LESSON 60 - Railroads & Telegraph

In 1830, Peter Cooper designed and built the first American steam-powered locomotive. The Tom Thumb, as it was called, got off to a slow start. By 1840, steam locomotives were pulling trains in the United States. In 1840 the United States had almost 3,000 miles of railroad track. By 1860, the nation had about 31,000 miles. Most tracks were in the North and Midwest.

The new rail lines connected many cities. One line linked the cities of New York and Buffalo. Another connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Railway builders connected these lines to ones farther west in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. By 1860, the nation's railroads connected the Midwest and the East.

The growth of industry and faster travel created a need for faster communication. The telegraph—a device that used electric signals to send messages—filled that need.

Samuel Morse was an American inventor. He created a way to send coded messages instantly along electrical wires. Telegraph operators sent messages quickly by using Morse code. This code uses different short and long signals—dots and dashes—to represent letters of the alphabet. Telegraph companies opened, and workers put up telegraph lines across the country. By 1852, there were about 23,000 miles of telegraph lines in the United States.

With the telegraph, information could be sent in minutes rather than days. People could quickly learn about news and events from other areas of the United States. The telegraph also helped businesses to improve their production and shipping.