By Sherwood<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

Railroads gave humans the power to overcome spatial and temporal obstacles that had troubled them in the past. The world and the passage of time as nineteenth-century Americans perceived them became smaller and faster, respectively, with the introduction of rail transport. Historians Charles W. J. Withers, William Cronon and Richard White illustrate how railroads warped the dimensions nineteenth-century Americans had previously existed within.<\/p>\n

In \u201cPlace and the \u2018Spatial Turn’ in Geography and in History,\u201d Charles W. J. Withers theorizes about the vernacular used to describe geography. In particular, he investigates the usage of the term \u201cplace.\u201d Withers compares place to space, acknowledging that they share \u201cgeographical ubiquity and metaphysical imprecision.\u201d[1]<\/a> However, he argues that place emerges from the interactions between people and space and therefore carries greater meaning. Furthermore, Withers speculates that the \u201cthe \u2018collapse’ of geographical space given technical advances\u201d and the \u201cidea that the modern world has become more homogenized\u201d suggest that geographical distinctiveness may be \u201ca thing of the past.\u201d[2]<\/a> For example, journeys that had previously been arduous were made trivial by railroads. Similarly, the Internet has accelerated the pace of globalization and razed barriers between cultures. Only the relationship between geography and history\u2014 this notion of place\u2014 remains to distinguish spaces from one another, which otherwise have become less distant and more similar. Withers ultimately dismisses the faults of place, including its \u201cpersistence and seeming imprecision,\u201d and advocates that historians recognize the authority of the term.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

In \u201cRails and Water,\u201d William Cronon uses the example of nineteenth-century Chicago to demonstrate the role of railroads and waterways in the development of cities. He acknowledges the importance of natural advantages to achieving rapid growth, but echoes Withers by arguing that inhabitants ultimately define their surrounding environments: \u201cresources, waterways, and climactic zones loom so large\u2026 that one can almost forget that people <\/em>have something to do with the building of cities.\u201d[4]<\/a> Humans manipulate and repurpose the physical landscape into harbors, canals and roads. Cronon uses the phrase \u201csecond nature\u201d to describe these improvements.[5]<\/a> He goes on to describe the significance of Chicago as a market for grain, through which the farmers in the midwest could sell to consumers in the northeast. Built in 1848, the first railroad in the region transported over half the city’s wheat by 1852.[6]<\/a> Rail transport defied difficult geography, operated independently of inclement weather and seemingly \u201caccelerated [time].\u201d[7]<\/a> The ability to accomplish more in twenty-four hours made each day dramatically more valuable. Additionally, Cronon argues that the standard of efficiency established by railroads \u201craised people’s expectations about the regularity and reliability of transportation services.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

In \u201cTranscontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space,\u201d Richard White describes the general development of American railroads during the mid to late nineteenth century, including the effect of the Civil War on the industry, the evolving relationship between nature and technology, the everyday dangers faced by workers and the process of standardizing track gauges. The latter issue plagued rail transport during this era: \u201cin 1860 there were 31,286 miles of American railroads, but they could hardly be thought of as a system or even a collection of systems.\u201d[9]<\/a> White also elaborates on Cronon’s notion of \u201crailroad time,\u201d explaining how nineteenth-century Americans understood space in terms of time. These dimensions are perceived simultaneously and inseparably. \u201cWhen passengers found that they could get to distant places more quickly,\u201d White writes, \u201cthey translated reduced time into contracting space.\u201d[10]<\/a> Contrary to what one may think, seconds, minutes, hours and days comprised the units of measurement used to define distances, rather than inches, feet, yards and miles. For example, the wheat farmers described in Cronon’s \u201cRails and Water\u201d likely concerned themselves less with the actual distance traveled than the time spent in transit. The successful sale of their product depended more so on their speed to market. White describes the \u201cannihilation of time and space\u201d that resulted from the introduction of railroads\u2014 a complex and delicate subject\u2014 with relative ease.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

Withers theorizes in depth and corroborates his argument with references to relevant scholarly works. Cronon describes the expansion of railroads from an economic perspective. White synthesizes their ideas. His explanation of how railroads changed perceptions of space and time is predicated on Withers’ notion of \u201cplace\u201d and the historical narrative lain out by Cronon. Although White commands less authority than either of his contemporaries, he effectively combines them by using concise and colloquial language. Together, these articles suggest that the introduction of rail transport produced a twilight zone, in which the dimensions nineteenth-century Americans had previously existed within no longer applied.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Charles W. J. Withers, \u201cPlace and the \u2018Spatial Turn’ in Geography and in History,\u201d Journal of the History of Ideas<\/em> 70 (2009): 638.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Withers, 637-8.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Withers, 658.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> William Cronon, \u201cRails and Water,\u201d in Nature’s Metropolis<\/em>. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992), 55.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Cronon, 56.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Cronon, 67.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Cronon, 75-6.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Cronon, 78.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Richard White, \u201cTranscontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space,\u201d The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, http:\/\/www.gilderlehrman.org\/history-by-era\/development-west\/essays\/transcontinental-railroads-compressing-time-and-space<\/a><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> White.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> White.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Withers, Charles W. J. \u201cPlace and the \u2018Spatial Turn’ in Geography and in History.\u201d Journal of the History of Ideas <\/em>70 (2009).<\/p>\n

Cronon, William. \u201cRails and Water,\u201d in Nature’s Metropolis<\/em>. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992.<\/p>\n

White, Richard. \u201cTranscontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space.\u201d The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Accessed March 3, 2015. http:\/\/www.gilderlehrman.org\/history-by-era\/development-west\/essays\/transcontinental-railroads-compressing-time-and-space<\/a><\/p>\n

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