Before railroads were constructed, traveling wasn’t convenient. Because people could only travel by foot, boat, or horse, which was slow. At that time, there weren't any planes or trains, so commuters who wanted to travel could only travel the slow way by traveling by foot, or by horse on land or by traveling by boat on water, but these options were slower than traveling by train. So, travel was slow and inconvenient before railroads were constructed.
Americans wanted to travel and expand to the west, because there was a problem in the east. The problem was that the east had too much wind and hurricanes. This was because there were no mountains to block the wind and hurricanes. But the west had rich land and it had mountains to protect it from having too much wind and hurricanes. There was also gold in the west. Therefore, their dreams of becoming rich made people want to travel to the west. But before railroads were constructed, the journey to the west was difficult and slow. So, Americans wanted to travel to the west because of the problem in the east and the attractions in the west.
The construction of the railroad started in 1863 and was finished in 1869. 21,000 workers built it. The total money spent was about $1.2 billion. The costs varied depending on the places the railroad tracks were laid. For example, the cost for laying tracks on a level grade was $521,000 per mile and the cost for laying tracks in mountains was $1,563,000 per mile. So, the transcontinental railroad was constructed between 1863 and 1869 and 21,000 workers built it. And the total cost was about $1.2 billion.
The railroad that the workers built helped commuters travel easily and quickly. Before the railroad was constructed, the journey to the west was long and slow. People could only travel for months on a horse drawn wagon or stagecoach or could sail on a boat or ship from coast to coast. But after the railroad was constructed, people could travel to the west by train in a few weeks. The railroad also made it more affordable to travel. Before the railroad was built, a stagecoach trip across the USA cost about $20,000, but after the railroad was built, a train trip cost 85 percent cheaper. It helped people to transport goods easily and quickly. Trains can carry western goods to the east and eastern goods to the west. And it didn’t cost that much to transport goods by train, because a train has a large capacity and can hold many things. It also helped to make the USA feel more united. Because it helped the west to be more prosperous. People could easily travel there by train. This helped the states in the west to have more people living in them. So, the railroad was beneficial to the people and it helped to unite the USA.
In conclusion, before railroads were constructed, traveling was slow and inconvenient. But people wanted to travel to the west because there was too much wind in the east and the west had rich land and gold. So, people’s dreams made them want to go to the west. But the problem of traveling was solved when the first transcontinental railroad was built. It was constructed between 1863 and 1869 and 21,000 workers built it. The cost of this railroad was about $1.2 billion. This railroad helped commuters travel more quickly and peacefully and it also helped unite the USA.
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