<P> But there was also a dark side . As early as the 1830s, novelists and poets began fretting that the railroads would destroy the rustic attractions of the American landscape . By the 1840s concerns were rising about terrible accidents when speeding trains crashed into helpless wooden carriages . By the 1870s, railroads were vilified by Western farmers who absorbed the Granger movement theme that monopolistic carriers controlled too much pricing power, and that the state legislatures had to impose maximum prices . Local merchants and shippers supported the demand and got some "Granger Laws" passed . Anti-railroad complaints were loudly repeated in late 19th century political rhetoric . The idea of establishing a strong rate fixing federal body was achieved during the Progressive Era, primarily by a coalition of shipping interests . Railroad historians mark the Hepburn Act of 1906 that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates as a damaging blow to the long - term profitability and growth of railroads . After 1910 the lines faced an emerging trucking industry to compete with for freight, and automobiles and buses to compete for passenger service . </P> <P> There is no question about the importance of railroads in American history . Churella finds that back in the 1950s business and economic historians, led by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. and Robert Fogel, made railroads the centerpiece of advanced historiography . That era has passed as graduate programs have faded away, courses on railroad history do not make the curriculum, and the historiography has shifted away from professional historian to the "railfans"--very well informed amateur writers fascinated by the memorabilia, technology and locomotives of the steam era . Looking at the voluminous output of railfan authors, Klein says: </P> <Dl> <Dd> The vast bulk of this work is devoted to minute descriptions of power, rolling stock, obscure short lines, and technical subjects...But few address the larger questions of railroad history or place their topic in broader contexts . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> The vast bulk of this work is devoted to minute descriptions of power, rolling stock, obscure short lines, and technical subjects...But few address the larger questions of railroad history or place their topic in broader contexts . </Dd>

Where were most early railroads in american history built