Figure 1.--This is a playful 1893 photograph of children playing adults in a studio mock up of a railway station. Notevthe Ohio map. This is how Americans and Europeans traveled at the time.

The railway after the Civil War became the major form of transport for people anf goods. This was becoming the sutuation before the War, but rapidly became the situation after the War, especially with the completion of thr Transcontinental railway (1869). There were other forms, such as river boats and barges and coastal maritime trade, but these raodidly declined as the rail network rapidly expanded. And before the opening of the Pananama Canal (1914), there was not a viable alernative for travel and most goods shioments. America in the 19th century, even the late-19th century, did not have a national road network. Roads radiated out from the cities and towns, but unless they were located close together, thereere not improved roads connecting them. Some roads were improved in the East, but in the West roads were virtually non-existent, little changed from when the Pioneers began their treks west in the mid-19th century. The bone jarring stage coaches rapidly disappeared with the arrival of the railroads. Their might be regular bridges built across streams, but nmost of the major bridges built across rivers in the 19th century were railway bridges. A town without a railrod station simply could not develop. Where once river connectiins were important, rail sconnevtions now became what was really important. For the vast majority of the pooulation, if they traveled any dustance, they did so by train. Few Anericans had real options. After the completion of the Transcontinenal Railway, one train ran from the east and one from the west weeekly, but traffic rapidly increased from that beginning. Traffic would double or triple each decade and that would contunue into the early-20th century.

Created: 2:28 AM 8/3/2020
Last updated: 2:28 AM 8/3/2020