Enhancing Travels
American transportation used to be inefficient and often available only for those who could afford it. In early 19th century America there was a mass westward migration, but the means of transportation were inadequate, not accommodating for the heavy movement to the interior parts of the country. Primary means of transportation in early 1800s included turnpikes and canals. Although viable transportation options, none of them proved to be successful in the long-term.
-Turnpikes were relatively short-lived because of assorted economic factors: for long hauls, their value was limited because of high tolls and long travel times, and the turnpikes didn't make money from investments. Roads were very poorly made at this time, and the same went for attempts to create an engined vehicle. There were several attempts to improve this condition: General Roy Stone, a Civil War hero, aided $10,000 to improve America's dirt road conditions and in 1893, the Duryea brothers built the first gasoline-powered motor wagon in the United States! Unfortunately, their vehicle had no brakes, and the historic test run of the vehicle ended with wagon being driven into the curb. They made more attempts at their vehicle and found success in their later 1895 version. The Duryea Brothers opened the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, the first-ever commercially produced vehicle and largest automobile industry in the United States.
-Canals connected the major waterways of the early republic. They had a chance for success because they were funded by investments, stocks, state bonds, and direct financing by some state governments. Even though they received so much money, they failed to subsist because of financial panics in 1830s, high maintenance costs and the introduction of railroads.
Railroads initially started to development during the 1820s and 1830s. Although there were only few railroads at first, the railroad industry started booming in the 1860s. Railroads were very costly to build, but were able to be sufficiently funded by generous land grants from Congress. Major railroads were being built all over the country: Union Pacific Railroad (eastern), Central Pacific (western), Southern Pacific (southwestern), Great Northern (northwestern and Northern Pacific (northern).The combination of the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad form the first intercontinental railroad in Utah, in 1869.
With the introduction of the first intercontinental railroad, the western and eastern part of the country was connected, making transferring goods and people much easier. Railroads brought along scandals like stock-watering and the famous Credit Mobilier Scandal led by the owners of the Union Pacific Railroad, inflating prices to construct railroads for their own profit. However, although there was mass corruption, the introduction of railroads was very important economically. Because of railroads, shipping goods became a much less laborious task, and industries began to rise.
Railroads were often regarded as a safety hazard but inventions such as the Westinghouse air brakes by George Westinghouse and steel rail (instead of iron) by Cornelius Vanderbilt. There were also gifted railroad innovators who made the railroads with time and effort, unlike previous sloppy jobs done by large railroad companies.