Transcontinental Railroad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transcontinental Railroad - Essay ExampleThe California Legislature took a hand in the issue in 1855-6, fearing that Congress might relax its energies, and urged a speedy plait of a railroad, but the jealousy of politicians delayed the initiative (San Francisco News Letter, 1925). During this period, short line railroads were being make in the Mid West. The credit of starting the enterprise goes to Le knowledge domain Stanford. One day, as he was passing the Collis P. Huntington repositing in Sacramento, Leland Stanford saw the wagons being loaded. With the development of traffic, Leland Stanford realized the need of a quicker and improved flattop service, so he discussed the matter with Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. All of them mutually consented that a railroad connection with the eastern was needed. Charles Crocker was a leading direction, and the spirit of dominant energy in pressing construction through and all over all obstruction (San Francisco N ews Letter, 1925). The water transportation met the needs of America in the pre-Civil War period. In the early 1830s, locomotives arrived in America from the Great Britain, and greatly inspired the local people of America, who were already thirstily waiting for the year-round transportation service that would be punctual unlike the riverboats and the canal barges. The railroad was bonnie about to become the mode of transportation of the industrial America by 1860, when a tracks network ran crosswise the eastern half of America. The great concern at that time was of its defrayal. There were two main options for payment either the close investors would finance the railroads, or the railroads could be the enterprises of the state. America selected the free enterprise unlike some of the European countries. The government played a great role in it. Railroads were lured by a handle of states and localities with financial aids offers. The federal government promoted the interregional rail construction by means of land grants. However, the most significant boost was a legal corporation which assisted in the collection of private capital in prodigious amounts. In this way, people who had invested in the railroads were saved as they bore only the risk of the invested money rather than being personally liable for the debts of the railroad. The responsibility of making the railroad was tending(p) to the construction companies. A vast majority of those companies were financial structures. Hiring contractors and suppliers often involved persuading them to accept the railroads bonds as payment and, when that failed, wheeling and dealing to raise cash by selling or acceptance on the bonds (Henretta, 2009, p. 498). Most of the construction companies were very corrupt. The promoters tried to pocket a significant percentage of the contribute funds reserved for construction of the railroads. Factories were rapidly established in America during the 1870s. The products of these factories including paper, textile, and fabrics replaced the home-made articles. With the economical surge of America, a new kind of demand arose. Railroads needed locomotives new factories needed machinery cities needed trolley lines, sanitation systems, and commercialized Structures