Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869

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Abraham Lincoln, who had worked as a riverboat pilot before turning to politics, knew a thing or two about the problems of transporting goods and people from place to place. He was also convinced that the United States would flourish only if its far-flung regions were linked, replacing sectional loyalties with an overarching sense of national destiny.

Building a transcontinental railroad, writes the prolific historian Stephen Ambrose, was second only to the abolition of slavery on Lincoln's presidential agenda. Through an ambitious program of land grants and low-interest government loans, he encouraged entrepreneurs such as California's "Big Four"--Charles Crocker, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Leland Stanford--to take on the task of stringing steel rails from ocean to ocean. The real work of doing so, of course, was on the shoulders of immigrant men and women, mostly Chinese and Irish. These often-overlooked actors and what a contemporary called their "dreadful vitality" figure prominently in Ambrose's narrative, alongside the great financiers and surveyors who populate the standard textbooks.

In the end, Ambrose writes, Lincoln's dream transformed the nation, marking "the first great triumph over time and space" and inaugurating what has come to be known as the American Century. David Haward Bain's Empire Express, which covers the same ground, is more substantial, but Ambrose provides an eminently readable study of a complex episode in American history. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In this account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage, Stephen E. Ambrose offers a historical successor to his universally acclaimed Undaunted Courage, which recounted the explorations of the West by Lewis and Clark.

Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad -- the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.

The Union had won the Civil War and slavery had been abolished, but Abraham Lincoln, who was an early and constant champion of railroads, would not live to see the great achievement. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat, comes to life.

The U.S. government pitted two companies -- the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads -- against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. Locomo-tives, rails, and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West or lugged across the country to the Plains. This was the last great building project to be done mostly by hand: excavating dirt, cutting through ridges, filling gorges, blasting tunnels through mountains.

At its peak, the workforce -- primarily Chinese on the Central Pacific, Irish on the Union Pacific -- approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as fifteen thousand workers on each line. The Union Pacific was led by Thomas "Doc" Durant, Oakes Ames, and Oliver Ames, with Grenville Dodge -- America's greatest railroad builder -- as chief engineer. The Central Pacific was led by California's "Big Four": Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, were latter-day Lewis and Clark types who led the way through the wilderness, living off buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope.

In building a railroad, there is only one decisive spot -- the end of the track. Nothing like this great work had been seen in the world when the last spike, a golden one, was driven in at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific tracks were joined.

Ambrose writes with power and eloquence about the brave men -- the famous and the unheralded, ordinary men doing the extraordinary -- who accomplished the spectacular feat that made the continent into a nation.

Download Description

The Union had won the Civil War; slavery was abolished. Lincoln, an early champion of railroads, would not live to see the next great achievement. It took brains, muscle, and sweat in quantities and scope never before ventured and required engineers and surveyors willing to lose their lives in the wilderness; men who had commanded and obeyed in war; workers from China, Ireland, and the defeated South; and capitalists betting their money for possible great profit. The government pitted the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution.

Locomotives, falls, and spikes were shipped from the east through Panama, around South America, or lugged across the country. The railroad was the last great building project to be done by hand: excavating dirt, cutting through ridges, filling gorges, blasting tunnels. Nothing like this great railroad had been seen in the world when the last spike, a golden one, was driven in at Promontory Peak, Utah, in 1869, as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific joined tracks. Ambrose writes with power and eloquence about the brave men who accomplished the spectacular feat that made the nation one.

Customer Reviews:

changing face of America.... .......2007-01-25

American dreams, greed, courage, innovation and daring make this a wonderful story of an event that changed the face of this country forever...

"Hmmm.....Railroads are Boring!" Right?.......2006-11-07

I "read" this as a book on tape. I had this on my Mp3 player for quite awhile because I thought, "Railroad stories are boring!" But, I found that not to be true. Imagine a time when the "fastest" and "easiest" way to travel across country was by wagon, horse, and oxen going 20 miles a day! Then, you find out about a "train" that goes 18 miles an hour and you can just sit there and let it carry you and your stuff for hundreds and even thousands of miles! You don't even have to push your wagon over any rivers! You'd be pretty excited...yea! Then, there's these two Railroad Companies that are competing to see who gets the further in a given amount of time. The further each company lays track the more their profits in terms of land grands and fares will be. The only problems are that they have to tunnel through about 8 mountains, fight off angry Indians, build bridges over streams and rivers and fill in ravines, and get all the supplies and workers out into the wilderness so they can lay the tracks. Plus there are "the personalities" of the leaders and workmen to contend with not to mention how to finance the operation that will take about 6 years to complete at full speed. Yep, it's quite a story! Read it either in print or as a book on tape. Email: boland7214@aol.

