goods!In the mid nineteenth century, Great Britain was a highly mechanized and urbanized nation, the leader in the production of textiles, iron, and most of the other products associated with what is known as the First Industrial Revolution. Its dominance coincided with the fact that the most prosperous consumer market at the time was the area known as The Golden Triangle which was between London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. By 1840 Americas markets were growing rapidly. Canals and turnpikes made transportation far more efficient, and domestic trade was thriving. The American market place began to expand dramatically with the development of the railroad. The first short rail lines in America were laid in the 1830s to connect nearby cities, waterways, and canals.By the 1840s, railroad technology had become efficient and standardized. During the 1850s about twenty one thousand miles of track were laid. Complete systems were built that connected the major cities along the eastern seaboard from north to south and in turn, these same eastern cities to the developing regions of the interior including the old northwest around the great lakes. After the Civil War, the railroads expanded more rapidly. By the mid 1870s, there was more than twice as much track laid in the United States as there had been in 1860, reaching coast to coast. Railroad companies were now the largest business concerns in the nation, importing both capital and labor from Europe, and creating enormous demand from capital goods, notably iron rails.In the 1880s, about seventy five thousand miles of railroad tracks were laid. The carrying capacity of the trains had also increased enormously doubling between 1860 and 1890. The telegraph spread rapidly, and by the 1880s a merchant could order goods instantaneously and receive them almost anywhere within a week. By 1890, only 13 percent of the American population was not reachable by rail or steamship. In 1858...
