1 A Brief History of Railroads in the United States It would seem remiss of me to write a book in which the railroad industry plays such a significant role and not provide at least some cursory discussion of its evolution during the period that will be my focus: the nineteenth century. I am sure that most readers have some knowledge about railroads in the United States, but my guess is that it focuses on the period following the Civil War, the time when train tracks crossed the plains and mountains to reach the West Coast. There is, in fact, much more. The early years of the railroad set the stage for how it became so integral to everyday life, to the expansion of the economy, and even to those who thought it a good idea to try and manage the nation''s fish stock by moving fish around the country. Not to mention how in the latter decades of the century railroads were at the forefront of the emerging trend of pleasure travel--tourism. It turns out that railroads were instrumental not only in helping the government try to manage the nation''s fish stock, but also in kindling the public''s interest in both the outdoors in general and in the activities it offers, such as fishing. The Early Years: 1830 to 1860 During the early 1800s the United States of America was growing and growing fast. With most of its population residing near the East Coast, it became critical to find the least costly and most efficient means of transporting goods--especially raw materials and agricultural products, from the then-western reaches of the country to the population centers in the East.

Roads existed, but transporting merchandise and produce any significant distance along them using wagons and carts was not only expensive but also time consuming. To illustrate, around 1820 the cost of moving a ton of goods from Buffalo to New York City--about four hundred miles--took twenty days. Water routes along streams and rivers provided one alternative. So did man-made canals, perhaps the most famous of which is the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, linked Lake Erie in the West to the Hudson River in the East. The canal allowed grain and other agricultural products to travel more quickly from the West to New York City, bolstering the city''s prominence as the major East Coast port. Once opened the canal had an immediate effect on commerce: the cost of transporting that ton of goods from Buffalo to New York plummeted from about one hundred dollars a ton to only five dollars a ton. And now the trip was completed in only six days.

The success of the Erie Canal prompted the construction of canals in other states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Virginia. Those in state and local governments believed that funding such public works would boost their local economies. Even though great sums of money were invested in these projects, most were commercial failures.1 Many of the canals built simply did not have the scope of business that would ensure their commercial success. For example, goods shipped along the Erie Canal to New York City served a much larger market--domestic and foreign--than, say, goods sent to Baltimore. Weather was another issue: many canals simply could not operate in the winter when cold weather froze over the canals. Canals soon faced another major problem: the introduction of the newest advance in transportation, the railroad. According to one reviewer, "Their [canals] value had been almost entirely superseded by railways, which private enterprise soon constructed upon all their routes.

"2 The impact of the first railroads was muted because the earliest railroads were constructed only for specific and local purposes. The Granite Railway of Massachusetts, for example, built in October 1826, hauled granite slabs to Bunker Hill for the purpose of erecting a monument. It covered a three-mile stretch between the town of Quincy and the Neponset River. Similarly, the Mauch Chunk railroad, constructed in 1827, moved coal from Pennsylvania mines to the Lehigh River for shipment. Though these represent the early beginnings of American railroading, a major caveat being that horses and mules were used to pull the cars along the track. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was one of the first true railroads: it had a locomotive that pulled the cars behind it. To better compete with New York as an export center, Baltimore''s civic leaders chartered the b&o in February West Virginia. This would link Baltimore with the Ohio River and all of the produce that moved along it.

Baltimore would thus be connected to the emerging agricultural production in the country''s midsection. That dream, however, would take many years to fulfill. Several years after construction began, the b&o had managed to build only fifteen miles of track, all within the Baltimore city limits. The other railroad company often considered to be one of the nation''s first was the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company. Chartered in 1827, its purpose was to ship agricultural goods from inland farms and plantations that arrived at its western terminus in Hamburg, South Carolina (across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia) to Charleston. From there the goods would be exported to foreign markets. The South Carolina claimed several firsts in U.S.

railroad history. It was the first to employ a steam locomotive built in the United States. Named the "Best Friend of Charleston," the locomotive was manufactured at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York. Another claim to fame is that on Christmas Day 1830, the railroad ran an excursion trip with 141 passengers, the most for a steam-powered train to date. Perhaps most importantly, when completed in October 1833 its 163 miles of track between Charleston and Hamburg made it the longest railroad in the world.