CostAfter the War of 1812, normal wagon freights cost about thirty cents per ton mile and were often twice that. This steep price meant that the product had to be sold to costomers for very expensive prices as well. When Railroads were built they allowed products to be shipped for in huge quantities, decreasing the price per product. They got their products to the big trade cities such as Chicago much quicker. This made trade much more efficient because the transport of goods could happen much quicker. They could transport goods faster and more effeintly in pounds by the hundreds, and the cost was much less expensive. It was 12.5 cents to export a hundred pounds of grain from the twin cities to Chicago. At the building of the railroads, both companies wanted to lay track as efficiently as possible. They used imigrants as a cheaper force of labor. While the white workers were given a monthly salary of about 35 dollars as well as food and shelter, the Chinese workers received only there salary (about 26-35 dollars). This cheaper labor allowed the tracks to be layed for less money. Yet another way money was saved and not increasing the prices that customers had to pay.
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Amount of Product TransportedOne of the differences in trade that railroads provided compared to previous methods was the sheer amount of product that could be shipped. Instead of only small bundles of grain or other product that could be carried overland, huge amounts could now be shipped. Railroads were able to carry tons of of product such as wheat or corn. Each individual part of the train could carry hundreds of pounds of material. Horse and buggy had trouble carrying only a hundred pounds of material while it also weakened the horses. Trains carried hundreds of times as much without affecting the engine half as much. Carrying a bundle of grains on horse and buggy slowed down travel as well. This negatively affected trade because not as much product could get delivered. With railroads more got delivered in bulk to the seller which made the product cheaper to the customer.
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