. A history of the United States. Pittsburgh. Already, in 1852, tworailroads entered Chicago: the Michigan Central from Detroitand the Michigan Southern from Toledo. By 1855 travelerscould go by rail from New York to St. Louis. During theten years from 1850 to i860 the number of miles of railwaywas tripled. If all the railroads had been put end to end theywould have circled the earth, with 5,000 miles to spare. The early railroads were usually built with the aim of con-necting the great waterways. This had been the purpose of 364 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW DOMAIN the canals, but they were closed b
. A history of the United States. Pittsburgh. Already, in 1852, tworailroads entered Chicago: the Michigan Central from Detroitand the Michigan Southern from Toledo. By 1855 travelerscould go by rail from New York to St. Louis. During theten years from 1850 to i860 the number of miles of railwaywas tripled. If all the railroads had been put end to end theywould have circled the earth, with 5,000 miles to spare. The early railroads were usually built with the aim of con-necting the great waterways. This had been the purpose of 364 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW DOMAIN the canals, but they were closed by ice several months eachyear. The Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio rail-roads were intended to connect Philadelphia and Baltimore,the eastern rivals of New York, with the rivers of the Ohioand Mississippi valleys. The Michigan roads cut off thelong route by the Straits of Mackinac from the lower lakesto Chicago. The railroads soon ceased to be mere connecting were built even on the banks of the Hudson River and. ^Porlland II11II liailruaJs in operation in ISJO —— Railroads coiiiplcltd between ISJO and ISWi Railroads in Operation in the Northern States in 1S60 along the shore of Lake Eric, challenging the steamboat in therace for trade. As a result new routes of trade sprang up,independent of lake and river and sea-coast. The route onthe Mississippi River to the Gulf lost some of its importance,and the relations between the West and the East becamecloser than those between the West and the South. Settle-ment, too, moved along these east and west lines. Therailroads thus became an important geographical featureadded by man to the natural features of river, lake, andmountain. The growth of towns was affected by such changes. Thefuture of a city was doubly assured if it was served by both RAILROADS AND TELEGRAPHS 365 water route and railroad. This was especially true of citieson the Great Lakes — a water route unrivalled in the the St. Marys shi
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