Great Men Are Usually The Products Of

When The Scheme For The Construction Of A Railroad From Baltimore To The Waters Of The Ohio River First Began To Take Form, The United States Had Barely Emerged From The Revolutionary Period

The Public Conviction That A Railroad Linking The West And The East Was An Absolute Necessity Became So Pronounced After The Gold Discoveries Of '49 That Congress Passed An Act In 1853 Providing For A Survey Of Several Lines From The Mississippi To The Pacific.

The Construction Of Extensive Railways, However, And Particularly The Consolidation Of Small, Experimental Lines Into Large Systems, Dates From The Days Of The Discovery Of Gold In California

The States Which Form The Northern Border Of The United States Westward From The Great Lakes To The Pacific Coast Include An Area Several Times Larger Than France And Could Contain Ten Englands And Still Have Room To Spare.

Many Of The Railroad Evils Were Inherent In The Situation; They Were Explained By The Fact That Both Managers And Public Were Dealing With A New Agency Whose Laws They Did Not Completely Understand