Fear the update!
That's a map I made yesterday. It's Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina in 1860, and it shows population density by county. Laid over that is a layer representing the major railroads in the region at the time, color coded by both time period constructed *and* funding mechanism (private, state, or city supported). It was built from publicly available census data and ArcGIS. Today I ran a slick little logit which told me that, at the national level in 1860, counties with railroads were unlikely to also have water access (not that surprising). It was even statistically significant. It's actually a nice little model, but I have some worries about causation (did railroads lead to population growth, or do populous places get railroads??).
This is what I do all day.

That's a map I made yesterday. It's Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina in 1860, and it shows population density by county. Laid over that is a layer representing the major railroads in the region at the time, color coded by both time period constructed *and* funding mechanism (private, state, or city supported). It was built from publicly available census data and ArcGIS. Today I ran a slick little logit which told me that, at the national level in 1860, counties with railroads were unlikely to also have water access (not that surprising). It was even statistically significant. It's actually a nice little model, but I have some worries about causation (did railroads lead to population growth, or do populous places get railroads??).
This is what I do all day.
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And everyone loves colorful maps.
So, how many people ask you if you're becoming a master of Social Studies? Do you remember that class?