Answer: The significance of the steam engine is that it was a way to turn heat into motion. With this ingenious device we could now use fuel instead of wind water or muscle power.
Explanation: It helped transport goods across the country. Before everything was transported by boat or cart which was a lot slower. For a while Vanderbilt owned a lot of America's railways and for a good amount of time those trains or "Steam Engines" carried John Rockefeller's oil / kerosene.