http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/dagocc.html

Here is a picture of railroad workers between 1850 and 1860. The building of the railroads from the east coast to the west was revolutionary. It enabled for the speed up of the process of expansion and settlement. It gave access for more exploration as it made the land further west more accessible. Settlement further west was made easier as material products from the cities in the east such as New York, could be easily transported. This meant that the railroads were used for trade and are still used for trade today. the picture is useful as it gives an insight into what sort of tools were used for the building of the railroads such as the cart. You can see from the picture that the clothing of the men is quite dirty, which indicates that the building was hard and messy work and it was only men who worked on the railroads as women did not do those sort of jobs, which is fairly true still today. The posture of how they are standing is quite proud, showing perhaps that they are proud of what they are doing and what they have accomplished.