Rivers provided an inexpensive, efficient means of transportation. Steamboats, along with railroads, were among the major defining elements of the 19th-century transportation revolution. The power of steam created a means of transportation that was no longer constrained by the limitations of man or beast. They allowed more goods and people to be moved faster and more efficiently. Railroads opened the West for settlement, provided new economic opportunities, stimulated the development of town and communities, and tied the young country together.