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Railroad & The Louisiana Purchase |
| When U.S. President Thomas Jefferson arranged for the United States to purchase a vast land section from France in 1803, the gesture was not overwhelmingly popular at home or abroad. Wags in Congress stated that it would require a thousand years for Americans to colonize all that territory. Jefferson’s purchase included all or part of the present-day states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Montana. For the sum of $15 million, a total of 875,000 square miles were added to our nation. The treaty took place on April 30, two hundred years ago, and the sale was finalized almost a year later. The parts of Texas and New Mexico were ceded to Spain in exchange for Florida in 1819. The main purpose Jefferson stated for his purchase was to secure the Mississippi River in its entire length. He envisioned that this important waterway would provide economic vitality for the U.S. At the bottom of his design was transportation which only that great river could provide at that time. The steam locomotive did not yet exist, and land transportation moved at the speed of horse, oxen, and human feet. Title to all of this land was almost whimsical, since no nation could possibly occupy it. In a short century, America had colonized and occupied the Louisiana Purchase, in large part due to the power of the railroad. These rivers of steel carried goods and people wherever the market would allow. By 1903, tracks ran into all the small corners of the nation, and towns sprang up near the rails. Local transportation changed from road hauling with oxen to local freight between the station and the neighboring businesses. In those days, it usually wasn’t possible to keep a horse at your home in town, so most folks walked or caught a horse-drawn taxi. The fledgling automobile was originally planned as a method for a person to keep local transportation right at home. No one saw the explosive expansion in highways or personal automobiles and the impact they would have upon all other transportation. The same explosive growth which attended the early days of railroading now crowned the automobile and its highways. To go to a nearby town, it was no longer necessary to take two days by buggy or wait for the next train, perhaps tomorrow. Just crank up the Model T and off you went. By 1953, 150 years after Jefferson bought 25% of our national territory, men began to discuss the idea of an America completely without rails, transporting everything either by plane or on gleaming ribbons of concrete highway. We have torn up a lot of track since the peak 254,037 route miles of 1916. By 1995, only 170,000 route miles remained. According to The Routledge Historical Atlas of The American Railroads, trains in 1929 carried 75% of the freight while trucks hauled just 3.3%. By 1997, railroads were down to 39.2% while trucks had gained to 29%. Today, they are neck-and-neck. Even more interesting, back in 1929, railroads carried 455 billion ton-miles of freight compared to the 1997 total of 1,421 billion ton-miles. In short, the tracks haven’t been pulled up, the rails are a long way from gone, and America cannot get along without its trains. If railroad freight was shifted to trucks and the highways, you would quickly find that the trucks and the highways couldn’t handle it. More than just coal, gravel, and grain, railroads haul everything and are a key part in our economy. Passenger rail transport is vital, too. Only now do we fully realize the vast extent of Jefferson’s Purchase two centuries back. We love to hop these distances in planes, but weather often delays and cancels flights. It has a similar effect upon highway travel. We can’t ignore passenger rail because it has so much potential. Trains can run when other traffic can’t. As highways get gridlocked and people have to take off their shoes to board an airliner, the railroads begin to look pretty good once more. We model trains for many reasons, usually several at once. We like to do things with our hands; we enjoy just watching trains snake around the tracks. Most model railroaders, however, are also students of steam and diesel. We collect and read books, watch videos, go railfanning, and many more activities beyond the old layout. What is it about trains that possesses such a ruthless attraction to us? We can feel the power through the rails and into the ground where we stand. We see the awesome size and speed. And we appreciate what railroads are doing for us. Transportation was at the core of Jefferson’s decision, though even he could not envision the transport network which would open this land for settlement. As we celebrate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, it would also be a good time to appreciate the railroads which helped us unite this land resource into our nation. Like the land itself, railroads are part of our past, present, and future. |
John Sipple, Editor |
| To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com |
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