Building for the Future - or Not

 American technology was a for a land of the future, but Americans seldom thought they were building for that future.  They viewed technology in present-tense.  The British were the ones who build for the future, but not Americans.  They built for the present.

Americans were too worried about making a little capital go a long way - both monetarily and in regards to distance.  There was little thought to durability.  It was about how to get there as fast as possible rather than building for their grandchildren.  It was better to extend the system of railroads as far as possible at once and be satisfied with that initial construction, than to postpone the benefits of better quality in the future.

Building rapidly and in a flimsy way, were uniquely American practices.  Americans refused to be "beholden" to the future.  The techniques of railroad building would change they knew, just as everything in America changed.  These railroads were not the final improvement in rail travel.  

In the years to come, travel would indeed change most radically, from horses and the "iron horse" to the personal automobile.  Finally travel would take to the skies, making railroads almost obsolete in a 100 years.  Until then traveling by rail developed a society all its own...

Next time...the "class system" of the passenger rails

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 5, 1892, the notorious Dalton Gang attempts a daring daylight robbery of two Coffeyville, Kansas banks at the same time.  After nearly 18 months of terrorizing the town, nearly all of the gang were killed by the quick-thinking townspeople. In the end, four townspeople were dead and only Emmett Dalton was left of the infamous Dalton Gang.