For six, long years, many man slaved away on the railroad tracks, shaping America into what it is today. In these six years, man and women faced sickness, injuries, and low wages. In two different documents, these obstacles are expressed, one through knowledge, and one through personal experience. They talk about hardships, and the danger, but there are also many contrasting ideas in both articles. In both Document A and Document B, the tales of hardships are told. "By day disgusting; by night dangerous"(Library of Congress, excerpt from Chapter Three of the Conservation Movement by Samuel Bowels, Primary Source). This article tells you about how many of the men working on the railroad were criminals, it was dangerous to work there. Along with this, the dust collected on the railroad was often poisonous and placed a layer of dirt over the workers skin. Many workers soon became sick. In the Interview with Mr. John Gosvenor, worker on the Central Missouri Pacific, Mr. Gosvenor talks about how when it rained, the men would have …show more content…
For one, Document A is telling you about working in the railroad from past knowlefge, while Document B is tellling you his point-of-view form personal experience. "I had to work out like on the railroad in order to get a stake and food"(Library if Congress, 1938 Interview with Mr. John Gosvenor, worker on the Central Missouri Pacific, primary Source). Along with this, he tells us about his low wages of a dollar a day, but it raising to a dollar and ten cents a day after two years. In Document B, Mr. Govsenor tells us why he is working on the railroad, and what his job is. In Document A, Samuel Boweles tells what the working conditions are, for example he explains to us when the settlements move and how dangerous and sickly working on the railroad was. Additionaly, he tells us about how many of the men were working by force and not choice, making it a very tense, dangerous work
As an example, Document 5 shows the buffalo being killed and loaded onto the train. So, now they could be shipped to the businesses in a much more efficient time frame. Furthermore, many industrial companies such as steel and lumber benefited greatly because their merchandise could be shipped throughout the country, which means more orders, and more money. In addition, the railroads made travelling to the west much more safer and quicker. As stated in Document 4, the trains allow you to avoid the dangers of the sea, and the journey was less than 4 days long. With this in mind, before the transcontinental railroad was built, the journey to the west was long, hard, and filled with
The working conditions in factories were so bad during this time that it often led to sickness, injuries and death. People who worked in mines had to face many dangerous disadvantages every day. The working conditions in mines were very unsafe,
The research in this paper will come from three basic sources. The first source is over the internet. Using the key words Underground, Railroad and Ohio, articles and books will be found. The library will be the second source. Again the key words, Underground, Railroad and Ohio will be used to find and books and newspapers containing valuable information. A local specialist by the name of Mr. Henry Burke will be the third source for this paper. He will provide newspaper articles and stories that he discovered during his research. Interviews with him will also provide valuable insights into the knowledge he has gained throughout his research.
“If any act symbolized the taming of the Northwest frontier, it was the driving of the final spike to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.”1 The first railroad west of the Mississippi River was opened on December 23, 1852. Five miles long, the track ran from St. Louis to Cheltanham, Missouri. Twenty-five years prior, there were no railroads in the United States; twenty-five years later, railroads joined the east and west coasts from New York to San Francisco.2
Throughout the 1800’s there were more and more Americans that had moved onto the frontier of the West coast. The people of the United States believed they were destined to have their land stretched from the Pacific Ocean (the west) to the Atlantic Ocean (the east); from sea to shining sea. This settlement came from the fact that the west not only had an abundance of fertile land for farming, but it had such a great abundance of gold and mineral mining available. The Americans also believed that this was a way (and chance) to spread their beliefs! Many people saw the West as a new beginning, so they decided to head West and begin this journey. This is what the Americans believed they were destined to do… The rapid settlement of the West was caused by the great desire of the American
An estimated seventeen million men, women, and children were enslaved and transported from Africa to the West Indies by Europeans between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Before these individuals became slaves, there were indentured servants. Between the colonial era and Revolutionary War many changes in the practice of labor were made. Expansion of slavery throughout America brought about different conditions of slave life and Paternalism. Slavery in America was very different before and after the year 1790; these changes greatly affected the conditions in which these individuals lived and are worth analyzing.
Throughout the passage many of the Africans go through a developmental situation which goes onto a very physical and mental note to develop defense mechanisms for survival. Some of the most difficult and most used mechanisms of defense that the Africans were put through was the act of starvation, being a hard-working slave, that was treated terribly and had no breaks, and the living environments and environment exposure. Documents A, B, D, F and G will help further explain the hardships African slaves faced, and how the Africans handled the hardships that they faced throughout.
