Everything Everywhere Daily · Wednesday, July 29, 2026
The development of railroads was a crucial revolution in inland transportation, particularly in the United States, enabling goods to be shipped from the continental interior to coastal cities. This facilitated the development of coal and mineral deposits far from rivers and allowed for the creation of national markets.
“As good as inland waterways were for transportation, they were still limited to areas with water, which left out most of the American West.”
“The real revolution in inland transportation was the development of the railroad.”
“Railroads made it profitable to ship wheat from the continental interior to coastal cities, to develop coal and mineral deposits far from rivers, to create national rather than local markets, and build factories inland rather than directly beside ports.”