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Early modes of Transportation in 19th century America
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The Railroad
Early modes of Transportation in 19th century America
In the early part of the 1800’s road systems in the United States were limited and were not usually constructed as well or even maintained. Most roads during this time would be constructed by local towns and would institute rules that required those in the town to help build these roads. Some states would hire companies to build and maintain roads and these companies would charge a toll for those that used it. On any given day you could cross several roads with several tolls. As you can see by the graph below; maintaining and collecting tolls could be very profitable for a business. Many states were looking to expand their road systems as a way to attract commerce and business. On average, 27% of businesses during this time were businesses that were involved with the turnpike system. in fact, Daniel Klien of the University of California stated; "Private road building came and went in waves throughout the nineteenth century and across the country, with between 2,500 and 3,200 companies successfully financing, building, and operating their toll road. There were three especially important episodes of toll road construction: the turnpike era of the eastern states 1792 to 1845; the plank road boom 1847 to 1853; and the toll road of the far West 1850 to 1902."
Turnpikes
Dance of the Maenads by Andries Cornelis Lens
The expansion of road systems in the early 1800's in America
The Erie Canal was an amazing engineering accomplishment designed and completed by those who were considered amateurs in the field of canal constructions. In fact, the federal government under President Thomas Jefferson commented that “it was nothing short of madness" and federal funds would not be used. New York state was not deterred and pushed forward with the project and even asked for suggestions from those amateurs. Initial work was slow on the canal and at one point it even stopped as a result of not enough laborers. New York would find the solution with the influx of Irish Immigrants to the country who were all too eager to find work. When the canal project reached swamp areas, workers were coming down with malaria and dying. Thousands of these Irish immigrants would die from malaria as a result of working in mosquito contaminated areas along the proposed route. In the end, a 363 mile waterway had been constructed between the Hudson river near Albany and completed at the Niagara River near Buffalo New York which empties into Lake Erie.
Canals
Erie Canal System
The Railroads
As early as 1815, engineers and inventors were looking forward to a machine that would revolutionize transportation in America. The first crucial piece was designing the steam engine that would build enough pressure that would turn a wheel and propel a vessel as big as a train. Americans had relied upon the horse and wagon and found themselves restricted to waterways because of the ease of transporting materials. The railroad would eventually connect all of these areas to create a transportation system that would allow those in the West to ship their products to the East and vice versa. Some would say that the Civil War could not have been won without the rail system in the North which had access to resources and factories which provided war supplies. After the Civil War, and with the completion of the Transcontinental railroad on May 10th, 1869, the railroad would dominate transportation for the next hundred years. A tragic cost of the railroad would be the end of the Native Americans way of life with the destruction of buffalo herds which was a vital part of Native American culture.
Departure of the Amazons - Claude Déruet
Immigrant Labor
The Irish
The Chinese
African Americans
Native Americans
“Chinese workers were brought over specifically to work on the railroad and they were considered somewhere in between human and animal. They were not expected to survive. They were expected to come here and die”. (Margaret Cho) Between 10-12,000 Chinese were brought over to specifically work on the western leg of the railroad construction. It is estimated that 1,500 Chinese died in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Though treated poorly, they were the only immigrant group that was brave enough to work with nitro-glycerine which was being used more than dynamite to clear paths through rock and stone. This is where a majority of the fatalities among Chinese would come from.
The Irish who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad had decades of experience working with railroads. The Irish who had immigrated to the United States in the 1800s found jobs laying track in areas that were later divided by the Union North and the Confederate South. Irish immigrants proved valuable during the Civil War because of the patriotism they brought to the cause but were talented skilled laborers. The railroads proved valuable to both sides of the Civil War and would lay the framework for a future rail system that would connect the United States from coast to coast. When the Transcontinental Railroad was being built, the companies that had received the right to build the railroads looked towards Irish immigrants who were veterans of the conflict on both sides.
Native Americans had a much different role in the Transcontinental Railroad. Native Americans believed that the land did not belong to just anybody and that the land was provided as a way to feed, clothe, and shelter people. The problem that the companies building the Transcontinental railroad faced was that it was building through Native land. Natives saw this as a direct threat to their culture and in some cases they would put up a resistance to slow the process of building. Tribes would harass workers on the railroad, attempt to derail trains when possible, and to kill those operating trains in their land. Not all Native Americans were against this progress, but saw it as a way of enriching their lives. In fact, there were 800 Pawnee men who patrolled the railroad to protect the crew and livestock from their enemies the Sioux
The end of the Civil War would bring many opportunities for freed slaves to earn money and potentially homestead along the railroad. As with the Irish, African Americans were an able labor source that was easily manipulated by owners of the railroads. Most African Americans earned a lower wage than others working on the railroad, when the railroad was completed, African Americans found integral positions on this new Transcontinental railway system. African Americans shoveled coal into the furnaces of the engine, some were porters, and others were responsible for the hospitalities on the train. Though these roles seem somewhat similar to positions they may have been in prior to being freed, African Americans during this time were seeking the benefits that their new found freedom could bring them as a result of the railroad.
Immigrant Labor
Construction
Construction
In 1862, congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, which provided charters to two companies to build the Transcontinental Railroad. The two companies were the Union Pacific and Central Pacific. One company would start in the East while the other would start in the West, and their hopes were that they would meet in the middle. When congress issued these charters, it did not have enough money to fund this massive project. The railroad companies received large land grants as payment for work completed on the railroad. This put the government in a position where they needed to clear Native Americans from the lands that were occupied. Construction was dangerous, conditions were poor at times, and the constant threat of Indian raids made it even more difficult.
Transcontinental Railroad in Action
Railroad in Action
Sources
Transcontinental Railroad - Construction, Competition & Impact - HISTORY, 20 April 2010, https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad. Accessed 19 March 2023.
Congress and the American West: The Transcontinental Railroad, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/text/page15_text.html. Accessed 19 March 2023.
“American Indians and the Transcontinental Railroad - CCE.” Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement, https://handa.utah.gov/american-indians-and-the-transcontinental-railroad-2/. Accessed 19 March 2023.
Brown, Amy. “Irish Railroad Workers.” Utah Historical Markers, https://utahhistoricalmarkers.org/cat/rr/irish-railroad-workers/. Accessed 19 March 2023.
Jefferson, Alison Rose. “The Transcontinental Railroad, African Americans and the California Dream.” California Historical Society, 17 June 2019, https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/blog/the-transcontinental-railroad-african-americans-and-the-california-dream/. Accessed 19 March 2023.
Sources
“Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad | American Experience.” PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-native-americans-and-transcontinental-railroad/. Accessed 19 March 2023.
Back, Gregory, writer. “How The Erie Canal Transformed America.” It's History, 09 12 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGYXgzHkeY&ab_channel=IT%27SHISTORY.
Dearinger, Ryan. The Filth of Progress: Immigrants, Americans, and the Building of Canals and Railroads in the West. University of California Press, 2015. Accessed 13 March 2023.
History Channel, creator. The Transcontinental Railroad Unites | America: The Story of Us. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2010.
Klein, Daniel B., and John Majewski. “Turnpikes and Toll Roads in Nineteenth-Century America.” EH.Net, 10 February 2008, http://eh.net/encyclopedia/turnpikes-and-toll-roads-in-nineteenth-century-america/. Accessed 13 March 2023.