Who built the railroad first in America?
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The First Transcontinental Railroad was authorized by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 and heavily backed by the federal government. The building of the railway required enormous feats of engineering and labor in the crossing of plains and high mountains by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad, the two privately chartered federally backed enterprises that built the line westward and eastward respectively.
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Officials and workers of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways met on Promontory Summit, in Utah Territory to drive in the Golden Spike on May 10, 1869. This spike symbolized completion of the first transcontinental railroad, an event which joined the nation from coast to coast and reduced a journey of four or more months to just one week.
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If you mean the founders in relation to the history of the country, I suggest you look @ \nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States
610522
The United states Army corp of Engineers was the major builder, with lots of help from panamanieans and americans alike. It was built in the early 1900's (1904-1914)
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The first President of the U.S. was George Washington.
592020
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, the official name of the Burlington Route, started from humble beginnings February 12, 1849 in Aurora, Illinois. The Aurora Branch Railroad was laid with secondhand strap iron spiked to 12 miles of wooden rails. On September 2, 1850, the first train chugged its uncertain way over six miles from Batavia, Illinois, north to Turner Junction, and then eastward to Chicago over the tracks of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad. The locomotive and cars were borrowed from the Galena line as their own equipment had not yet arrived. This allowed the Aurora Branch to be the second railroad to serve Chicago.\n\nBy 1864, the railroad had 400 miles of track - all in Illinois - and adopted the familiar name Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., which properly described its trackage stretching to Burlington, Iowa and Quincy, Illinois on the Mississippi River. The name also had staying power, for it lasted 106 years until the Burlington Northern merger in 1970.\n\nThe Burlington, as it came to be known, completed its own line from Aurora to Chicago in 1864, and the following year had the distinction of operating the first train into the newly-opened Union Stock Yards.\n\nBurlington's rapid expansion after the Civil War was based upon sound financial management, dominated by John Murray Forbes of Boston and assisted by Charles E. Perkins. Perkins was a powerful administrator who eventually forged a system out of previously loosely-held affiliates, virtually tripling Burlington's size during his presidency from 1881 to 1901.\n\nThe railroad across Iowa was the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, incorporated in Burlington in 1852. Operations began over the first few miles of track on New Year's Day, 1856. The road reached Ottumwa by 1857, through Murray in the fall of 1858 and was completed to the Missouri River in November 1869. The trains of that day were pulled by small, wood-burning locomotives, only capable of pulling a dozen or so cars. The passenger cars were built of wood and were not very comfortable for the traveler. \n\nIn 1868 the CB&Q completed bridges over the Mississippi both at Burlington and Quincy, giving the railroad through connections with the B&MR in Iowa and the Hannibal & St, Joseph Railroad in Missouri. The first Railway Post Office was inaugurated on the H&St.J to sort mail on the trains way across Missouri, passing the mail to the Pony Express upon reaching the Missouri River. The B&MR continued building westward into Nebraska as a separate company, the Burlington & Missouri River Rail Road in Nebraska, founded in 1869. During the summer of 1870 it reached Lincoln, the newly designated capital of Nebraska and by 1872 it reached Kearney, Nebraska. That same year the B&MR across Iowa was absorbed by the CB&Q. By the time the Missouri River bridge at Plattsmouth was completed the B&MR in Nebraska was well on its way to the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado. That same year, the Nebraska B&MR was purchased by the CB&Q which completed the line to Denver by 1882, the first direct rail line from Chicago to Denver.\n\nBy this time, the steam locomotives used coal as their fuel and became considerably larger. More emphasis was placed on the comfort and safety of the passenger with larger, more plush coaches. Trains no longer stopped at large stations to allow the passengers to get a meal, dining cars for meals while traveling were now in common use.\n\nAs the Burlington lines were pushing westward, other segments were built in the Midwest, notably links to St. Louis and Rock Island. The idea of building north to the Twin Cities was also gaining momentum. In 1885, lines were extended to Savanna, Illinois, then north along the Mississippi River to St. Paul in 1886. \n\nThroughout the years, products from farms and ranches were essential to the CB&Q, and the company became known as a "Granger Railroad." Burlington representatives worked closely with farmer
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In 1507, cartographer Martin Waldseemueller named the New World "America" after the Italian Amerigo Vespucci.  Amerigo navigated a couple of trips to the New World beginning 1499, but never actually founded a voyage himself.  It remains a large mystery why Waldseemueller chose Amerigo's first name as the choice for the name of the New World.  It may be that he wrote about the New World and was more widely-known for his writings, which led to the naming.  It may be that Amerigo could be easily translated into Latin, and began with "A" like many other foreign continents.  Regardless, he lives in fame to this day.
