On May 10, 1869, the American transcontinental railroad was fully opened to the public. The completion of this enormous engineering project played a significant role in the rapid expansion westward into the United States. Following the Civil War (1861-1865), the west evolved from a disconnected open space to a place where towns and cities would soon be constructed along the rail lines of the transcontinental railroad. Chinese laborers had a significant impact on the transcontinental railroad which resulted in the agricultural modernization, and the urbanization of the economics in the west of U.S.
1 The completion of the transcontinental railroad and the western economic prosperity that followed the nation would not have been possible without …show more content…
The biggest obstacle Chinese laborers came across during the construction was excavating the “500ms of rock” ("Transcontinental Railroad") was needed in order to continue the railroad route. These brave Chinese workers were suggested by James Howden to break through the rock using nitroglycerine which “is something 13 times more powerful than dynamite but so unstable that it may explode at any minute in his hands”. ("Transcontinental Railroad") Surprisingly, they accepted the challenging task without any complaint while Irish refused to touch it. The result turned out to be successful, but 5000 degrees Celsius killed approximate 1500 Chinese laborers. Compare to $35 wages for Irish workers, the Chinese workers, who endured such cruel process of building the transcontinental railroad, only received low wages of $27 a month. Their persistent and fearless spirit accelerated the speed of railroad construction. The efficiency work from Chinese labors “took the Americans just 30 years to lay nearly 50,000km of track across their continent, more than the rest of the world put together.” ("Transcontinental Railroad") Chinese labors, indeed, provided the most extraordinary and remarkable workforce in manufacturing railroad. The hard work in laying railroads is not only the most successful engineering in the 19th century but also opened the door for a better future for the west and …show more content…
Since the mid-19th century, lands used for farming in the United States increased dramatically. The construction of railroad has a close relationship with the fluctuations of lands acres. The more the railroads were built, the more the acres of land were used in farming. There was a significant increase in the amount of acres of lands used in farming from 1860 to 1910 in the United States, from“2.98561 hundred million acres” to “8.81451 hundred million acres”. (Historical Statistics of the United 457) The beginning of 20th century almost doubled the size of farmlands compared to the mid-19th century. At the same time period, the total mileage of railroad track also increases from “30,636 miles” to “240,414 miles”. A 209,778 miles increase in railroad led to a greater increase in farmlands in the west. The enlarged scope of land for agriculture actually benefited citizens in the west since every citizen would get a larger size of land in farm than before, meaning that farmers or labors were able to cultivate more crops and set up their harvests. The abundant output not only provided the west a self-sufficient agriculture but also led to a start of farm trade with other countries. Even, the farm lands with more harvests would have possessed more intensive railroads than other lands as there would be a frequent trade or transportation within or outside the
1 The completion of the transcontinental railroad and the western economic prosperity that followed the nation would not have been possible without …show more content…
The biggest obstacle Chinese laborers came across during the construction was excavating the “500ms of rock” ("Transcontinental Railroad") was needed in order to continue the railroad route. These brave Chinese workers were suggested by James Howden to break through the rock using nitroglycerine which “is something 13 times more powerful than dynamite but so unstable that it may explode at any minute in his hands”. ("Transcontinental Railroad") Surprisingly, they accepted the challenging task without any complaint while Irish refused to touch it. The result turned out to be successful, but 5000 degrees Celsius killed approximate 1500 Chinese laborers. Compare to $35 wages for Irish workers, the Chinese workers, who endured such cruel process of building the transcontinental railroad, only received low wages of $27 a month. Their persistent and fearless spirit accelerated the speed of railroad construction. The efficiency work from Chinese labors “took the Americans just 30 years to lay nearly 50,000km of track across their continent, more than the rest of the world put together.” ("Transcontinental Railroad") Chinese labors, indeed, provided the most extraordinary and remarkable workforce in manufacturing railroad. The hard work in laying railroads is not only the most successful engineering in the 19th century but also opened the door for a better future for the west and …show more content…
Since the mid-19th century, lands used for farming in the United States increased dramatically. The construction of railroad has a close relationship with the fluctuations of lands acres. The more the railroads were built, the more the acres of land were used in farming. There was a significant increase in the amount of acres of lands used in farming from 1860 to 1910 in the United States, from“2.98561 hundred million acres” to “8.81451 hundred million acres”. (Historical Statistics of the United 457) The beginning of 20th century almost doubled the size of farmlands compared to the mid-19th century. At the same time period, the total mileage of railroad track also increases from “30,636 miles” to “240,414 miles”. A 209,778 miles increase in railroad led to a greater increase in farmlands in the west. The enlarged scope of land for agriculture actually benefited citizens in the west since every citizen would get a larger size of land in farm than before, meaning that farmers or labors were able to cultivate more crops and set up their harvests. The abundant output not only provided the west a self-sufficient agriculture but also led to a start of farm trade with other countries. Even, the farm lands with more harvests would have possessed more intensive railroads than other lands as there would be a frequent trade or transportation within or outside the