a wonderful journey back in time.......2006-10-07

we loved this book - transported back to a time where our country was expanding - highly recommend

Very Well Written, Factual and Fulfilling!.......2006-09-24

Stephen Ambrose did a great job of explaining the complicated details that led to the miracle of the transcontinental railroad. Anyone who appreciates herculean feats and the web of intrigue surrounding their beginnings, eventual birth and their effect on our great country will love this story. A true five star book.

The Great race.......2006-09-10

An engrossing story about the companies and the men behind the building of the Railroad from Omaha to Sacramento. The US Government with its hands tied in the Civil war, sets up a competition between 2 private companies Union Pacific and the Central Pacific who start laying tracks from Omaho and Sacramento. The book details the progress through each state, with insight into the leaders and the workforce behind the construction. Then it reaches a fast pace once we enter Utah where the two tracks meet.
Well this railroad accelerated exponentially the immigration to the the west. The story of the construction is really a mix of great entrepreneurship, big business, railroad surveyors, wild life lovers. But elements like using/abusing an underclass for cheap labor but denying rights, overreacting to native peoples fear of intrusion into their land, insensitivity of big business/technology to native lifestyles may have some relevance even today and make us interospect what 'liberty' actually means.
The Author does a good job in keeping the reader interested, but probably is prone to exaggeration sometimes.
A good way to relive the railroad is to take Amtrak's California Zephyr (which skips wyoming, parts of utah,nevada) or to take I-80

The Milwaukee Road's Western Extension: The Building of a Transcontinental Railroad

Average customer rating:

Before Boxcabs and Little Joes
Great photographs, horrible editing
Best Reportage on Subject

The Milwaukee Road's Western Extension: The Building of a Transcontinental Railroad
Stan Johnson
Manufacturer: Museum of North Idaho Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0972335668

Customer Reviews:

Before Boxcabs and Little Joes.......2007-09-10

A great book for those of us that fondly remember power changes at Harlowton, pacing the "XL Special" west of Piedmont, or camping alongside the St. Joe River waiting for the "Thunderhawk" to leave Avery!

Extensive coverage of the surveying, funding, and trackwork required to build our favorite railroad's Pacific Extension, with particular focus on the area between Three Forks and Avery; the crossing of the Cascades is covered, but not in as much detail as lines east of Othello.

Afer several chapters of general interest discussion of surveying and funding the line, as well as recruiting trackworkers in Europe (Montenegro? Who would have guessed!?)five chapters take you from Mobridge, South Dakota, to Tacoma, Washington, with particular focus on Pipestone and St Paul passes, and construction of the line through Sixteen Mile Canyon, above Harlow's Montana Railroad.

While certainly not a picture book, there are many superbly reproduced photographs depicting life along the right-of-way being built; most of the images I've never seen, and I have most of what has been published on the Milwaukee Road since the 1960s.

Unusual for railroad books, there are many "quality of life" images such as Milwaukee Road sponsored boxing matches, baseball teams, and dancing bears (real ones!) for the entertainment of trackworkers and their families. You'll also note the high per capita presence of saloons in these towns, like Taft, Montana. Guess the "hell on wheels" towns made famous by the Union Pacific four decades earlier was still alive and well in the early 20th century American west.

Author Johnson's latest addition to literature on the Milwaukee Road explores lots of new historical ground and is a fascinating read and a detailed examination of the construction of the Pacific Extension of one of America's greatest "fallen flags!"

