Lesson 5: Mining, Railroads, and the Economy

Question 1

Consolidate Definition

Answer 1

to combine

Question 2

Gauge Definition

Answer 2

the width of a train track

Question 3

Lode Definition

Answer 3

a rich vein of gold, silver, or other valuable ore

Question 4

Network Definition

Answer 4

a system of connected railroad lines

Question 5

Pool Definition

Answer 5

a system in which several railroad companies agreed to divide up the business in an area and set prices

Question 6

Rebate Definition

Answer 6

a discount

Question 7

Subsidy Definition

Answer 7

a land grant or other financial help from the government

Question 8

Transcontinental Railroad Definition

Answer 8

a railroad that stretches across a continent from coast to coast

Question 9

Vigilante Definition

Answer 9

a self-appointed enforcer of the law

Question 10

What event started the Western mining boom and the Western Gold Rush? What happened when this gold rush ended?

Answer 10

The western mining boom had begun with the California gold rush of 1849. When the gold rush ended, miners looked for new opportunities. A mere rumor sent them racing east in search of new strikes.

Question 11

How was the the Comstock Lode found and founded in Nevada 1859? What was found in the heavy blue sand of the lode that proved to be valuable?

Answer 11

Two prospectors struck gold in Nevada in 1859. Then, another miner, Henry Comstock, appeared. “The land is mine,” he cried, demanding to be made a partner. From then on, Comstock boasted about “his” mine. The strike became known as the Comstock Lode. A lode is a rich vein of gold or silver. Comstock and his partners often complained about the heavy blue sand that was mixed in with the gold. It clogged the devices used for separating out the gold and made the gold hard to reach. When Mexican miners took the “danged blue stuff” to an expert in California, tests showed that it was loaded with silver. Comstock had stumbled onto one of the richest silver mines in the world.

Question 12

Where did miners move to beside the Comstock Lode?

Answer 12

Miners moved into many other areas of the West. Some found valuable ore in Montana and Idaho. Others struck it rich in Colorado. In the 1870s, miners discovered gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In the late 1890s, thousands rushed north to Alaska after major gold strikes were made there.

Question 13

How were boomtowns built so quickly? Who were most of the settlers in boomtowns? How did some women profit off boomtowns? How long did boomtowns generally last, and what happened to them after miners left? What is a ghost town?

Answer 13

Gold and silver strikes attracted thousands of prospectors. Towns sprang up almost overnight near all the major mining sites. First, miners built a tent city near the diggings. Then, people came to supply the miners’ needs. Traders brought mule teams loaded with tools, food, and clothing. Merchants hauled in wagon-loads of supplies and set up stores. Soon, wood-frame houses, hotels, restaurants, and stores replaced the tents. For example, it took less than a year for the mining camp at the Comstock Lode to become the boomtown of Virginia City, Nevada. Most settlers in the boomtowns of the mining frontier were men. However, enterprising women also found ways to profit. Some women ran boardinghouses and laundries. Others opened restaurants, where miners gladly paid high prices for home-cooked meals. Many boomtowns lasted for only a few years. When the gold or silver ore was gone, the miners moved away. Without the miners for customers, businesses often had to close. In this way, a boomtown could quickly go bust and turn into a ghost town. Still, some boomtowns survived and prospered even after the mines shut down. In these towns, miners stayed and found new ways to make a living.

Question 14

What were some negatives of the surge of miners in the West, along with cattle ranchers and homesteaders? What happened as large companies took on mining?

Answer 14

The surge of miners in the West created problems, as did the arrival of cattle ranchers and homesteaders. Mines and towns polluted clear mountain streams. Miners cut down forests to get wood for buildings. They also forced Native Americans from the land. Foreign miners were often treated unfairly. In many camps, mobs drove Mexicans from their claims. Chinese miners were heavily taxed or forced to work claims abandoned by others. Few miners ever got rich. Much of the gold and silver lay deep underground. It could be reached only with costly machinery. Eventually, most mining in the West was taken over by large companies that could afford to buy this equipment. Furthermore, independent prospectors like Henry Comstock largely disappeared. They were replaced by paid laborers who worked for the large companies.

Question 15

How did miners use vigilantes to keep the order in their towns? What were other ways miners tried to enforce the law?

Answer 15

Lawlessness and disorder often accompanied the rapid growth of a town. Stories have exaggerated the number of fights and killings that took place in these towns, but some towns actually were violent places. In response, miners sometimes resorted to organizing groups of vigilantes, or self-appointed law enforcers. Vigilantes tracked down outlaws and punished them, usually without trials. A common punishment was lynching.
Occasionally, vigilante groups did not form to fight crime. At least one San Francisco group organized to take political control of the city. Informal methods of governing gradually gave way to more formal arrangements.

