The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford History of the United States)

by Richard White

The entire republic was mad for railroads. The United States added 29,589 miles of track between 1868 and 1873. The vast majority of it, 19,380 miles, was in the Midwest, Middle Border, and South. Every year from 1869 to 1872 set a new record for track laid in the United States, peaking in 1872 with 7,439 miles.