While No One Railroad Can Completely Duplicate

Many Of The Railroad Evils Were Inherent In The Situation; They Were Explained By The Fact That Both Managers And Public Were Dealing With A New Agency Whose Laws They Did Not Completely Understand

People Began To Understand That With The Acquisition Of California The Nation Had Obtained Practically Half A Continent, Of Which The Future Possibilities Were Almost Unlimited, So Far As The Development Of Natural Resources And The Genera Production Of Wealth Were Concerned.

The Construction Of Extensive Railways, However, And Particularly The Consolidation Of Small, Experimental Lines Into Large Systems, Dates From The Days Of The Discovery Of Gold In California

Great Men Are Usually The Products Of Their Times And One Of The Men Developed By These Times Takes Rank With The Greatest Railroad Leaders In History.

Yet, In 1850 Nearly All The Railroads In The United States Lay East Of The Mississippi River, And All Of Them, Even When They Were Physically Mere Extensions Of One Another, Were Separately Owned And Separately Managed.