Question 16

Remember: In 1861, Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada were organized into territories. Idaho and Arizona followed in 1863 and Montana in 1864. The process of permanent settlement and government had begun.

Answer 16

In 1861, Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada were organized into territories. Idaho and Arizona followed in 1863 and Montana in 1864. The process of permanent settlement and government had begun.

Question 17

How did Native American view railroads? How did miners view railroads? What was the impact of railroads?

Answer 17

To many Native Americans, the railroad was a terrifying monster, an “iron horse” belching black smoke and moving at stunning speeds. However, for the people of mining towns, railroads meant supplies, new townsfolk, and a rapid means of transporting their gold and silver. The West needed a transportation system that could carry heavy loads over great distances at a cost low enough to guarantee a profit. It is no wonder, then, that railroad companies raced to lay track to the mines and boomtowns. In time, the new technology of railroad transport opened the West and fostered economic growth for the nation.

Question 18

What two companies were competing to see who could build the first continental railroad? How did it play out? How did the government provide financial support, or subsidy?

Answer 18

In 1863, two companies began a race to build the first transcontinental railroad. A transcontinental railroad is one that stretches across a continent from coast to coast. The Union Pacific Railroad started building a rail line westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The Central Pacific Railroad began in Sacramento, California, and built eastward. A local paper reported:

“With rites appropriate to the occasion … ground was formally broken at noon for the commencement of the Central Pacific Railroad—the California link of the continental chain that is to unite American communities now divided by thousands of miles of trackless wilderness.”

—Sacramento Union, January 8, 1863

The federal government helped the railroad companies because it felt that rail lines in the West would benefit the entire nation. The government’s aid came in the form of subsidies. A subsidy is financial aid or a land grant from the government. Congress lent money to the railroad companies and gave them land. For every mile of track completed, the railroad companies received twenty sections of land in the states along the route and forty sections per mile in the territories. By the time the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads were completed, they had received about 45 million acres of land. Often, both business and government ignored the fact that Native Americans lived on the land.

Question 19

Remember: To build railroads, workers first had to lay wooden beams, or ties, then a layer of gravel to hold the ties in place. Finally, they used spikes to nail the rails to the ties.

Answer 19

To build railroads, workers first had to lay wooden beams, or ties, then a layer of gravel to hold the ties in place. Finally, they used spikes to nail the rails to the ties.

Question 20

What was the process of building the Transcontinental Railroads? How did Immigrants and African Americans play a vital role in their construction? What were some difficulties?

Answer 20

Both companies had trouble getting workers. Labor was scarce during the Civil War. Also, the work was backbreaking and dangerous, and the pay was low. The railroad companies hired immigrant workers, who accepted low wages. The Central Pacific brought in thousands of workers from China. The Union Pacific hired newcomers from Ireland. African Americans and Mexican Americans also worked for each line. The railroad workers faced a daunting task. The Central Pacific had to carve a path across the rugged Sierra Nevada. The Union Pacific had to cut through the towering Rocky Mountains. Snowstorms and avalanches killed workers and slowed progress. At times, crews cutting tunnels through rock advanced only a few inches a day. Building the railroad forced workers to adapt to or modify environments as varied as forests, deserts, and mountains. In some places, the railroad was built around mountains. In other places, however, workers blasted tunnels through mountains with new technologies such as specialized tools and explosives to achieve their goals.

Question 21

What was the golden spike at the end of the Transcontinental Railroad a symbol of? What was the impact of railroads on the West, urbanization, and the United States as a whole?

Answer 21

The Central Pacific and Union Pacific met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, dropped a solid-gold spike into a pre-drilled hole in the rail. In doing so, he joined the two tracks and united the country. The nation’s first transcontinental railroad was complete. With the Civil War fresh in their minds, people cheered this new symbol of unity. The words that were engraved on the golden spike expressed their feelings:

“May God continue the unity of our Country as the Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world.”

—Engraved on the Golden Spike

Before long, other major rail lines linked the West and the East. The railroads brought economic growth and new settlement all across the West. They enabled people, supplies, and mail to move quickly and cheaply across the plains and mountains. Wherever rail lines went, settlements—“railroad towns”—sprang up along the tracks. The largest towns and cities developed where major railroad lines met. Cities where sea and land transportation met, such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, experienced huge population growth with the coming of the railroads. Western cities, such as Denver, Cheyenne, and Wichita, grew when railroads were joined to the great cattle trails. Thus the railroad—the most advanced transportation system of its day—had a major impact on the urbanization of the United States.

