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Railroad History - Why They Built the Railroads

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The motives for building the nation's railroads are as diverse as the key players. Abraham Lincoln's vision for the transcontinental railroad was different than those of the big four in California and everyone in between. Knowing the minds of those long dead is a daunting task. Unless they left diaries explicitly stating their intentions for a railroad, it is difficult to know what they had in mind, especially given the complexity of human motives, self-awareness, etc.  Lincoln, for example, did not keep a diary, although historians have access to many of his letters.  The over arching motives for building a railroad lay in the fact that it was a better alternative for moving goods and people. Prior to the coming of the railroad, people could not travel any faster on land than Caesar was able to travel on land in the Roman Empire. The railroad changed all that. It improved land travel immensely.  Business promotors expect to make money. Sometimes by hook and crook!  Although the bad guys get the headlines, most business promotors and managers are honest.   I am reading for the second time Last Train to Paradise. It is about the building of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West. Henry Flagler's initial motive for his railroad was to build a line from Jacksonville to St. Augustine so that potential guests for his new hotel there would have a better way to get to St. Augustine. Building the road to Miami was motivated by similar desires. However, one of the motives for building the road to Key West was a vision that it would be a port of entry for ships traversing the anticipated Panama Canal.
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