Question

1. Explain the role of the railroad industry in expansion, economics, and new ways of conducting business.

Answer 1

Transcontinental railroad had tremendous economic effects. It was quite easy though it was a huge impact. Most of that originated from product flows. We can transport things from place to place now that we have this extended railroad. It replaced previous decades ' wagon trains that became obsolete.

Between 1869 to 1879, trade grew between the states allowing more than $50 million in cargo to be exported each year. Asian goods and Western raw materials were shipped to the East more quickly than ever before. The West started to catch up with the Eastern way of life, as more people could move west now

The transcontinental railroad allowed the long-distance transport of goods. That at the time was particularly helpful to the industrial north. While the country was still divided as a result of the Civil War, this railroad eventually helped unify the nation making it a super power.

Ultimately, the Transcontinental Railroad had an impact on the U.S. economy by transporting products and people which led to economic growth. By the 1900's, the United States produced 30 per cent of world products.

By blasting preheated air into molten iron, British engineer Henry Bessemer (1813–1898) developed a new process for making steel cheaply. Two years later the open-hearth method of steel production was developed by Siemens-Martin. Such methods significantly reduced the cost of steel production. In 1864, the first Bessemer converter was built in the United States, and the first open-hearth furnace was built in 1868, which was better suited to American iron ore. In the United States, both increased steel production. This meant that the railway companies could start laying steel rails instead of the troubled iron ones, which tended to warp

By 1873, nearly 115,000 tons of steel rail were produced by the United States, representing about one-eighth of all U.S. steel production. As steel prices continued to fall, steel rails replaced iron rails altogether.