Pacific in the Midwest, was completed in 1869. Following roughly the route previously taken by the Pony Express and the California Trail, the route was called the Overland Route. Construction was dangerous, as rail crews had to cross mountains, rivers, and other difficult terrain. For this work, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific relied mainly on immigrant labor, recruiting Chinese immigrants in the West and Irish immigrants in the Midwest. Formerly enslaved people and Mormons were also part of these crews. Between 10,000 and 15,000 Chinese workers completed an estimated 90 percent of work on the Central Pacific’s portion of track, facing racism, violence, and discrimination. Chinese workers were often paid less than white workers and were given the most undesirable and dangerous jobs. The Overland Route was one of the first land-grant railroads. To fund construction of such a long and expensive project, the U.S. government gave railroad companies millions of acres of land that they could sell for profit. Following this model, many more railroads were built, including four additional transcontinental railroads. These new railroads took southern and northern routes across the country. In addition to connecting existing cities on the West Coast to the rest of the country, the railroads also influenced where people settled. Trains made multiple stops to refuel, make repairs, and take on more food and water. In return, towns grew around these stops. More than 7,000 cities and towns west of the Missouri River started as Union Pacific depots and water stops. In 1890, the U.S. Bureau of the Census announced that the “Frontier was closed.” The railroads had played a large role in that milestone. This dataset was researched and built by Dr. Jeremy Atack, Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of Economics at Vanderbilt University. His procedure and sources, as well as downloadable files, are documented here.19世纪，铁路的普及推动了美国的发展与扩张。尽管以当今的标准来看速度缓慢，但火车在当时比其他所有交通工具都更为快捷。从内布拉斯加州奥马哈乘坐火车前往旧金山，仅需约四天时间；而有篷马车需要四至六个月，驿站马车则耗时约一个月。除客运外，铁路还促进了贸易与经济增长。在铁路出现之前，人们依靠公路与运河网络运输货物与农作物，但该系统的可靠性受路况、天气等诸多因素影响，并不稳定。火车将美国东部与中西部工厂生产的产品运往全国各地，同时将农产品与牲畜运往城市市场。1815年，约翰·史蒂文斯（John Stevens）获得了首个铁路特许经营权，到1830年已有多条铁路投入运营。早期铁路发展杂乱无章，由个人投资者出资，且不受政府监管。轨距（rail gauge），即两条铁轨之间的距离，因铁路公司而异，这给铁路联网带来了诸多问题——只有适配该轨距的火车才能使用对应的轨道区段。尽管铺设了长达数英里的铁轨，当时民众普遍仍对铁路的实用性持怀疑态度。1843年，马萨诸塞州西部铁路（Western Railroad of Massachusetts）向美国人证明了火车能够以低成本长距离运输农作物及其他货物。到1861年，美国北部的铁轨总长达到35400公里（22000英里），而南部仅为15300公里（9500英里）。火车能够快速运送军队与物资，包括布尔溪战役（Battle of Bull Run）在内的多场战役均围绕南方铁路仓库的控制权展开，铁轨也被用于将邦联与联邦的士兵运往战场。美国内战结束后，铁路建设大幅提速。1862年，美国国会通过《太平洋铁路法案》（Pacific Railway Act），旨在修建横贯大陆的铁路。首条横贯大陆铁路由西部的中央太平洋铁路公司（Central Pacific Railroad Company）与中西部的联合太平洋铁路公司（Union Pacific）共同承建，于1869年完工。该线路大致沿用了驿马快信（Pony Express）与加利福尼亚小道（California Trail）的路线，被称为“陆路路线”（Overland Route）。修建过程极具危险性，铁路施工队需要穿越山脉、河流与其他复杂地形。中央太平洋与联合太平洋主要依靠移民劳动力：西部招募华工，中西部则招募爱尔兰移民，前奴隶与摩门教徒也参与其中。约10000至15000名华工完成了中央太平洋标段约90%的工程，他们饱受种族主义、暴力与歧视，薪资通常低于白人工人，且被分配最艰苦、最危险的工作。陆路路线是首批获赠土地的铁路之一。为资助这项漫长且耗资巨大的工程，美国政府向铁路公司划拨了数百万英亩土地，这些土地可通过出售获利。在此模式推动下，更多铁路得以建成，其中包括另外四条横贯大陆铁路，这些新线路分别从南北不同路线横跨美国。除了将西海岸现有城市与美国其他地区连接起来，铁路还影响了人们的定居点分布。火车会多次停靠以补充燃料、进行维修以及补给食物与水，停靠点周边逐渐发展为城镇。密苏里河以西超过7000座城镇最初均为联合太平洋铁路的仓库与供水站。1890年，美国人口普查局（U.S. Bureau of the Census）宣布“边疆已消失”，铁路在这一历史里程碑中发挥了重要作用。本数据集由范德堡大学荣誉退休经济学教授、研究教授杰里米·阿塔克（Jeremy Atack）博士研究并构建。其研究方法、数据来源以及可下载文件均已在此处归档。