Summary of the Impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad (TCRR)

By: Henry Allen

            The TCRR seriously impacted America in numerous ways. Despite not being as successful as expected, it opened America up to itself through easier travel, exchange of ideas, and the resulting rail offshoots (although Natives were a bit doomed from the start).

            The TCRR was not as successful as it was predicted to be. The TCRR was supposed to be the transportation feat of the century, but it wasn't  About six months after it was completed, Egypt finished the Suez Canal, which made the USA even less necessary for Asian-European trade. The TCRR was still highly regarded, but not nearly as much as was hoped.

           

            America was opened up to itself through the TCRR. All of a sudden, it was easy to travel from the east coast to the west coast, with some stops in between. It only took a few days, and the railroad was safe and reliable, not nearly as dangerous as a regular land or sea route would have been. The ease of travel allowed Easterners and Westerners to see each other’s land, and exchange ideas. A book published in Boston could end up in San Francisco in a week. Additionally, the faster transcontinental travel allowed goods normally only found in the east to be easily transferred to the west, and vice-versa.

            Have one massive centered railroad in the form of the TCRR was the first step. Eventually, offshoots sprung up on the rails that could direct trains areas the TCRR didn't go through. The result was that a web of rails crossed through massive chunks of the USA, allowing even easier travel, trade, and exchange of ideas.

            As with most of early US history, the Natives took it in the shorts. The TCRR needed a lot of land, a lot of cleared land. So, treaties were made and the natives were moved further out of the way. The resulting webs of rails required more land, so treaties were again renegotiated and the natives were moved to smaller reservations. Along with the webs of rails came hunters and sportsmen, who ended up mass-slaughtering the buffalo herds that the natives depended on.

To summarize further:

The TCRR encouraged reliable, safe trade and travel, allowing for exchange of ideas. It wasn't as popular as people thought it would be, but it still made tons of money. It set a precedent for other rails to expand off of, and the Natives ended up in rather small reservations with even smaller hers of buffalo to depend on.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-impact/