Why did railroads have a greater impact on American society than did canals and steamboats?

Question

flufflepuffle · Answer

They got people to where they needed to be much faster than canals and steamboats.

joel_the_boss · Answer

One of the problems with steam boats is that they incorporated high pressure boilers, highly inefficient but very high power. At these high temperatures, high pressure and proximity to water, of all of the 800 odd steamboats that plied the rivers of North America in the nineteenth century, all of them blow up, burned or sank. A bit latter technology was to equip the tenders with a scoop on the underside. Certain ‘watering stops’ were replaced with a long metal lined trough set up between the rails. As the train approached it lowered the scoop and the forward momentum caused the tender to fill with water. At the end of the trough the scoop was closed and the train didn’t need to stop for water hence the term ‘jerk-water town’. On May 10, 1869 the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad met at Promontory Point in Utah to complete the Transcontinental Railroad. (The Transcontinental Telegraph was completed in October of 1861 in Utah and The Transcontinental Telephone was hooked up on the Utah and Nevada Border in 1914). And I think we were one of the first hookups to the Internet. All these advancements in transportation brought shipping costs down dramatically in the areas they served. This contributed to the expansion of the country and its economic and social development. Lower costs of imported goods left more ‘cash’ to stay within the communities. Source: http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=207