Their economy was from the beginning adjusted to the railroad; and the railroad had made an essential difference.

It worked in favor of a more comprehensive and definite organization and a more complete equipment.

While the business interests of the new states were and still are predominantly agricultural, the railroads had transformed the occupation of farming.

After 1870, the pioneer farmer was much less dependent than he had been upon local conditions and markets, and upon the unaided exertions of himself and his neighbors.

He bought and sold in the markets of the world.