Westward Expansion Essay

The most underrated factor of westward expansion would have to be the railroad. Many would think of the most important factor as the gold rush of 1848, but before mass droves of people could move westward, an easier way of traveling had to be constructed and railroads were the answer. Before railways, the Oregon Trail lead people from major cities like Independence, Missouri to Oregon City or Sacramento in Oregon and California. This ‘train’ of sorts moved as low as 350,000 people across America on this famous wagon route between 1841 and 1866. By 1869, the transcontinental railroads such as the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific had been built after the Pacific Railway Bill had been passed in 1862. The Union Pacific was built westward from
the Missouri River to meet the Central Pacific which had been built eastward from Sacramento, California. By building the railway like this, the railroad was built much faster than if it had been built only one way. Along with the completion of this railway, many others followed, such as: The Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific, and the Oregon RR. These were all built within the same time, completed by 1883. With the establishment of the transcontinental railroad, the population of Oregon went from over 12,000 in the 1850’s to over 52,460 by the end of the 1860’s.
The population amount in Oregon almost doubled by the 1870’s with a huge population of 90,923. No longer would the settlers have to reach the Great West by traveling over four and a half months on tough terrain, enduring harsh winters or hot summers, and burying the dead loved ones from the then-fatal illnesses. With the railroad, people could travel to Sacramento from Omaha within five days instead of over four months as it was while riding the Oregon trail. Westward expansion was heavily influenced by the construction of a transcontinental railroad. “The number of miles of U.S. railroads increased from less than 10,000 miles to more than 350,000 miles between 1850 and 1910.” Railroads developed the capacity to create routes, go over rivers and canyons, tunnel through mountains, and ascent over hills. For railways to be put in place, forests, national parks, and animal species had to be destroyed in order for westward expansion to happen. The creation of these structures may have made a huge impact on westward expansion, but it also made a huge impact on the degradation of the
environment.
Because the addition to railways involves building on land, both flora and fauna were affected. Trees had to be cut down and the forests of California were the lucky winners to be made into timber. “By the late 1800s, railroads accounted for 20 to 25 percent of the country’s total consumption of timber.” Even though railways may have been called the ‘iron road’, railroads used a lot less iron and more wood. “Except for the engine and rails, railroads were made of wood: cars were wood, ties were wood, the fuel was wood, the bridges and trestles were wood, and station houses, fences, and telegraph poles were wood.” Wood was a necessity in the construction of the railroads.
Crossties used for railroads made the most significant damage to forests. There are about 3,249 ties per mile. The first crossties were treated in 1838 with an infusion of bichloride of mercury to prolong their life-span or else deterioration would lead them to being replaced every five to seven years. Indicating the number of miles of track in 1910, which was 350,000 square miles, this would mean that within five to seven years more than 1,137,150,000 ties would eventually need to be replaced. “Just replacing railroad ties on a sustained basis required between 15 million and 20 million acres of forest-land in 1900.“ Companies now are using other alternatives to wood for crossties, as well as salvaging old ties to be used again.
Construction of a railway could be a year-round endeavor. With the invention of building narrow-gauge railways, which are slender, more temporary rails, getting logs to sawmills and back to the tracks made it much faster for railroads to expand. Much of these narrow-gauge railways were then made as the base for roads. Places near Sacramento did not need much clearing, due to low water and a hotter climate, but on “the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, especially in the center portion, the line passed through dense forests where trees 100 to 150 feet in height were common.” During these sections, the cost of clearing was almost too much to continue.