The First Transcontinental Railroadmissing works cited “May God continue the unity of our country as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world” (Mayer 213). This famous quote was engraved on the gold spike that connected the two fragments of the first transcontinental railroad. It describes the importance of the railroad to the rapidly growing United States. The transcontinental railroad was of paramount importance to the development of the Union because it opened the western frontier to increased settlement and represented the growing integration of the country. He boosted trade between East and West and transformed the dormant border into a vital part of the Union. A very different situation existed before the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The western region of the United States was almost completely separated from the east. Travel between the two regions was terribly long and difficult, and transporting goods was expensive and inefficient. There were three main roads that could be used to travel from east to west. The first was an expensive four-month sea voyage around the tip of Cape Horn. The second route was a particularly difficult horseback journey through the malaria-infested swamps of the Isthmus of Panama. The last option was to cross the American continent by wagon, which was a long and arduous expedition. The settlement of the Oregon border dispute, the acquisition of Mexican territory, the discovery of gold in California, and the spirit of manifest destiny were various motivations that inspired people to undertake the journey across America. Many people quickly believed that a transcontinental railroad would be extremely beneficial to the country. Bitter feelings between the North and South resulting from differences in economies, lifestyles, and opinions on the controversial issue of slavery had to be resolved before attention could be focused on the railroad transcontinental. By 1860, the North and the South had developed two very different economies. The primarily agricultural South depended on its primary crop, cotton, which accounted for a large portion of American exports. To produce cotton in such large quantities, the South depended on the plantation system, and therefore on slavery. However, the North was an industrial giant and had no desire for slave labor. The South avoided industrialization and imported almost all manufactured goods. This is why they vehemently opposed the high tariffs..