124 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 342 



RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1S89. 



The year iSSS is notable for the reason that it marks the begin- 

 ning of the second century of our existence as a nation. When 

 Washington was inaugurated one hundred years ago, our popula- 

 tion was less than 4,000,000 : to-day it is estimated at 65,000,000. 

 Enormous as has been this increase in the population of the coun- 

 try within the short period of one hundred years, the increase in 

 wealth and material prosperity resulting from the rapid develop- 

 ment of the country's wonderful resources has been in even greater 

 ratio ; has, in fact, no parallel in the history of the world. 



That these wonderful results are due chiefly to the rapid expan- 

 sion of our railroad system, none will gainsay. What our condition 

 would be without railroads, it is impossible to conceive : what it is, 

 having them, is universally known. 



Of the total railroad mileage of the world, the United States now 

 possess nearly one-half. At the end of 1S8S the aggregate length 

 of all lines in the counlry, according to " Poor's Manual for iSSg," 

 to advance sheets of which we are indebted for our facts, was 

 156,082 miles, all built in sixty years, the average mileage con- 

 structed per year being nearly 2,600 miles ; but this record of sixty 

 years, wonderful as it is, fades into insignificance when compared 

 with the achievements of the past twenty-three years, — since the 

 close of the civil war. 



The total mileage of our railroads at the close of 1865 was 

 35,085 miles. In the twenty-three years since then, there have 

 been constructed 121,000 miles of new road, — an average of 5,260 

 miles per annum, twice the annual average of the whole period of 

 sixty years, and 5.3 times the annual average of the first period of 

 thirty- five years. During these twenty-three years the country 

 has experienced three great waves of railroad construction, which 

 were checked only by extraordinary financial revulsions. 



The first of these great construction waves occurred within the 

 eight years intervening between the close of the war and the panic 

 of 1873. In that time the mileage increased more than 100 per 

 cent, or from 35,085 miles in 1865, to 70,268 miles in 1873. Within 

 this period was completed the first Pacific Railroad line, and con- 

 struction on a second line to the Pacific was well under way. The 

 cash cost of the 35,000 miles of road constructed in these eight years 

 must have exceeded $1,400,000,000 ; and the' panic, which began in 

 the fall of 1873, was largely the result of the transformation — fol- 

 lowing so close in the wake of a great civil war — of this vast sum 

 from floating into fixed capital. 



In New England, during this period, railroad mileage increased 

 nearly 2,500 miles; in the Middle States the increase was 6,070 

 miles, about 75 per cent ; in the South it increased 4,000 miles, 44 

 per cent; and in the Paofic States the increase \Aas from 166 miles 

 to 2,193 miles. But the great increase of this period was in the 

 Western and South-western States. 



At the close of 1873 the total capital investment in all the rail- 

 roads of the United States was $3,784,543,034, represented by 

 share capital to the amount of $1,947,638,584, and bonded debts 

 to the amount of $1,836,904,450. This vast aggregate represented 

 also the cost of 70,651 miles of railroad then in operation, the 

 average cost per mile for the whole country at that time equalling 

 $60,057. In New England the average cost was $47,850 per mile ; 

 in the Middle States, $67,737 per mile ; in the Western States, 

 $52,125 per mile ; in the Southern States, $36,994 per mile ; and in 

 the Pacific States, $95,590 per mile. The maximum cost per mile 

 was in New Jersey, where it averaged $1 15,829 ; the minimum was 

 in Florida, where the average was only $18,445 per mile. 



The increase of mileage from 1871 to 1873 had been 21,623 

 miles, and the increase of the cost of the roads $1,119,915,389, 

 nominally. One cause for the excessive mileage built within a few 

 years was the extraordinary effort to complete roads, in order to 

 save from lapsing the vast grants of land made by Congress, on 

 condition that the roads should be built within a certain time. 

 But the increase was far beyond the possibility of speedy returns 

 for the capital invested. That much land could be found unoccu- 

 pied near the line of a railroad implied a sparse population ; and, 

 although prairie soil could quickly be brought into cultivation, it 

 would be long before there could be sufficient traffic to pay the in- 

 terest on the cost of the roads. Excessive competition and specu- 



tion in railroad building and railroad bonds and stocks ensued, 

 until, in September, 1873, the great financial storm which has 

 since passed into history as the " panic of 1873 " burst upon the 

 country. 



