Railroads: Native Americans in the United States and Large Farm Essay

Submitted By wolves11
Words: 1056
Pages: 5

Unit III: Railroads, Tourism, Ranching and Homesteading A union of technological advancements, such as the creation of tracks, the invention of steam powered locomotives, and the formation of trains as public transport of passengers and freight, brought the idea for the railroad. Before the 19th century, America depended on slow trade and local farming in order to strive. Soon, Americans realized the need for manufacturing goods and industrialization. Railroads were one of the top contributors to American industrialization.1 Without railroads, American expansion westward, and the increased use of agriculture would have not advanced as fast as it did. Railroads in Colorado have played an important role in the farming and ranching industry. Since the huge railroad construction project in 19th century America, farmers all around the country have been given the easy access to transport their produce to the market. Railroads affected the development of ranching and farming in Colorado in many ways. This includes cheaper transportation costs, and speedy access to markets.2 With all the positive effects coming out of the railroads, there were some negative effects on the Native peoples in Colorado as well. These negative effects were the destruction of their homes and the horrible slaughter of the Great Plains buffalo population. The first positive effect of railroads was helping farmers in getting their products, such as crops and animals, out of their local markets and into other markets in a faster manner. This let larger farms to make a greater profit from their product. Smaller farms could not afford to ship their products as far as larger farms could.3 So the smaller farms had to make the best with the local market. The local markets were now more open because the larger farms had shipped all their products to distant markets and placed less in the local market.
For example, corn on a large farm can produce eighteen hundred bushels of corn while a small farm would only produce three hundred bushels a season. The large farm makes six times the amount that the small farm does. The large farm can sell its corn locally for less than the smaller farms because it has more products to sell. So if the small farm sold its corn at two dollars for half a bushel in the local market, the large farm could sell its corn for one dollar. The small farm only makes twelve hundred dollars locally if it can sell all of its corn, while the large farm can make three thousand six hundred dollars if it can sell all of its corn locally. So now with the introduction of railroads the larger farm can start sending most of it's corn to a market further away, when the larger farm sells the corn for two dollars for a half bushel then there is less competition for the smaller farm locally. Now the local buyer is going to buy from the smaller farm, because the larger farm can handle the profit loss as it will make more money from a different market where corn is in more of a demand. So all in all from the railroads both the small and large farms benefit and make a good profit. 4
The railroad was very beneficial for many white farmers and ranchers but there was one group of peoples who were greatly negatively affected by the introduction of the railroad. These peoples were the Native American Indians of the Great Plains. The buffalo is a strong symbol and resource to the Indians because they based most of their ways of living off of the buffalo.5 The Plains Indians had evolved their cultures, and communities around the buffalo. These Indians had knowledge about using the whole buffalo and never wasting a bone or hair. These uses of the buffalo ranged from food and supplies to war and hunting improvements. For example, the hooves were boiled and used as glue. The hump of the buffalos back was very strong so the Indian used this part of the buffalo for making shields. Also the hides of the buffalo were used for making teepees. The buffalo were very