PDF-[EBOOK]-Landmarks on the Iron Road: Two Centuries of North American Railroad Engineering

American civil engineers were unsurpassed in their ability to buildrailroads over great distances and across high mountain passes to erect greatbridges or to bore tunnels of prodigious length This is a remarkable story of theapplication of engineering to the building of a transportation system that civilizedand settled America and then supported an industrial revolution and created a worldpower. The Specter of Reregulation Haunts America’s Railroads. Marc Scribner. Research Fellow. Competitive Enterprise Institute. mscribner@cei.org. Preserving the American Dream Conference 2013. Overview. American Landmarks. Directions-. . Find and label on your map of America. Make a key that explains symbols that represent landmarks.. Rocky Mountains (left side). Appalachian Mountains (right side) . Revolution. Post Civil War. Between the Civil War & 1900, steam & electricity replaced human labor. Iron > wood. Steel > iron. Pre Bessemer process, 3-5 tons of iron was hardened into steel per day. The Growth of Railroads. Before the Civil War, most of the railroad track in America had been built in the Eastern USA, especially in the Northeast.. Gold was discovered in the West and people slowly began migrating westward.. Industry Comes of Age. Railroads. Iron Colt become and Iron Horse. Railroads in US. 1865: 35,000 miles of track. 1900: 192,556 miles of track. Government. Gave land and grants to railroad companies. Railroad= . Growth of Railroads. Most of the first railroads in America hauled goods short distances, often from ships to warehouses, using horses or oxen for power. The concept of the railroad as a means of long-distance transportation may have originated with John Stevens, the inventor who developed one of the first steamboats. In 1825 Stevens built a half-mile circular track on his estate in New Jersey and created the first steam locomotive to run on rails in the United States. Though his invention was not ready for commercial use, the idea sparked interest among other inventors. Around this time, English engineer George Stephenson designed a successful steam locomotive in England. The world’s first steam-powered, public passenger train, the British Stockton & Darlington Railway, soon began operation, and railroads quickly took over as England’s major transportation system.. Coach Duke. Towns that grew up almost overnight around mining sites were known . as. Boomtowns. 2. What . 1862 act passed by congress gave 160 free acres of land to settlers? . Homestead Act. 3. How . . . . . By the 1920’s, the U.S. had become the leading industrial power in the world, producing more than 1/3 of the world’s manufactured goods.. Up until this time, the U.S. was primarily an agricultural nation – Tobacco, Cotton, sugar, Indigo, Rice, Etc. . a. Explain the impact of the railroads on other industries, such as steel, and on the organization of big business.. The railroad companies contributed to the development of the West by selling low-cost parcels of their western land for farming. . p. t. e. r . 1. 7. . S. e. c. t. i. o. n. . 1. Vocabulary. Immigrate- to move to a foreign region or country(pg. 581). Manual- involving work done by hand(pg. 581). V. igilantes- or self-appointed law keepers(pg. 580). Railroads skyrocketed after the Civil War. Track mileage increased from 35,000 miles in 1865 to over 192,000 miles by 1900. . Congress encouraged this boom by giving millions of acres of land to the railroad companies. The total acreage was greater than the size of Texas. . Heartland. Video Guide. 1. What was the biggest obstacle in the way of building the transcontinental railroad?. The . Sierra Nevada Mountains. 2. Who were the two companies that built the railroad?. Section 1 – The Growth of Railroads. New Railroad Lines. Texans hoping railroads would spur economic growth.. Moving people & goods was time consuming and expensive. .. . * Texas rivers too shallow & unreliable for shipping.. American civil engineers were unsurpassed in their ability to buildrailroads over great distances and across high mountain passes, to erect greatbridges, or to bore tunnels of prodigious length. This is a remarkable story of theapplication of engineering to the building of a transportation system that civilizedand settled America, and then supported an industrial revolution and created a worldpower.