The biggest transportation development throughout the late 1800's was the progression of the railroad. No transportation then could even compare to the economical skyrocketing of the "iron horse". Some of the biggest factors dealing with this revolutionary invention were oil and steel. These alone raised many millions of dollars during that period.
Cornelius Vanderbuilt was one of the first to seek the opportunities of the railroad. He saw the strength of the steel rail, and helped to bring that to popularity through the New York Central rails. In doing this he earned roughly 100 million.
Those safer, stronger, and more economical rails had to come from somewhere right? One lucky Scotman known as Andrew Carnegie entered the steel business in Pittsburgh. He moved quickly up the ladder by picking all the right associates and by 1900 he was producing one-fourth of the nation's steel. Carnegie ended up bringing in about 500 million dollars for himself by the end of his career, and his company is now worth billions. .
Our next industrial titan was known as John D. Rockefeller. He pretty much monopolized the oil industry using tactics such as horizontal integration and trusts. The money he brought in from the "black gold" totaled more than every piece of gold extracted by the forty-niners and their western successors. By eliminating all competition, Rockefeller eventually owned 95 percent of all oil companies to gas the iron horse. .
Both of these companies revolutionized the production of the train, and gave jobs to many throughout the second half of the 19th century. It was not transportational developments that sparked economic growth, It was THE transportational development of the railroad.