Great photographs, horrible editing.......2007-08-27

After the terrible 1893 depression (when much of the country's railroad mileage went into bankruptcy) the U.S. entered into a tremendous boom (the Great Northern's earnings quadrupled over 15 years from 1890). So in 1905 the Milwaukee Road decided to build to the Pacific Coast, partly so as not to get locked into just local Midwest business and partly because some directors controlled Anaconda Copper in Butte, and wanted to break the Great Northern-Union Pacific-Northern Pacific pool so they could get lower rates for Anaconda (in one of hundreds of errors in the book, the author suggests that only the Northern Pacific served Butte).
So Stan Johnson, based on a more than lifelong association with the Milwaukee Road (his stepfather was a conductor with the road, going back to construction days), has written the story of the road's remarkable Western Extension. The book has a fabulous collection of photographs, showing all phases of the process. The author goes down the whole route from Mobridge to Puget Sound, covering the major projects and mishaps involved, with detail added from years of stories from Milwaukee railroaders. As a result the book is highly recommended to all Milwaukee fans (of course), and also to anyone with an interest in western railroading and rail construction. Unfortunately there is no good map of the whole route. Readers with access to the Internet can use Terraserver-USA (with USGS topographic maps and aerial photos, with almost all the line covered) and Google Earth (the line can be followed fairly well, even where abandoned west of Miles City). While the construction process is well covered, Johnson says nothing about the financing required or the ultimate fate of the railroad (and the Extension), nor does he discuss the horrible cost overruns. Originally estimated to cost about $ 60 million (evidently from a rather casual estimating process, based on replicating the Northern Pacific), the cost in fact ran over $ 220 million, while electrification added another $ 23 million. The Milwaukee had bad timing, as its construction coincided with the rail construction boom at the beginning of the century (the Western Pacific, SP&S, Santa Fe's Belen cutoff, rebuilding the Central Pacific, plus others) so costs went up, while competing roads made it pay much more for land needed. But the worst came from the U.S. government; the Panama Canal was finished in 1914, forcing down freight rates, the newly active ICC (egged on by politicians) fixed rail rates while inflation (unknown since the Civil War) took off, and it sharply forced up labor costs. In addition to the directors' favoring their own interests over the railroad's (the Montana power contract for electrification for example), there was a lot of incompetent management. The 3,000 volt DC electrification chosen was a very poor choice (requiring manned substations every thirty miles), while it's hard to understand how the cost could have been justified on the Milwaukee's traffic base (but all that copper wire helped Anaconda again). Largely as a result the Milwaukee went bankrupt in 1925.
Unfortunately the text seems not to have been edited at all (except for spell check). There are hundreds of obvious errors. Parts of the text have had words added, while other words are deleted. The author's syntax is sometimes rather tortured, and his material could have been better organized. This is really unfortunate, as this could have been one of the great rail history books, a source of pride to everyone involved. Instead it's a terrible display of sloppiness, with only the picture editor deserving credit for a job well done.

Best Reportage on Subject.......2007-05-12

Stan Johnson's treatment of the building of the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension is a masterpiece. He has done excellent research, and his writing is easy to follow. As a product, the book is impressive, too. The layout is pleasing, and many photographs complement Johnson's text. The only negative about the book is that the proofreaders let the author down; there are a lot of editorial errors in the text.

Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

Average customer rating:

this is no polar express
Light at the End of the Tunnel
A good start to an interesting economic history
Read about how the Gilded Age built up a head of steam
Very Good!

Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad
David Haward Bain
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Nothing Like It In the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
The Old Iron Road : An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West
Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads
Trains Across the Continent: North American Railroad History
The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream

ASIN: 0140084991
Release Date: 2000-08-08

Amazon.com

On the morning of May 10, 1869, a gang of Irish immigrants met a party of Chinese laborers on a windy bluff northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Tired to the bone, the two groups laid down the last of countless wooden ties, bought at the exorbitant cost of six dollars apiece, and thus joined two great rail lines, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to form a single transcontinental route. That rail line made possible the mass settlement of the West, and, as those who conceived it well knew, it changed the course of American history.

David Haward Bain's superb narrative of westward rail history, weighing in at 800 pages, ends not with this great achievement but with the political and financial scandal that would almost overshadow it. Along the way Bain looks closely at the entrepreneurial men who foresaw the possibilities of a vast nation joined by a steel ribbon--most memorably the hit-and-miss businessman Asa Whitney, who proposed to Congress an ingenious scheme to fund the building of the railroad through commercializing the right of way. Some of the men who came after Whitney, such as Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington, and Leland Stanford, amassed great fortunes in realizing this dream. Others died penniless and nearly forgotten in the wake of political maneuverings and bad deals. Bain's vigorous, well-written narrative does much to restore those overlooked actors to history. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.