Question 22

How did the development of railroads increase Western statehood?

Answer 22

Because of their rapid growth, western territories began to apply for statehood. Nevada became a state in 1864; Colorado, in 1876; North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington, in 1889; Idaho and Wyoming, in 1890.

Question 23

How did the Civil War enforce the importance of railroads?

Answer 23

The Civil War showed the importance of railroads. Railroads carried troops and supplies to the battlefields. They also moved raw materials to factories. After the war, railroad companies began to build new lines all over the country.

Question 24

How did railroad production increase after the 1869 Transcontinental Railroad? What was unique about James Hill’s transcontinental railroad?

Answer 24

Railroad builders raced to create thousands of miles of new tracks. In the years after completion of the first transcontinental rail line in 1869, Americans built three more. James Hill, a Canadian-born owner, finished the last major cross-country line in 1893. His Great Northern Railway wound from Duluth, Minnesota, to Everett, Washington.
Unlike other rail lines, the Great Northern was built without financial aid from Congress. To make his railroad succeed, Hill had to turn a profit from the start. He encouraged farmers and ranchers to move to the Northwest and settle near his railroad. He gave seed to farmers and helped them buy equipment. He imported special bulls in order to breed hardier cattle. Not only was Hill’s policy generous, it also made good business sense. In the end, Hill’s railroad proved very successful even without government assistance, and it was a key to the development of the Northwest.

Question 25

What was the process of building a network of railroads? What was its influence?

Answer 25

Early railroads were short lines that served local communities. Many lines ran for no more than 50 miles. When passengers and freight reached the end of one line, they had to move to a train on a different line to continue their journey.
Even if the lines had been connected, the problem would not have been eliminated. Different lines used tracks of different gauges, or widths. As a result, the trains from one line could not run on the tracks of another line. In general, the tracks of northern lines used different gauges from those of southern lines. In 1886, railroads in the South decided to adopt the northern gauge. On May 30, southern railroads stopped running so that work could begin. Using crowbars and sledgehammers, crews worked from dawn to dusk to move the rails a few inches farther apart. When they had finished, some 13,000 miles of track had been changed. Once the track was standardized, American railroads formed a network, or system of connected lines. The creation of a rail network brought benefits to shippers. Often, rail companies arranged for freight cars on one line to use the tracks of another. For example, goods loaded in Chicago could stay on the same car all the way to New York, instead of being transferred from one car to another. As a result, the shipper had to pay only one fare for the whole distance. New rails knit the sprawling nation together. By 1900, there were more miles of tracks in the United States than in Europe and Russia combined.

Question 26

How did Westinghouse Brakes (1869) and Pullman Cars (1864) increase railroad safety and comfort?

Answer 26

New inventions helped make railway travel safer and faster. On early trains, each railroad car had its own brakes and its own brake operator. If different cars stopped at different times, serious accidents could result. In 1869, George Westinghouse began selling his new air brake. Westinghouse’s air brake allowed a locomotive engineer to stop all the railroad cars at once. The air brake increased safety and allowed for longer, faster trains. Long distance travel also became more comfortable. In 1864, George Pullman designed a railroad sleeping car. Pullman cars had convertible berths for sleeping as well as lavatories. Rail lines also added dining cars. Porters (who carried baggage), conductors, and waiters attended to the needs of passengers.

Question 27

How did railroads increase economic growth?

Answer 27

The growth of the railroads in the 1800s was one way in which a market economy led to greater prosperity. As William Vanderbilt pointed out, the railroads “are built for men who invest their money.” That is, the railroads were built to make money for the people who invested in them. Yet the railroads benefited many other people: the workers who laid the tracks, the employees who ran the trains, the passengers who rode the rails, and the businesses that filled cars with cargo. People who lived in the towns that sprouted up along the rail lines also benefited. Ultimately, the railroads benefited the country as a whole. The expansion of the railroads brought significant changes in ways of producing, distributing, and consuming goods. Businesses brought raw materials on railroads to factories. Finished goods from those factories could be shipped far and wide for a reasonable price. Consumers—especially those far from cities—could now have access to more goods than ever before. The same held true for farm goods: farmers had wider markets, and consumers had more food choices.

Question 28

How did consolidation bring efficiency? Who was Vanderbilt?

