How did railroads help the US economy grow?

Answer 1

It allowed goods to be shipped all over the country. Not only did it do this quicker but also cheaper because not as many goods would spoil. In addition now people from all over the country could enjoy goods from other places in the country. One industry that greatly prospered from the construction of the railroad was the cattle or beef industry. Before the railroads, cows had to be raised slaughtered and sold all within close proximity this was becoming more and more difficult because many urban and suburban areas were growing rapidly leaving less and less land for farming. The railroad changed all of this because now cattle ranchers could raise their cattle in the west which at the time was very rural and in fact barely had any urban centers at all. Now that beef could be shipped cross country people could have beef more often because it was in abundance. This caused the American population to buy more beef creating and upward economic spiral. The American beef industry is just one of many industries that grew rapidly and became the empire it is today because of the construction of the railroad.