Transportation

Modes of transportation, from the 19th Century until the end of the Progressive era, grew in leaps and bounds. When the settlers were moving westward, they were doing so in very basic covered wagons. The 1860’s marked the dawning of a new age of cross country transportation. President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862 for the construction of the transcontinental railroad that will link California to the rest of the nation (Factmonster.com). Union Pacific laid its first rail in 1865. The “golden age” of railroads begins. For nearly half a century, no other mode of transportation challenged railroads. During these years, the rail network grew from 35,000 to a peak of 254,000 miles in 1916 (Factmonster.com). People were able to travel cross country, from city to city, in comfortable passenger trains. Companies and manufactures were transporting anything cross country, from produce to farm equipment and live stock. The possibilities were endless and merchants were able to provide their customers with anything that they may have requested.

In 1871, Andrew Smith patented the first cable car in San Francisco. These cars were transported from one destination to the next via an underground cable system from a main powerhouse (Inventors.about.com). Cable cars were able to carry several occupants at a time for a small fee, and they lessened the need for horses to pull or carry people along the steep streets of the city.  By 1888, there was the emergence of the electric street car or trolley. These cars ran by electric cables that were suspended above them (Inventors.about.com). In some cities, the streetcars were elevated above city streets and in others, an underground subway was built.

Between the years of 1891 and 1911, the transportation era took another direction. The United States was pulling away from basic modes of transportation and evolving once again. The United States came out with the gas powered car and tractor in 1892 (Factmonster.com). The Model T made its debut in 1908 as the first car to be mass produced in an assembly line in the United States (Factmonster.com).