The depression which followed extended through the years 

 1874-7S. During 1S79 matters began to improve throughout the 

 country, and this feeling soon became reflected through the rail- 

 roads. In that year construction increased nearly 100 per cent 

 over the preceding year. 



During these fifteen years there were built 85,814 miles of new 

 railroad, an increase of over 122 per cent ; that is, in the last fifteen 

 years we built 15,546 miles of railroad more than we built in the 

 preceding forty-five years. The first five of these fifteen comprised 

 a period of depression ; the next four years were years of unexam- 

 pled activity; while the three years of 1883, 1884, and 1885 were 

 years of hesitancy, in which no new railroad enterprise of great 

 magnitude was begun, as was natural, after the completion in a 

 single year (1882) of 11,600 miles of road. In 1886 there were 

 built 8,128 mdes, and in 1887, 12,984 miles, the latter surpassing 

 the record of any previous year; and in 1888, 7,028 miles. In the 

 three years the new construction aggregated 28,140 miles, or 

 within 58 miles of the extraordinary record of the three years 

 1881-83. 



The increase in mileage during the ten years from 1840 to 1850 

 was 6,202 miles, or 220 per cent. The average mileage constructed 

 per year in this decade equalled 620.3 miles. In the succeeding 

 decade, 1850 to i860, 21,605 miles were added, an average of 

 2,160.5 miles per year, the increase equalling nearly 240 per cent. 

 The next ten years, 1S60 to 1870, showed an increase of only 73 

 per cent, or 22,296 miles, the falling-off from previous records be- 

 ing due to the outbreak of the war. Between 1S70 and 1880, 45,- 

 375 miles were added, an increase of nearly 86 per cent. Since 

 1880, 57,786 miles have been built. 



Since the revival of railroad construction in 1S79 there have, been 

 completed three additional through transcontinental railroads, — 

 the Northern Pacific, the Atlantic and Pacific, and the Southern 

 Pacific ; while the Union Pacific by the construction of its Oregon 

 Short Line north-west to a connection with a branch of the Ore- 

 gon Railway and Navigation Company's system, the Atchison by 

 the construction of its line to a connection with the Southern Pa- 

 cific, and the Chicago, Burlington, and Ouincy by the construction 

 of its Denver extension, have added three other important routes 

 to the Pacific. At least three of the great Western railroad sys- 

 tems are now stretching westward, with the evident intention of 

 speedily reaching the same ocean. 



A striking feature of the^last decade of railroad building is the 

 large number of speculative and parallel lines which were put under 

 way, and many of them completed, notably the West Shore Rail- 

 road, which parallels the New 'York Central line for its whole 

 length from New York to Buffalo ; the " Nickel-Plate" line, which 

 parallels the Lake Shore in like manner from Buffalo to Chicago ;. 

 and the South Pennsylvania, paralleling the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, upon which a vast sum was 

 expended, but which has not been completed. In some instances 

 such lines were perhaps undertaken with a view to forcing their 

 subsequent purchase by the older companies whose lines they 

 sought to parallel ; and in the case of the two roads first mentioned 

 these plans met with eminent success. But their fulfilment was in 

 the main the cause of the depression which existed during the 

 years 1885, 1886, and 1887. 



The chief feature of railroad construction of the " wave " of 

 1886-88 has been the extraordinary activity displayed by the older 

 and more powerful corporations of the North-west and South-west 

 in the extension of their lines, with the apparent purpose of se- 

 curing a firm foothold upon every available foot of territory con- 

 tiguous to their several systems, or within reach thereof. The re- 

 sult of this policy has proved in many instances unwise, if not 

 disastrous, as an examination of the facts herein set forth will 

 show. 



The most important lines which have been constructed during 

 that period are here briefly summarized : North and north-west of 

 Chicago there have been completed the Duluth, South Shore, and 

 Atlantic Railway, forming a new short route between Duluth and 



