<span>The growth of railroads opened up vast swaths of previously inaccessible territory, catalyzed new industries, and changed the lives of everyday people. With the advent of rail transportation, citizens had access to goods, including perishables, which would have presented a previously impossible logistical challenge to transport to their locations, and also had the ability to more easily access large cities for business or leisure. In the case of farmers, rail enabled them to quickly transport their crops to market, opening up major commodity trading centers such as Chicago where crops could be aggregated and sold.</span>
