Why were railroads so important to the northern economy?

In short, railroads were machines that revolutionized the timber industry. Just as railroads mechanized and accelerated production throughout the economy of the Pacific Northwest, the steam donkey further mechanized and accelerated production in the timber industry.



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Railroad companies immediately became the most powerful economic actors in the Pacific Northwest, and they toiled to shape its economic development to their benefit. They built or expanded towns, for example, where it best suited (or profited) them, often leaving bypassed sites to wither.

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Railroads provided fresh supplies of arms, men, equipment, horses, and medical supplies on a direct route to where armies were camped. The railroad was also put to use for medical evacuations, transporting wounded soldiers to better medical care.

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Not only did the railroads transport raw materials used in industrial production, such as coal and iron ore, the railroads were also one of the largest consumers of raw materials in their own right. The growth of railroads thus led to growth in other industries, such as timber and coal.

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The steel highway improved the lives of millions of city dwellers. By the 1890s, the United States was becoming an urban nation, and railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, building materials, and access to markets. The simple presence of railroads could bring a city economic prosperity.

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In 1860, the North manufactured 97 percent of the country's firearms, 96 percent of its railroad locomotives, 94 percent of its cloth, 93 percent of its pig iron, and over 90 percent of its boots and shoes. The North had twice the density of railroads per square mile.

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The underground railroad, where it existed, offered local service to runaway slaves, assisting them from one point to another. Farther along, others would take the passenger into their transportation system until the final destination had been reached.

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Railroads are the most efficient transportation mode for moving goods on the earth's surface. Railroads are of particular importance for the movement of commodities that heavy and moved in bulk over long distances where the transportation spend represents a large portion of the total delivered cost.

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Answer and Explanation: The entire United States benefited financially from the joining of two railroads to form one transcontinental railroad. However, two industries benefited the most from the Transcontinental Railroad. Those were cotton and cattle.

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Railroads became a major industry, stimulating other heavy industries such as iron and steel production. These advances in travel and transport helped drive settlement in the western regions of North America and were integral to the nation's industrialization.

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Congress chartered the Northern Pacific Railway Company on July 2, 1864, with the goals of connecting the Great Lakes with Puget Sound on the Pacific, opening vast new lands for farming, ranching, lumbering and mining, and linking Washington and Oregon to the rest of the country.

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It had a positive effect of the economy as it helped facilitate trade between the east and west of the USA, and between the USA and Asia. Likewise, it encouraged the growth of the cattle industry. The railroad also made homestead life easier.

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