“The More Railroads We Have the Better:” Assessing the Impact of the Railroad’s 1869 Arrival to San Francisco

            On May 10^th, 1869, railroad engineers Grenville Dodge and Samuel Montague drove the last spike, the so-called “Golden Spike,” of the first North American Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah.¹ This event was significant for the economic development of towns and populations within reach of the railroad. One of these impacted populations was that of the San Francisco Bay area. Although San Francisco had its origins as a humble pueblo called Yerba Buena, the arrival of a ship of Latter-day Saint immigrants in 1846 coupled with the California Gold Rush starting in 1848, had helped it become the largest city on the West Coast by 1849. The arrival of the railroad in 1869 added fuel to that fire and helped create a more “integrated, unified [national] economy” wherein items could be transported more economically to and from the Bay Area.² This research will comparatively analyze the economic development of the San Francisco Bay area before and after the arrival of the Transcontinental Railroad during the postbellum period.

Research Methodology

            This research will use statistical data, such as population figures from historical censuses and economic information from San Francisco city reports before and after 1869. The research will also include a brief first-person narrative description provided by a resident and official of San Francisco regarding the impact of the railroad on economic development in the city. Lastly, some secondary academic sources will be included to provide context and perspective. The information is all accessible online through databases such as Internet Archive, Sabin Americana, and the Bay Area Census department. Comparative analysis will be used to assess both the quantitative and narrative information available. There are no apparent ethical concerns other than the constant pursuit for objective analysis. The limitations to consider are that population data is only available by the census every ten years so population comparisons before and after the arrival of the railroad will have to be more approximate than desired. The other economic comparisons, such as exports, imports, and production, will have tighter windows of comparison to reduce the impact of other factors besides the arrival of the railroad.

Analysis

A 1903 annual report compiled by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce provides incredibly useful commercial and financial figures of various San Francisco industries and sectors over time, including as far back as 1855.³ This report provides comparative data that can be used to assess the impact of the railroad on the economic development of San Francisco. The annual production of pounds of wool in California increased from 15,413,970 in 1869 to 20,072,660 in 1870; this constitutes an increase of 30% year over year, compared to only an 8.3% increase the previous year.⁴ It would go on to double again over the next five years.⁵ While that metric refers to all of California, since San Francisco was the largest city in the state and the metric was included in the city’s annual report, it is likely indicative of the city’s growth in that sector as well. The annual dollar value of exports from San Francisco fluctuated during this same period, but imports skyrocketed from $18,723,738 in 1868 to nearly $29,000 in 1871, and nearly $40,000 in 1872.⁶ According to official census data, the population of San Francisco increased from 56,802 in 1860 to 149,473 in 1870.⁷ It is also interesting to note that the earliest available oil or raisin production figures date to 1870, which was the first full year that the Transcontinental Railroad was in operation.⁸ While causation is not certain for all of these, they are part of a growing list of plausible evidence that San Francisco’s railroad connection had a positive impact on economic growth.

            There is also narrative evidence in favor of the railroad’s positive impact on the San Francisco economy. In an 1870 report from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber President Robert Swain described with some enthusiasm, “the great event of the past year” being the “opening of the … railroad” that made them feel “part and parcel of the Union.”⁹ He described how any recent economic downturn in the San Francisco economy was due to labor disputes and regulations and “not to the railroad. The more railroads we have the better.”¹⁰ In terms of secondary sources, one scholar noted that California “merchants looked forward to the arrival of the transcontinental railroad” and that its completion “ended California’s isolation.”¹¹ Another historian argued that, while historical opinions of the railroad’s impact on the West have been mixed over time, more recent scholarship supports that many of “the railroads’ influences … on the pioneer development of western regions” were “positive.”¹²

Conclusion

In summary, not only is there financial and objective evidence of the positive economic impact of the railroad on the San Francisco Bay Area, but there is also subjective, first-person evidence, and secondary academic evidence. Contextually, it is important to note that the late 1860s and early 1870s were a volatile time in the economic history of San Francisco. In the wake of the Gold Rush, the city was experiencing a rough transition away from a gold-based economy, real estate speculation was rampant, and factors triggering the severe nationwide financial crisis known as the Panic of 1873 were already in progress. This helps to explain that any economic growth, or even stability, during this period is noteworthy. The research supports that, despite negative economic factors, there is still evidence of economic growth in San Francisco, specifically, and California, generally, following the completion of the railroad. 

Footnotes

1 Rudolph Daniels, Trains Across the Continent: North American Railroad History (Indiana University Press, 2000), 53. https://archive.org/details/trainsacrosscont00rudo/page/52/mode/2up?q=53.

2 Ibid.

3 Annual Report of the Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco. San Francisco Commercial Publishing Company: 1903. Internet Archive, accessed November 1, 2024, https://archive.org/details/annualreportcha01commgoog/page/n4/mode/2up.

4 Ibid., 199.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid., 125.

7 “San Francisco City and County: Census Data,” Bay Area Census, accessed November 1, 2024, http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/SanFranciscoCounty40.htm.

8 Ibid., 188, 211.

9 Annual Reports to the Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco, Alta California: 1870. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, accessed November 1, 2024, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0111004594/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=3ef993b5&pg=1, 4.

10 Ibid., 5-6.

11 Joshua Paddison, “Capturing California,” California History 81, no. ¾, 2003, https://doi.org/10.2307/25161702, 128-132.

12 Richard J. Orsi, “Railroads in the History of California and the Far West: An Introduction,” California History 70, no. 1 (1991): 11, https://doi.org/10.2307/25158549.