![]() ![]() Santa Cruz and Watsonville both prospered - but in ways unexpected by the Santa Cruz Railroad’s managers and investors. In 1976, it came to the Smithsonian as a part of the United States bicentennial exhibition. Jupiter was sold to a company in Guatemala, where it hauled bananas for more than 60 years. Built for narrow-gauge track (36 inches between rails), Jupiter became obsolete in 1883 when the line switched to standard gauge (56 ½ inches). Jupiter was the Santa Cruz Railroad’s third locomotive. There were, however, many big adjustments along the way. By 1970, rail freight began setting all-time yearly records. Railroads in the 20th century continued to develop. As historian John Hankey has noted, citizens spoke more often of a singular, "this United States" instead of a plural, "these United States." And the old sectionalism of our pre-Civil War politics eroded. Physical mobility became essential for social mobility. The economy began a huge expansion, growing almost ten-fold in the last quarter of the 19th Century. Personal mobility radically expanded one could travel across the country in a week in the 1870s instead of taking several months just a decade before. The results were soon profound: economically, culturally, and politically. By that time, railroads had already spanned the continent and united the country in an unprecedented transportation network. The timeline of America on the Move begins in 1876, the nation's Centennial. Society has always depended on its systems of transport. America on the Move - by means of its exhibition in Washington (the largest at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History), its education kits circulated to school districts throughout the U.S., and its extensive website - counters that attitude. ![]() Most of us take transportation for granted. ![]()
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