Some historians believe the Transcontinental Railroad was one of the greatest achievements of the nineteenth century. Looking at the railroad from an outsider’s view, the outcomes that emerged from this great innovation were overwhelmingly positive. At last, the East and West could unite through one easy method of transportation. Trade could flourish and be delivered faster than ever thought possible. Small towns and communities clustered around these train stations. The railroad caused the creation of time zones, caused coal factories to become metaphorical gold mines and the American economy exploded as a result of this great feat. Despite its ability to unify the East and West coasts, however the First Transcontinental Railroad actually was not a blessing for all people living in the United States; the immigrants involved in the construction and the natives living in the area that it passed through were dramatically and negatively affected. The railroad may have brought together the continent geographically, but its construction was marked by immorality, racism, and segregation, which pitted the immigrant workers against the American people. The Native Americans were treated as obstacles, as their land was disregarded and the railroad workers were granted permission to remove or take anything from their land. The Chinese immigrants throughout the West were not welcomed there and were not treated with respect, even after their hard work on the railroad. Similar working
In resourse a many restuarant and saloon keepers, and gamblers said the railroads were "Hell on Wheels." In resource B John Grovenor said it was too much work and they worked long with little pay. Also that he had to travel far to get to the railroad and saw little of his family. Therefor he didnt like working on the railroad because is was painful labor and worked too long for the little pay he got. Another similarity is that both articles mention how the railroads helped move thing and thats why it was important to have railroads. The railroads made transportation easier for people and
On May 10th, 1869, a large crowd gathered at Promontory Point, Utah to celebrate the completion of one of the most impressive engineering feats of the 1800’s: the Pacific Railroad. After six years of grueling work, millions of dollars spent, and many battles against Native Americans fought, sea to shining sea was finally connected by two ribbons of iron. The United States was transformed by the new railroad: Masses of immigrants flocked out to the newly connected territories in pursuit of better lives, towns cropped up over night along the route, and an agricultural empire was born as farming machinery was brought to the fertile western plains of the United States. The profoundly positive impact the railroad had on the United States came at a great cost, however. The more than 12,000 Chinese immigrant workers of the transcontinental railroad were treated poorly and unjustly throughout construction, and Native American empires in the plains laid in ruins from the white-American military and pioneers that induced conflict with indigenous people and the government that annexed their lands. These negative consequences of American progress force a question to be asked; did the socioeconomic benefits the Pacific Railroad brought to white American citizens justify the unequal respect and maltreatment given to the Chinese immigrant workers and the Native American tribes? This is the question this essay will answer, as it examines the role the Chinese workers had in
The railroad had impacted the lives of many, even though it had ruined some lives it made others wonderful. Throughout the process of the railroad being built many settlers had been attracted to the new land that was discovered with it, “Millions of acres of the finest land in Nebraska for sale, at prices that defy competition.”(document 5) This allowed more people to make a living by selling
The author will investigate the Underground Railroad’s work to resist against slavery during the Civil War. The author will collaborate on the dealings of people who were leaders of the Underground Railroad, U.S. political stance on slavery, and the actions that were carried out for the cause of freedom. The authors main focus of the paper will be centered on operations of the Underground Railroad, members involved, struggles they went through to free enslaved people. The writer will go into detail of the Underground Railroad leaders operations. The presentation will be based on sources from an online database jstor.org. Thus, this paper will be about resistance against slavery, and the leaders of the Underground Railroad and their efforts to abolish slavery.
“Abolitionism in Rochester” explains the basic structure of the Underground Railroad. It discusses its different elements, such as conductors, stations, and freight, and why Rochester was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. It also explains that it was dangerous for people to be a part of the Underground Railroad. It does not, however, provide the reader with an idea of what it must have felt like to do something so dangerous.
Hi Hakim, The problem with the railroad workers was serious. As you mention in your post several work related incidents were overlooked, many were lamed or even killed working on the railroad. For years, this event was covered up. I believe what help the citizens to realize how dangerous the working conditions be the journalist. In that era, they were called the muckraker. The Muckrakers targeted corrupted business and their illegal practices. (Diner, 1998). The muckraker were the ones that exposed deplorable working conditions, big business corruption, unfair wages and child labor. Changes in society started to improve when the public became aware of the conditions.
Pictures two and six most relate to railroads in Indian Territory. In picture two It shows employees in Edmond, Ok working from a coal station around 1883 that was stationed by the railroads to easily sell coal to trains. This relates to the railroads in Indian territory because coal stations were the only thing that flourished by the railroad, this was because they were making money off of the coal and then they sold it to the stations to fuel the trains. In picture six it shows employees stacking buffalo hide in dodge city preparing to sell them. In picture six we can see how it relates to railroads in Indian Territory because when trains were moving on the railroads a lot of times they would crash into the