While no one railroad can completely duplicate another line, two or more may compete at particular points

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.

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

As the contest proceeded, public interest increased and the entire country watched to see which company would win the big government subsidies through the mountains.

In the United States three new methods of transportation made their appearance at almost the same time - the steamboat, the canal boat, and the rail car

The close relationship between railroad expansion and the genera development and prosperity of the country is nowhere brought more distinctly into relief than in connection with the construction of the Pacific railroads.

While no one railroad can completely duplicate another line, two or more may compete at particular points