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George Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was an AMERICAN inventor and industrialist.\n\nBorn in Brocton, New York, his family moved to Albion, New York. It was here that the young George gained many of his ideas that made him successful. Pullman also manufactured coffins during this time. Pullman dropped out of school at age 14, and eventually became one of Chicago's most influential and controversial figures. He arrived in Chicago in 1855 as that city prepared to build the nations first comprehensive sewer system.\n\nBuilt on a low-lying bog, Chicago streets were frequently filled with mud deep enough to drown a horse. Unable to drain sewage by placing the sewers below grade, Chicago put its sewers on top of the street and covered them, effectively raising the street level 10-12 feet. Pullman then raised the existing buildings and built a new foundation under them, a technique his father used to move homes during the widening of the Erie Canal. In 1857, with a couple of partners, Pullman proved his technique would work by raising an entire block of stores and office buildings. Pullman added to his reputation when he later raised the massive Tremont House, a six-story brick hotel that stood on an acre (4,000 m²) of ground, with the guests still in it.\n\nBetween 1859 and 1863, he spent time as a gold broker near Golden, Colorado where he raised money and met a future business associate, Hanniball Kimball.\n\nHe used his money and success to develop a comfortable railroad sleeping car, the Pullman sleeper, or "palace car." These were designed after the packet boats that traveled the Erie Canal of his youth in Albion. The first one was finished in 1864. By arranging to have the body of President Abraham Lincoln carried from Washington, D.C. to Springfield on a sleeper, he received national attention and the orders began to pour in. The sleeping cars proved successful despite the fact that the sleeper cost more than five times the price of a regular railway car.\n\nIn 1867 Pullman introduced his first hotel on wheels, the President, a sleeper with an attached kitchen and dining car. The food rivaled the best restaurants of the day and the service was impeccable. A year later in 1868, he launched the Delmonico, the world's first sleeping car devoted to fine cuisine. The Delmonico menu was prepared by chefs from New York's famed Delmonico's Restaurant.\n\nBoth the President and the Delmonico and subsequent Pullman sleeping cars offered first-rate service which was provided by recently-freed former house slaves who served as porters, waiters, chambermaids, entertainers, and valets all rolled into one person.\n\nPullman believed that if his sleeper cars were to be successful, he needed to provide a wide variety of services to travelers: collecting tickets, selling berths, dispatching wires, fetching sandwiches, mending torn trousers, converting day coaches into sleepers, etc. Pullman believed that the former house slaves of the plantatation south had the right combination of training and acquiescence to serve the businessmen that would patronize his "Palace Cars." Pullman became the biggest single employer of African Americans in post-Civil War America.\n\nIn 1869 Pullman bought out the Detroit Car and Manufacturing Company. He bought the patents and business of his eastern competitor, the Central Transportation Company in 1870. In the spring of 1871 George Pullman, Andrew Carnegie, and others bailed out the financially troubled Union Pacific and were placed onto its board of directors. By 1875 the Pullman firm owned $100,000 worth of patents, had 700 cars in operation, and had several hundred thousand dollars in the bank.\n\nIn 1867 Pullman married Harriett Sanger and built a house in Chicago. They had four children: Florence born in 1868, Harriet in 1869, and twin sons George Jr. and Walter Sanger in 1875. Florence, her father's favorite, was his frequent traveling compan
181298
Jaques Cartier was the first... I don't remember the others, there was also Samuel De Champlain... and the others was some misionairy like Père Marquette... lol I should listen more in history class I learn this this year... well hope you are satisfied by the answer^^
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1863   World's first subway opens in London.\n1904   First official Manhattan subway system
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Bad distribution of wealth from the beginning.  Too much corporate, colonial, and land-baron greed.\nThe United States was built by pioneers who owned what they built.\nNot so in South America.
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George Washington....thanks for the points! :)
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Benjamin Franklin created the Union Fire Company in 1736 in Philadelphia, the first volunteer fire company in America.\n\nIn America, Jamestown, Virginia had been virtually destroyed in a fire in January, 1608. Fire "wardens" were appointed in New Amsterdam in 1648. Wardens were to patrol the cities to inspect chimneys. "Rattle Watches" were performed at night by eight appointees, who were to rouse citizens to fight fires by bucket brigade if necessary. In Boston, serious fires in 1653 and 1676 had inspired the city to take greater measures towards combating fire.
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google it.....i know the De witt clinton thought of the Erie Canal.....i thin it was dug up and stuff..if u want more info go to google and ask how was the erie canal built.....
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They built our railroads for next to nothing with no concern for safty.\nThey were the mexicans of the 1900's.\n\nPlease note that I am of mexican desent and can make fun of my own people!
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It is a silly question  No one discovered the United States.  The United States is a political construct.  North America was discovered by John Cabot (I think), leaving aside the Vikings and Basque fishermen.  \n\nColumbus discovered the Caribbean.
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John C. Frémont PathMAKER of the West\n\nPlease take time to select the best answer.