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Societal changes paralleled the technological innovations of the time. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 changed American society radically. The railroad connected the East and West coasts of the United States and heralded an age of increased travel and faster communication. In the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, trips to the western parts of the United States by rail became increasingly affordable to Americans. This was in part due to fundamental societal changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. One of these changes -- a rise in literacy -- prompted increased written communication, as well as exploration of new worlds through books and photographs.