The railway system originated in the European nation, England, which had a dense population confined to a small geographic area. This was not the situation in the United States; however, this did not stop the railroad from reaching the Americas in the early 1800s. Unlike the railroad system in England, which was allotted a large budget and which had relatively little land to cover, railroads in America had to meet the demands of a population that was greatly dispersed across larger distances. They had to meet this goal on a limited budget. Though railroad companies experienced remarkable success in both situations, they were especially successful in the young United States. Before the Civil War, and even in the era that followed, the railway system played an important role in the transportation, expan

Chicago, Illinois is an example of one of the new cities that was located inland that benefited from the coming of the railroads. In 1858 the Gelena and Chicago Union Railroad opened in Chicago, connecting it to the states out east and west. Within the next 15 years Chicago became the center of 10 major railroad lines. This massive increase helped transform Chicago into the largest populated city in Illinois and the state's leading industrial city.

The trains did not only help the American economy, even though it was one of the key beneficiaries. Transcontinental trade also realized marked increases due to the reduction of transportation costs. On the average, goods shipped from west to east increased in price due to the larger market, while goods going east to west decreased in price because it retained the same market but could now get them there for a lot less. As a result, more goods were available, helping both manufactures and farmers in the west and the east. This increase in goods would then impact the market in Europe.

The shift in the importance of the railroads affected nearly all methods of business. The first of these would be the shift of the western states to mass production. Before the railroad boom, farmers could only produce the amount of crops that would be in demand in nearby areas because shipping the crops out east could cost more than they would be able to profitably pay. With the railroad boom, there was a huge increase in what could be transported to the eastern market. Therefore farmers out west began to try to maximize their production. An example of this is the production of wheat in the top five agricultural states in the mid 1800s. In the 1850s, these states produced less than 40,000,000 bushels of wheat, but by the 1860s that number doubled to almost 80,000,000 bushels.10 It also had a positive effect on the cattle business, allowing ranchers to increase their livestock numbers.

Before the introduction of the railroad into American society, transportation across land was slow and dangerous. Railroads carried more goods and people across larger distances at a much faster rate of speed than any other method of transportation that existed at that time. The confines of the railroad car protected goods

Some common words found in the essay are:
Civil War, Basket World, Alfred Chandler, Industrial Revolution, Railroad Chicago, Poyntz Tyleris, Mississippi River4, Chicago Illinois, , railway system, american economy, Tyler Poyntz, transportation costs, reduction transportation costs, reduction transportation, miles track, major form, railroads america, railroads chicago, huge increase, west east,
Approximate Word count = 1528
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)