Customer Reviews:

this is no polar express.......2007-10-06

Although animation movies are usually fun to watch and take less, MUCH less time to complete, they are not always the better part. As for this book, it ain't the Polar Express and even without big names like Tom Hanks, this book has it's share of characters.

This compelling book takes you back into time when The America's have had their first settlers on both sides of the country and cities were emerging. East coast and west coast are battling for the first railroad from east to west. Powerful alliances are forged and tremendous labour is being made. Who will win?

If you ask me, the reader has won. All details about indians, labour-, cultural- and financial problems are brought forward and it really gives you a good view of the times.

This book is a great history novel, but don't expect a fairytale.

Light at the End of the Tunnel.......2007-06-09

Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

"Light at the End of the Tunnel"

It took me nearly as long to read this mammoth book as it took to build the Railroad upon which it is based. But the effort was worth it in both instances: the Great Transcontinental Railroad literally united the Union at the same time the Civil War was jeopardizing it. There is enough material here for several books: the Railroad Surveys which opened the west to exploration; the visionary dreams of the Chief Engineers (of which there were several); the desperate attempts to fund the project; the physical and logistical challenges; and the political scandal that nearly wrecked it (the Credit Mobilier Scandal).

A lot to attempt, and to a large degree David Howard Bain accomplishes it. But there is simply too much detail, too many names and dates, too involved a plot. I can't help but compare it to David McCullough's excellent history of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, The Great Bridge. Had he written the story, it might have been more manageable. But Bain deserves an A for effort.

In a highly-visual story like this, the publisher could have made better use of the ample photographic record of the railroad.

A good start to an interesting economic history.......2006-12-14

For those interested in technological history this is a great book to start with. While it may look daunting this book analyzes the social, political and technological implications of building a railroad that spans the country. It looks at the corruption and mismanagement of workers as well as looking at how the country benefited from being made whole. This is a great place to start for understanding the United States economic rise to power after the Civil War.

Read about how the Gilded Age built up a head of steam.......2006-01-21

Holding companies, stock watering, stock certificate bribery on the floor of Congress, no less!

The story of the building of the transcontinental railroad is far more than the story of Irish and Chinese laborers moving toward an unknown meeting point in the west. And Bain paints that story in detail.

Changes in railroad legislation were bought off by stock contributions and other favors. Congress was for sale rather than dealing with serious measures like Reconstruction.

Meanwhile, Union Pacific VP Thomas Durant was bleeding and skimming the company dry, including changing the UP's course and more.

Read all about America's first huge business scandal, intertwined with one of its biggest political ones, in this hard hitting book. And, read about those Irish and Chinese laborers as well.

Very Good!.......2004-11-22

Empire Express is an amazingly well done epic.

Starting at the beginning of the Age of Steam when only dreamers thought that America's greatest mid century engineering feat was a remote possibility, and winding up at the beginning of the Gilded Age, when only scoundrels seemed to be the survivors of this series of events, David Haward Bain weavers the tale of the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad. From the passes and tunnels of the Sierra Pacific and the Indian dislocations caused by the construction of the route, to the New York Boardroom skirmishes and battles, the swindles and the amazing Washington bribery that embittered two US Presidencies, Bain leaves no stone unturned in the description of THE event that finally bound the East and West coasts of the United States together for the for the time.

Starting in the mid 1840's when mountain men still roamed the American West and finishing in the early 1870's amid complex scandals quite beyond belief, Bain highlights just what an economic driver capitalism has been in the settlement and development of America as we know it today. For over 250 years men of all nations searched for the fabled Northwest Passage, the non existent sea lane that supposedly connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It wasn't until 1862, during the height of the American Civil War that America decided to create on land the passage that did not exist by sea.

This is the story of that incredible undertaking, truly the final step in America's Manifest Destiny.

Western Pacific: The Last Transcontinental Railroad (Colorado Rail Annual, No. 27)

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Western Pacific: The Last Transcontinental Railroad (Colorado Rail Annual, No. 27)

Manufacturer: Colorado Railroad Historical Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0918654777

Product Description

This carefully researched and well-written book by an eminent railroad historian gives a detailed account of the conception and building of the Western Pacific, which was in effect the Pacific extension of the Denver & Rio Grande. Coverage includes the northern California extension and Great Northern's 1931 entrance into the Golden State. Operations are described right up to merger with the Union Pacific.

