The earliest North American railways were, in essence, attempts by East Coast cities to extend their commercial reach into the heartland. Baltimore & Ohio was financed by Baltimore businessmen in 1828 to push west into the Ohio Valley, which, in the early 19th century, was one of the fastest-growing regions of the United States. Boston & Maine, founded in the 1830s, was meant to link its namesake city with the natural resources of the far north; the Pennsylvania Railroad system traces back to the 1840s, to ensure that Midwestern goods would flow to and from the port of Philadelphia.
One of the most important examples, however, comes from the Empire State. The navigable portion of the Hudson River stretching from New York City to Albany was an important trade route long before Henry Hudson showed up in 1609. Completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 provided an important connection to the Great Lakes, yet railroads were already threatening the monopoly of canals and waterways with swift year-round transportation. While railroads serving the interior of New York were chartered in the 1820s and 1830s, Hudson River Railroad was not organized until 1846, completed from New York to Albany by 1851. This would later become the main line of the mighty New York Central. Competition came in the 1860s, with the eponymous West Shore Railroad completing its route from New Jersey to Albany in the 1880s. Financier J.P. Morgan brokered a deal where NYC acquired the line in 1885 to avoid a disastrous competitive rate war. Both lines formed the foundation of a railroad that would eventually grow into an 11,000-mile system linking New York City with eight states and two Canadian provinces.
What’s exceptional is that the judgment of these early railway speculators, despite the relative youth of the technology at the time, proved remarkably prescient. Each of the legacy routes described above developed into major trunk lines. Several generations and a few corporate name changes later, these original main lines remain integral to the North American network. The old New York Central lines — now operated by CSX — remain staggeringly busy, funneling massive amounts of freight and passengers in and out of the greater New York metropolitan area every day, all flowing through the majestic Hudson Valley. Photographer Eric Williams explores this region in his photo essay in this issue.
The phenomenon of railways serving as extensions of urban markets is not restricted to eastern cities. Historian William Cronon has long pointed out that Chicago businessmen used rail lines extending outward from their Midwestern city to harness vast resources and spread the city’s manufacturing goods throughout the continent. Western cities tried their hand at this, as well. Note all the lines of the once-grand Southern Pacific measured from the company’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco, while Union Pacific planted its flag in Omaha. But it was Santa Fe that first established a continuous main line from Chicago, through the Southwest, to the Pacific Coast in 1887.
It is farther north, though, in the Pacific Northwest, where the closest parallels to the Hudson can be found. In the 19th century, Portland, Ore., cemented its position as the most crucial port city in the region through its location at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. This spectacular valley is the Hudson’s western twin, larger in scale, cutting through deeper mountains, but in many ways similar in spirit. The Columbia’s piercing of the Cascade Range linked Pacific tidewater with a vast region of rich agricultural land, millions upon millions of acres of timber, and untold mineral wealth.
The first railroad to take advantage of this was Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, founded in 1879 to funnel traffic from the Great Plains states. Unlike its East Coast kin, dreams of a corporate transportation empire centered on the Rose City lasted but a short time — by 1899, OR&N was firmly controlled by Union Pacific. The former OR&N has persisted as one of the busiest mains in the West, while on the opposite shore, the competing Spokane, Portland & Seattle route built by James J. Hill in the early 20th century is now one of BNSF’s most important conduits for freight (and also used for the Portland section of Amtrak’s Empire Builder).
Besides differences in climate and traffic, you could argue which scenic venues outshine the other and never reach a firm answer. What the Hudson and the Columbia both show, though, is that as spectacular as mountain railroads may be, it’s the easy-flowing river routes that stand the test of time.
—Alexander Benjamin Craghead is a transportation historian, photographer, artist, and author.
