Analysis of Cornelius Vanderbilt and Rail Transportation in The United States

Introduction

During the time of reconstruction after the Civil War, the railroad industry was maturing and expanding with great force. The railroad industry had already existed before this, though; for instance, the first regular steam-powered rail service in the United States began in the genteel city of Charleston in 1830 (Abrams, 2005, p. 325). Some of the major events in the business of railroads in the late 19th century were the construction of the transcontinental railroad, economic hindrances in railroad expansion, the expansion of the New York Central railroad, and the graft and bribery of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The Transcontinental Railroad

Public demand for the transcontinental railroad for westward expansion was originally inspired by an 1836 proposal by the American statesmen John Plumbe and Robert John Walker (Railroads, 2018). Finally, in July 1862, Congress authorized the construction of two railroads that together would provide the first railroad link between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific coast (Allen, 2010, p. 57). One was the Union Pacific, to run westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa; the other was the Central Pacific, to run eastward from Sacramento, California. Each of these companies was awarded business through deception, overcharging, and cheating of the government. To encourage the rapid completion of those roads, Congress provided generous subsidies in the form of land grants and loans. These subsidies were based on where the track was being laid, in mountains or plains, and there were land grants given in plots of one hundred and sixty acres on alternating sides of the track.

Even with the government subsidies, the construction was slower than Congress had anticipated. The Union Pacific actually got off to an extremely slow start with only forty miles of track laid in the first two years. The Central Pacific, wanting to capitalize on this opportunity, was threatening to build tracks into the Union Pacific's allotted territory. This extra track laid by Central would increase profits for them and threaten great losses for the Union Pacific. The owner of the Union Pacific decided to get back on track by increasing the number of men working and increasing working hours. These changes resulted in over eighty miles of tracks laid in year three, an increase in production of about 400%.

The two lines, stretching a whopping 1,750 miles (Allen, 2010, p. 58), met on May 10, 1869, at Promontory, Utah. Elaborate ceremonies then ensued, including the driving of the last spike, which was made of pure gold (Anderson, 2009, p. 223). Unfortunately, workers' lives and sound construction practices were carelessly thrown aside. This completed the first of several transcontinental railroads built in the late 19th century. The West developed simultaneously with the building of the Western railroads, and in no part of the nation was the importance of railroads more generally recognized. The railroad gave vitality to the regions it served, but by withholding service, it could doom a community to stagnation.

Challenges in Railroad Expansion

Despite the success and completion of the transcontinental, further railroad success was not always easy. Other railroads had begun construction westward, but the panic of 1873 and the ensuing depression halted or delayed progress on many of those lines (Foner, 1998, p. 518). With the return of prosperity after 1877, some railroads resumed or even accelerated construction. By 1883, three more rail connections between the Mississippi Valley and the West Coast had been completed: the Northern Pacific, from St. Paul to Portland; the Santa Fe, from Chicago to Los Angeles; and the Southern Pacific, from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The Southern Pacific had also acquired, by purchase or construction, lines from Portland to San Francisco and from San Francisco to Los Angeles. By the late 1890s, many of the lines were nearly bankrupt from competition and poor economic conditions, slowing expansion again.

The construction of the railroads from the Midwest to the Pacific coast was a very noteworthy event in the short time after the Civil War. No less important, in terms of the national economy, was the simultaneous development of an impressive rail network that connected virtually every important community west of the Mississippi with Chicago. The railroads appeared to be ruthless in exploiting their powerful position, both in the West and the Midwest: they fixed prices to suit their convenience; they discriminated among their customers; they attempted to gain a monopoly of transportation wherever possible; and they interfered in state and local politics to elect favorites to office, to block unfriendly legislation, and even to influence the decisions of the courts.

Cornelius Vanderbilt and the New York Central Railroad

One of the people known for being a ruthless railroad baron was Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. As a boy, Vanderbilt transported freight and passengers by ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan. He soon gained control of most of the ferry lines and other short shipping lines in the vicinity of New York City. He further expanded his steamship empire, and because of his success and status came to be known as Commodore Vanderbilt. In 1851, with the gold rush to California at its height, Vanderbilt opened a shipping line from the East Coast to California, including land transit across Nicaragua along the route of the proposed Nicaragua Canal (Vanderbilt, 2007).

After the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the railroad arena, and by 1867 he had gained control of the New York Central Railroad. Although his efforts to gain control of the Erie Railroad proved unsuccessful, Vanderbilt vastly expanded his railroad empire and by 1873 connected Chicago with New York City by rail. A son, William Henry Vanderbilt, succeeded Cornelius Vanderbilt as president of the New York Central Railroad. The vast family fortune funded Vanderbilt University, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and various other institutions.

The Vanderbilts were, to say the least, very wealthy and very powerful. By 1900, the Vanderbilt boys owned over 10,000 miles of railroads (Allen, 2010, p. 60), more than any other family of the era. There were many cartoons drawn at this time depicting the hold that Vanderbilt had over the railroad, the people who worked for him, and the government. The cartoons were not often flattering—the Vanderbilts were unscrupulous and corrupt.

Expansion and Influence of the New York Central Railroad

Cornelius Vanderbilt and his descendants gained control of the New York Central rail system by systematically encompassing other, smaller rail systems. One of the major American railroads that connected the East Coast with the interior was the New York Central Railroad. Founded in 1853, it was a consolidation of 10 small railroads that paralleled the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo; the earliest was the Mohawk and Hudson, New York state's first railway, which opened in 1831.

The New York Central's moving spirit was Erastus Corning, four times mayor of Albany, who for 20 years had been president of the Utica and Schenectady, one of the consolidated railroads. He served as president of the New York Central until 1864. In 1867, Cornelius Vanderbilt won control after beating down the Central's stock and combined it with his New York and Hudson railroads running from Manhattan to Albany. Vanderbilt then joined it to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in 1873, extending his system from Buffalo to Chicago. He methodically added the Michigan Central in 1871. Under his son William, the Central acquired the New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railroad on the western side of the Hudson River in 1885. The system grew until it had 10,000 miles of track linking New York with Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis, the largest single railroad line in America surpassing the transcontinental railroad by thousands of miles.

Conclusion

The period between the Civil War and 1900 saw great changes in the rail industry. The perseverance of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific to complete the transcontinental railroad opened the West to great expansion. The economy of the late 1870s overcame the slowdown of 1873, paving the way ultimately for the Vanderbilts. By 1900, the stage was set for the economic boom encompassing the roaring '20s, thanks to the railroad development in the late 1800s.

References

• Abrams, R. (2005). The History of Railroads in America. New York: Random House.
• Allen, J. (2010). Transcontinental Railroads: Connecting the Coasts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Anderson, M. (2009). The Golden Spike: America's Greatest Railroads. San Francisco: HarperCollins.
• Foner, E. (1998). Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row.
• Railroads. (2018). In The American Encyclopedia of History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Vanderbilt, C. (2007). The Life and Legacy of Cornelius Vanderbilt. New York: Penguin Press.