Answer 28

As railroads grew, they looked for ways to operate more efficiently. Small lines were often costly to run, so many companies began to consolidate, or combine. Larger companies bought up smaller ones or forced them out of business. The Pennsylvania Railroad, for example, consolidated 73 companies into its system. Tough-minded business people led the drive for consolidation. Cornelius Vanderbilt was among the most powerful of these leaders. The son of a poor farmer, Vanderbilt earned one fortune in steamship lines. He then began to buy up railroad lines in New York State. Vanderbilt sometimes used ruthless tactics to force smaller owners to sell to him. In the early 1860s, he decided to buy the New York Central Railroad. The owners refused to sell. Vanderbilt then announced that New York Central passengers would not be allowed to transfer to his trains. With their passengers stranded and business dropping sharply, the New York Central owners gave in and sold their line to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt then bought up most of the lines between Chicago and Buffalo. By the time of his death in 1877, his companies controlled 4,500 miles of track and linked New York City to the Great Lakes region. Other consolidations were soon underway. Before long, the major railroads of the United States were organized into a number of systems directed by a handful of wealthy and powerful men.

Question 29

How did the overbuilding of railroads lead to competition?

Answer 29

With builders rushing to share in the profits of the railroad boom, overbuilding occurred. Soon, there were too many rail lines in some parts of the country. Between Atlanta and St. Louis, for example, 20 different lines competed for business. There was not nearly enough rail traffic to keep all these lines busy.

Question 30

How did railroad companies compete? What was rebate? How did they attempt to end competition? What was pooling?

Answer 30

Especially in the West, there were too few people—and therefore not enough paying customers—for the railroads to make a profit. Competition was fierce. Rate wars broke out as rival railroads slashed their fares to win customers. Usually, all the companies lost money as a result. Often, railroads were forced to grant secret rebates, or discounts, to their biggest customers. The railroads preferred big customers for two reasons. First, big customers were more likely to pay their bills and keep being customers in the future. Second, it was less expensive to deal with a few big customers than many small customers. Fewer customers meant less paperwork and simpler loading and unloading. Unfortunately, the practice of giving rebates hurt small shippers, such as farmers, who still had to pay the full price. It even drove many small companies out of business. Railroad owners soon realized that cutthroat competition was hurting even their large lines. They looked for ways to end the competition. One method was pooling. In a pool, several railroad companies agreed to divide up the business in an area. They then fixed their prices at a high level.

Question 31

How did farmers react to the rise in railroad rates and prices? What were populists?

Answer 31

Railroad rebates and pools angered small farmers in the South and the West. Both practices kept shipping prices high for them. Indeed, rates were so high that at times farmers burned their crops for fuel rather than ship them to market. Many farmers joined the Populist movement. Populists called for government regulation of rail rates. Some Populists even called for a government takeover of the railroads. Congress and several states passed laws regulating railroad companies. However, the laws did not end abuses. Railroad owners sometimes bribed officials to keep the laws from being enforced.

Question 32

What was the Panic of 1893?

Answer 32

In 1893, an economic panic hit the United States. The economy went through a drastic downsizing. About 15,000 businesses and 500 banks closed, leaving many American workers unemployed. The railroads were both a cause and a victim of the economic downturn. Overbuilding in the 1860s meant that many railroad companies’ finances were fragile—they were barely making money. In 1893, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, helping to start the panic. Many other leading railroads followed, including the Erie, the Northern Pacific, the Union Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. Industries, like steel, and a wide variety of businesses that had come to depend on the railroad were hurt, as were businesses that depended on those businesses. Through a ripple effect, the whole economy suffered. The economy would not recover for about four years. When it did, it was the railroad that once again provided the transportation the economy needed.

Question 33

What was the influence of the railroad inductry?

Answer 33

Although railroads caused certain problems, they also made possible the rapid growth of industry after 1865. Building rail lines created thousands of jobs. Steelworkers turned millions of tons of iron into steel for tracks and engines. Lumberjacks cut down whole forests to supply wood for railroad ties. Miners sweated in dusty mine shafts digging coal to fuel railroad engines. The railroad companies themselves employed thousands of workers. They laid tracks, built trestles across rivers, carved tunnels through mountains, and built countless railroad stations. The large railroads also pioneered new ways of managing business. Rail companies created special departments for shipping and accounting and for servicing equipment. Expert managers headed each department, while chains of command ensured that the organization ran smoothly. Other big businesses soon copied these management techniques. Railroads opened every corner of the country to settlement and growth. They brought people together, especially in the West. New businesses sprang up, and towns sprouted where rail lines crossed. With rail lines in place, the United States was ready to become the greatest industrial nation the world had ever seen.