Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126
Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127
Before reading chapter two, I had no idea that railroads played such an important factor in not only promoting industrious societies such as Chicago, but also how they played a big role in our nation’s history. With Chicago’s ideal location near bodies of water, I knew how ideal it would be to use ships to transport everything from one state to another, but seeing the gap that the railroad filled up really sped everything up and made transportation a lot more efficient. Cronon even stated that on November 18, 1883, the railroad company divided the United States into four different time zones (Cronon 79.) I always wondered how different parts of the country were divided up into different time zones, and now it all makes sense; to make sure that railroad stations in certain parts of the country were on the same page and to avoid having trains running on the same track at the time based on schedule. Reflecting back on some of my colleagues’ work, I can really see the connection made between natural and unnatural; in @ramsescastillo03’s work, the author noted how humans use their inventions and ambitions to turn the “natural,” into “unnatural” (Ramsescastillo03.) This can easily be seen throughout the course of Chapter Two; in the beginning of the chapter, Cronon noted how it was becoming harder to sustain the city with new obstacles of nature arising, especially when the mouth of the Chicago River had a 70-yard sandbar. The people dealt with the sandbar by putting their innovations to the test by raising money to cut a new deep channel along with building piers (Cronon 56.) Humans will always have a solution to everything when it come to turning natural into unnatural.