who came up with the idea to build the transcontinental railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad Building a railroad line that connected the United States coast-to-coast was advocated in 1832 when Dr. Hartwell Carver published an article in the New York Courier & Enquirer advocating building a transcontinental railroad from Lake Michigan to Oregon. In 1847 he submitted to the U.S. Congress a "Proposal for a Charter to Build a Railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean", seeking a congressional charter to support his idea.[20][21]
History of rail transport in the United States Railroads played a large role in the development of the United States from the industrial revolution in the North-east (1810–1850) to the settlement of the West (1850–1890). The American railroad mania began with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1826 and flourished until the Panic of 1873 bankrupted many companies and temporarily ended growth.