railroads

“In the era before railroads, moving goods 30 miles on land could cost as much as shipping them across the entire Atlantic Ocean.”

“The official bill on a railroad shipment always showed a fixed rate, the same rate the railroad printed on the public schedule for everyone to see and what Rockefeller assumed, at first, everyone would pay. But the right kind of shipper, after he had moved eno…”

“If you could only ship by water, you could only ship when the lake wasn't frozen. If you could only ship by rail, the railroad dictated your rates, but when you could play them off one another, you actually got much lower rates.”