Railroads
See also: List of South Dakota railroadsRailroads have played an important role in South Dakota transportation since the mid-19th century. Historically, the Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & North Western were the state's largest railroads, and the Milwaukee's east-west transcontinental line traversed the northern tier of the state. Some 4,420 miles (7,110 km) of railroad track were built in South Dakota during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but only 1,839 miles (2,960 km) are active. BNSF Railway is currently the largest railroad in South Dakota, primarily operating former Milwaukee Road trackage; the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad is the state's other major carrier, mostly operating former Chicago & North Western trackage. Rail transportation in the state is confined only to freight, however, as South Dakota is one of the few states without any Amtrak service.
Read more about this topic: Transportation In South Dakota
Famous quotes containing the word railroads:
“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We noticed several other sandy tracts in our voyage; and the course of the Merrimack can be traced from the nearest mountain by its yellow sand-banks, though the river itself is for the most part invisible. Lawsuits, as we hear, have in some cases grown out of these causes. Railroads have been made through certain irritable districts, breaking their sod, and so have set the sand to blowing, till it has converted fertile farms into deserts, and the company has had to pay the damages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Shall the railroads govern the country, or shall the people govern the railroads? Shall the interest of railroad kings be chiefly regarded, or shall the interest of the people be paramount?”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)