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads

Average customer rating:

Hear that Lonesome whistle blow by Dee Brown
Great read - but. . .
Short History of the Western Railroads
Weird mix of first hand accounts and political diatribe
Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads
Dee Brown
Manufacturer: Holt Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad
Nothing Like It In the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
Showdown at Little Big Horn (Bison Book)
Best of Dee Brown's West: An Anthology
The American West

ASIN: 0805068929

Book Description

Before this extraordinary undertaking was over more than 155 million acres were given away to the railroad magnates, Indian tribes were decimated, the buffalo were driven from the Great Plains, millions of immigrants were lured from Europe, and a colossal continental nation was built.

Customer Reviews:

Hear that Lonesome whistle blow by Dee Brown.......2007-01-10

One of Dee Browns books that i have not read, and i was not disappointed
an excellent story told in Dee Browns own inimitable way.

Excellent.

Great read - but. . ........2006-12-09

This is a heartfelt and highly interesting read that details the creation of America's transcontinental railroads from the men who spawned them down to those who built and later rode them to a new life. The problem is that Dorris Alexander "Dee" [who can blame him for assuming that nickname] Brown was a bitter man, in no small part because of his youthful acquaintance with American Indians that led him to write I Buried My Heart at Wounded Knee. He found little good about the railroad industry and even blamed them for the passing of the wild and wooly western frontier. True, but so what? That the railroads came into existence with inadequate governmental control cannot be denied, but his negativity is annoying. I am still in the process of researching this aspect of American history and possibly could come to buy into all his arguments, but I am suspicious that Brown did not examine all the facts. Nothing of this nature could be 100% bad. For certain, transportation advances are a vital reason why the United States became the richest country the world has ever known. Even Brown had to admit that railroad-spawned immigration turned the American heartland into a bread basket for the entire world. Seems to me that alone was worth the price of admission. The book is well worth reading, but keep an open mind.

Short History of the Western Railroads.......2006-11-18

This short history of western railroads starts with the Rock Island bridge across the Mississippi. Abraham Lincoln's inspection of that accident scene allowed a win (pp.10-12). This resulted in commerce moving from Chicago to New York, and not down the river to New Orleans. It tells about the financial exploitation and scheming that was part of the construction. Towns often took on debt to subsidize railroads even thought their promises often failed (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 tells of the many plans to create a railroad that would reach the Pacific. Politics and self-interest were as common then as today. Various Indian tribes were swindled out of their lands in the 1850s (pp.37-38). Military actions by the Confederates resulted in a northern route (Chapter 3). Brown explains the Credit Mobilier scam which billed for construction at inflated prices. People paid taxes to enrich swindlers (p.71). The newspapers cast the Plains Indians as villains for defending their hunting lands. Brown doesn't mention that the "Wild West Cowboy" was invented or exaggerated by journalists for entertainment and propaganda (pp.84-85). He does describe the lives of the workmen (pp.106-107). Chapter 6 has the Great Race to connect to the Pacific and the use of Federal monies. It appeared to be more popular than the Federal Highway projects in the 1950s. The railroad connection bound the nation together. Traveler had more to fear from train robbers than Indians (p.151). Chapter 8 describes the men who worked on the railroad trains.

Chapter 9 tells of the piracy of the railroad promoters and managers as a rising class (p.183). This must have been the biggest swindle of the century (pp.184-185). Was this the first case of a corporation winning favor from Congress after donating company shares (p.187)? [This seems worse than the "High Tech" stock swindles of the late 1990s.] Chapter 10 explains the Indian Wars cause when the Northern Pacific Railroad invaded unceded Indian lands (p.205). The response from Washington was to threaten annihilation or genocide. Over spending brought down Jay Cooke & Company and led to the worst depression yet experienced (p.217). Fred Harvey's chain of restaurants demonstrated the results of good management (p.225). Chapter 12 discusses the immigrants who came west on the railroads. Land companies learned to transport "entire colonies" of families whose shared language and customs sustained each other (p.241). The advertising used to attract immigrants often promised more than they delivered (pp.244-245). The Mennonites brought their "Turkey Red" wheat to Kansas and created amber waves of grain (p.249). Mechanization created surplus workers in Scandinavia. Germany allowed emigration for fear of a revolution (p.252). Lands settled during rainy years suffered during years of drought or locusts (p.253). James Bryce tells about the wealth and power of the "railway kings". Henry Villard's excursion was counter-productive (p.261). Chapter 13 tells how the railroads were looted. Promotions of railroads swindled money from towns before going bankrupt (p.271).

