Summarize In spite of these difficult working conditions, the rail. roal borers helped to transform the diverse regions of the country into roanied nation. Though linked in space, each community still operated on its own time, with noon when the sun was directly overhead. Noon in Boston, for example, was almost 12 minutes later than noon in New York Travelers riding from Maine to California might reset their watches 20
times.
In 1869, to remedy this problem, Professor C. F. Dowd proposed that the earth's surface be divided into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day. Under his plan, the United States would contain four zones: the Fast-ern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones. The railroad companies endorsed Dowd's plan enthusiastically, and many towns followed suit.
Finally, on November 18, 1883, railroad crews and towns across the country synchronized their watches. In 1884 an international conference set worldwide time zones that incorporated railroad time. The U.S.
Congress, however, didn't officially adopt railroad time as the standard for the nation until 1918. As strong a unifying force as the railroads were, however, they also opened the way for abuses that led to social and economic unrest.