<P> Ohio had more railroads built in the 1840s than any other state . Ohio's railroads put the canals out of business . A typical mile of railroad cost $30,000 compared to the $20,000 per mile of canal, but a railroad could carry 50 times as much traffic . Railroads appeared at the time of the canal boom, causing its abrupt end, although some canals flourished for an additional half - century . </P> <P> Starting with textiles in the 1790s, factories were built to supply a regional and national market . The power came from waterfalls, and most of the factories were built alongside the rivers in rural New England and upstate New York . </P> <P> Before 1800, most cloth was made in home workshops, and housewives sewed it into clothing for family use or trade with neighbors . In 1810 the secretary of the treasury estimated that two - thirds of rural household clothing, including hosiery and linen, was produced by households . By the 1820s, housewives bought the cloth at local stores, and continued their sewing chores . The American textile industry was established during the long period of wars from 1793 to 1815, when cheap cloth imports from Britain were unavailable . Samuel Slater secretly brought in the plans for complex textile machinery from Britain, and built new factories in Rhode Island using the stolen designs . By the time the Embargo Act of 1807 cut off trade with Britain, there here were 15 cotton spinning mills in operation . These were all small operations, typically employing fewer than 50 people, and most used Arckwright water frames powered by small streams . They were all located in southeastern New England . In 1809 the number of mills had grown to 62, with 25 under construction . To meet increased demand for cloth several manufacturers resorted to the putting - out system of having the handloom weaving done in homes . The putting - out system was inefficient because of the difficulty of distributing the yarn and collecting the cloth, embezzlement of supplies, lack of supervision and poor quality . To overcome these problems the textile manufacturers began to consolidate work in central workshops shops where they could supervise operations . Taking this to the next level, in 1815 Francis Cabot Lowell of the Boston Manufacturing Company built the first integrated spinning and weaving factory in the world at Waltham, Massachusetts, using plans for a power loom that he smuggled out of England . This was the largest factory in the U.S., with a workforce of about 300 . It was a very efficient, highly profitable mill that, with the aid of the Tariff of 1816, competed effectively with British textiles at a time when many smaller operations were being forced out of business . </P> <P> The Fall River Manufactory, located on the Quequechan River in Fall River, Massachusetts, was founded 1813 by Dexter Wheeler and cousin David Anthony . By 1827 there were 10 cotton mills in the Fall River area, which soon became the country's leading producer of printed cotton cloth . </P>

How did the us economy change during the late 1800s and early 1900s