Antitrust Status of Farmer Cooperatives: - USDA Rural Development ...

ecame the subject of the first legislative initiatives to regulate
anticompetitive conduct.
The concept of moving objects in wagons with wheels over rails
is documented as far back as European mines of the 1500s. The
wagons, pulled by men or horses, moved more easily over wooden
rails than over the rutted and muddy mine entrances and floors.
The basic development of modern railroading, with steam engines
and steel rails, is credited, like much of the foundation for the
Industrial Revolution, to English inventor-engineers. In 1804,
Englishman Richard Trevithick attached one of his new engines using
high-pressure steam to a carr iage and used it to haul several tons of
cargo along 15 kilometers of track, the first successful operation of a
railroad locomotive. Another Englishman, George Stevenson, opened
the first public railroad in 1825 and in 1830 opened a second line,
between Manchester and Liverpool. It provided the first scheduled
passenger service.
Some Americans quickly recognized the potential of this new
system. In 1815, John Stevens obtained a charter from the State of
New Jersey to build a steam-powered railroad across the state. When
he couldn' t raise enough money for the project, he built a circular
track near his estate in Hoboken, NJ, and a steam-powered vehicle to
run on it. In 1825, his finished project became the first railroad in the
United States.
In 1827, Baltimore merchants, hoping to increase trade with
western states, received a charter for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Ground was broken on July 4, 1828, and in 1830 Peter Cooper's
experimental locomotive, Tom Thumb, made its first run over the 13
miles of completed tr ack. On Chr istmas Day, 1830, the South
Carolina Railroad provided the first scheduled steam rail service in the
nation in and out of Charleston. Although only 23 miles of operating
rail lines existed in 1830, the seeds of the Industrial Revolution were
sown and germinating.
Railroads combined the steam power and low-friction technologies
of the waterways with the flexibility of being able to operate without
benefit of a navigable river or canal. The growth of railroading was
astonishing. By 1835, more than 200 railroad charters had been
granted in 11 states, and more than 1,000 miles of track had been
opened for service.
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