turnpikes, canals, and railroads

Turnpikes, Canals, And Railroads

Overview

• What is the shortest distance?

• The Story of Turnpikes• The Story of Canals• The story of Steamboats• The Story of Railroads• The story of Productivity

What’s the Shortest Distance?

Why Travel 3,000 Miles?

• Ohio wheat would be ground into flour.

• Shipped to New Orleans - - about 1,000 miles.

• Then shipped up the Atlantic coast to consumers in Philadelphia and other cities adding another 2,000 miles.

• Why would anyone do that?

Location Matters

• Imagine cheap and abundant apples in one region that have little economic value unless they can be sold to consumers who may not live nearby.

• A basket of apples harvested is much less valuable than a basket of apples harvested and delivered to paying customers.

• That is why it makes sense for people to spend time an money on transportation.

Location Matters

• Our national transportation system arises from public and private decisions.

• The Constitution gave Congress the power to “To establish Post Offices and Post Roads.”

• But, we sort of take it all for granted…

The Mystery of the Alien Bananas

• Bananas are a tropical fruit. • No one in Delaware grows

them.• Delaware statutes provide

no plan for getting bananas to grocery stores.

• Yet, there they are there – everyday, even the most rural grocery stores.

• How can that be?

John Stossel Gets a Steak

Profit Motive• Business transportation is

guided by an interest in profit.

• Improved transportation systems often help businesses generate profits because of customers’ willingness to pay - - sometimes a lot - - for getting goods to or from the right place at the right time.

Profit Motive• How does the profit motive

contribute to providing all of us access to goods and services requiring the cooperation of thousands of strangers?

• What is the metaphor of the invisible hand meant to convey?

• Free markets - - allowing people to act in their own self-interest - - promotes positive social outcomes even those these are not intentional.

• The apple grower or wheat farmer is simply trying to earn income.

• To make this all work, we need a system of transportation.

The Turnpike Story

• In 1790, the poor road system was a major problem for Americans looking for better connections to markets.

• State and local governments developed adequate local roads but were not up to the task of taking on large projects.

• They turned private enterprise to help.

The Turnpike Story

• Turnpikes are intercity toll roads.

• They were made of stone, gravel, and (from 1847 to the peak in 1853) plank.

• Turnpikes offered speed and dependability over local roads.

• By the 1830s, turnpikes are over taken by canals.

• 1810 = 4,600 miles• 1830 = 27,800 miles

Turnpike Incorporation, 1792 - 1845

Year 1792-1800

1801-1810

1811-1820

1821-1830

1831-1840

1841-1845

69 398 362 230 365 138

• States = NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, PA, NJ, VA, MD, OH

Turnpikes Today

• Why build a turnpike and an Interstate?

The Canal Story

• The great canal-building era lasted from 1815-1843.

• Combinations of private and state and local government money build the canals.

• 1815-1844 = $31 million• 73% of the investment was

provided by government.

The Canal Story

• Water transportation was important because the cost per mile was much lower than overland transportation.

• This explains why Ohio wheat would travel to New Orleans as flour on its way to Philadelphia

The Canal Story

• The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 the drove dramatically reduced shipping costs from Buffalo to New York City.

The Steamboat Story

• Steamboats were developed for use on the internal river system - - the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri Rivers.

• Flatboats, Keelboats, and steam-driven paddle wheelers gave farmers cheap transportation for their crops to New Orleans and on to other ports.

The Steamboat Story

• Abraham Lincoln made the trip to New Orleans as a flatboat captain.

• Flatboats were usually broken up and sold for timber.

• He returned home upriver in a steamboat, the latest and greatest mode of transportation.

Steamboats in Operation on Western Rivers

Years Number Tonnage

1811 1 371

1815 7 1,516

1820 69 14,208

1825 80 12,527

1830 151 24,574

1835 324 50,123

1840 494 82,626

1845 538 96,1551850 638 134,566

1855 696 172,695

1860 817 195,022

The Steamboat Story

• By the end of the 1850s, a fleet of over 800 steamboats sailed on the internal rivers.

• Freight rates fell in real terms by 90% upstream from 1815 to 1860 and by 40 % downstream.

• Heavy loads (crops, iron) tended to travel downstream.

• Lighter loads - - consumer goods - - tended to travel upstream.

The Railroad Story

• The advantage shifted to railroads beginning in 1830.

• Trains ran faster than boats.• Trains ran when water was

frozen.• The first trains were horse

drawn - - 10 mph.• The first steam locomotives

were introduced in the 1830s.

• By 1900, they reached speeds of 50 to 60 mph.

Miles of Railroad in OperationYear Mileage

1830 23

1835 1,098

1840 2,818

1845 4,633

1850 9,021

1855 18,374

1860 30,626

Land Grants to Railroads

Trains Roll on

The Magic Marker Mark Factory

Round Wage$5.00

Number of Marks Produced

Average Cost Per Mark

1

2

3

Productivity

Productively measures the amount of output (finished goods and services) produced relative to the inputs (productive resources) used.

Productivity Output

Input

Labor productivity is relatively easy input to measure since we can measure wages and hours.

Productivity Output Labor Hour

Transportation and Productivity

• How may teamsters and wagons would it take to carry as much freight as one train can hold?

• Turnpikes, canals, steamboats, and trains freed labor to pursue other more specialized activities, such as farming or starting new businesses

Questions