Editing First transcontinental railroad (section)

==Overall significance==
Railroads not only increased the speed of transport, they also dramatically lowered its cost.  The first transcontinental railroad resulted in passengers and freight being able to cross the country in a matter of days instead of months and at one tenth the cost of stagecoach or wagon transport.  With economical transportation in the West (which had been referred to as the [[Great American Desert]]) now farming, ranching and mining could be done at a profit.  As a result, railroads transformed the country, particularly the West (which had few navigable rivers).<ref>{{cite web|title=Building the Transcontinental Railroad|website=Digital History|date = 2021|publisher = University of Houston|url=https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3147}}</ref><ref>Athearn, Robert G.  ''Rebel of the Rockies: A History of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad,'' pp. 4-5, 16-25, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1962.</ref><ref>Beebe, Lucius and Clegg, Charles.  ''Narrow Gauge in the Rockies,'' p. 31, Howell-North, Berkeley, California, 1958.</ref><ref>Davidson, James West, et al.  ''American Nation: Independence Through 1914,'' p. 304, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2000.  {{ISBN|0-13-434888-5}}.</ref><ref>Blum, John M. et al.  ''The National Experience: A History of the United States,'' pp. 298-9, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, New York, 1963.</ref>

For example, before the railroads were built in the West, if a farmer were to ship a load of corn only 200 miles to Chicago, the shipping cost by wagon would exceed the price for which the corn could be sold.<ref>Schwantes, Carlos A. and Ronda, James P.  ''The West the Railroads Made,'' pp. 91, 105, 127, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 2008.  {{ISBN|978-0-295-98769-9}}.</ref><ref>Wilson, O. Meredith.  ''The Denver and Rio Grande Project,'' 1870-1901, p. 2, Howe Brothers, Salt Lake City, Chicago, 1982.  {{ISBN|0-935704-07-8}}.</ref><ref>Wells, David A.  ''Recent Economic Changes,'' pp. v, vi, 19, 40-42, 89, D. Appleton and Company, 1889, Alpha Editions, 2019.  {{ISBN|9789353804961}}.</ref>  So, under such circumstances, farming could not be done at a profit.  Mining and other economic activity in the West were similarly inhibited because of the high cost of wagon transportation.  One Congressman, referring to the West, bluntly stated that, “All that land wasn’t worth ten cents until the railroads came.”<ref>Holbrook, Stewart H.  ''The Story of American Railroads,'' p. 5, Bonanza Books, New York, New York, 1947.</ref><ref>Athearn, Robert G.  ''Rebel of the Rockies, A History of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad,'' p. 5, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1962.</ref>

Freight rates by rail were a small fraction of what they had been with wagon transport.  When the United States concluded the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803, people thought that it would take 300 years to populate it.  With the introduction of the railroad, it took only 30 years.  The low cost of shipping by rail resulted in the [[Great American Desert]] becoming the great American breadbasket.<ref>Kiger, Patrick J.  “10 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America,” History.com, July 25, 2023, p. 2, A&E Television Networks, (https://www.history.com/news/transcontinental-railroad-changed-america).  Retrieved December 31, 2024.</ref><ref>Schwantes, Carlos A. and Ronda, James P.  ''The West the Railroads Made,'' 4-5, 9, 10, 28, 79, 91, 113, 123, 125-6, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 2008.  {{ISBN|978-0-295-98769-9}}.</ref><ref>Holbrook, Stewart H.  ''The Story of American Railroads,'' pp. 157, 189, Bonanza Books, New York, New York, 1947.</ref><ref>Jensen, Oliver.  ''The American Heritage History of Railroads in America,'' pp. 7, 32, 104, American Heritage Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1975.</ref><ref>Wells, David A.  ''Recent Economic Changes,'' pp. v, vi, 19, 40-42, 89, D. Appleton and Company, 1889, Alpha Editions, 2019.  {{ISBN|9789353804961}}.</ref><ref>Schwantes, Carlos A. and Ronda, James P.  ''The West the Railroads Made,'' 4-5, 9, 10, 28, 79, 91, 113, 123, 149, 154-6, 169, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 2008.  {{ISBN|978-0-295-98769-9}}.</ref><ref>Cooley, Everett L.  “The Last Spike is Driven,” ''Utah Historical Quarterly,'' Winter 1969, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 4, 14-15, National Golden Spike Centennial Commission.</ref><ref>Clarke, Thomas Curtis, et al.  ''The American Railway: Its Construction, Development, Management and Appliances,'' pp. 358-9, 431, 436-41, Castle Division of Book Sales, Inc., Secaucus, New Jersey, 1889, 1988.  {{ISBN|1-55521-353-7}}.</ref>