Chapter 14 analyzes the effects of a railroad: it made towns "totally dependent upon a railroad" and they lost control over their lives to a corrupt monopoly (p.272). Farmers were the principal victims. Railroads seized people's properties (p.273). They paid little or no taxes after being given millions of acres of public lands and forests. Railroads bribed politicians and journalists (p.275). The National Grange was the first popular organization to fight the railroads. The Supreme Court ruled in 1876 that a state had the right to impose restrictions "on public undertakings which were in the nature of monopolies" (p.276). But in 1886 another Supreme Court reversed this decision! Next Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate the railroads. Low farm prices and drought in the late 1880s led to the formation of the People's Party (p.278). Kansas took the lead (p.279). William Jennings Bryan won their votes. Over time the railroads, which ran on coal, were killed off by the "international combines of oil and motors" (p.281). Railroads still exist for freight hauling; they do this best.

In 1917 the Federal Government took over the railroads to avoid their chronic mismanagement during the Great War. After this war, Congress decided to build a national road system; this was too important a project to leave to corporations. The Great Depression and WW II halted this project, but later plans were made for the 1956 Interstate Highway System which changed America forever. Private toll roads were then banned. But ever present corruption was able to sneak in toll roads afterwards, forcing people to pay more to benefit these monopolies.

Weird mix of first hand accounts and political diatribe.......2004-02-17

If you thought Halliburton abusing the tax payers was something new and different, think again. Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow, by Dee Brown, is a history of the building of the transcontinental railroads. It starts in 1854 and proceeds in detail until the 1890s, then hurriedly summarizes until the 1970s. (The book was written in 1977.) And Brown shows, repeatedly and at length, how the railroad builders screwed the American public time and again.

In fact, reading this book made me very very angry. It's the same old story: a bunch of rich men want to get richer, and figure out ways to use the public purse to make money. In this case, there were three main ways that wealth was moved from the taxpayer to the wealthy: scams building the railroads, land grants, and high railroad rates. Brown examines all of these in some detail, and sometimes the disgust just made me squirm. He also, towards the end of the book, examines some of the political reaction to the railroads: the Grangers and the Populist Party.

However, he also intermingles first person accounts in this story of perfidy. Whether it is stories from the immigrants, the first riders of the transcontinetnal railroad, the railroad workers, or the Congressmen who authorized the land grants, he quotes extensively from letters and speeches. In fact, he might go overboard in the quoting department; I would have appreciated more analysis of some of the statements.

Brown does include some very choice, precient statements though. In chapter 11, talking about Pullman's improvements, a French traveller said "...unless the Americans invent a style of dwelling that can be moved from one place to another (and they will come to this, no doubt, in time)...". In chapter 12, a fellow was travelling on an immigrant train and was happy to be separated in the mens' car because he "escaped that most intolerable nuisance of miscellaneous travelling, crying babies."

I learned a lot from this book, both about American history and the railroads. In large part, the railroads made the modern west--I 80 follows the path of the Union Pacific, and Colorado Springs was founded because a railroad magnate owned chunks of land around the area. It's also always illuminating to see that, in politics as in everything else, there's nothing new under the sun.

Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad.......2003-01-31

One should not be surprised that railroad companies in a capitalist country are run to produce profits rather than for the good of the country. There is no astonishment that railroads in the United States were seen as money machines, and the natural monopolies of railroading were exploited to the max. However, railroads were widely seen as being good for the United States--and indeed the railroads provided the United States with a heightened sense of national unity as well as great economies in transportation.

Dee Brown does an admirable job of narrating the inherit contradictions involved in the story of the transcontinental railroads--"the good of the country" and "$$ for a few". The story does not stop once the first transcontinental railroad is built, either. Dee Brown describes effects on Native Americans, immigrant populations, tourists, farmers, and others.

The book is readable--good high school students should be able to handle it. There are also lots of vintage photographs, which add to the value. I'm not a professional historian, so I can't judge some things. The book is still in print after twenty-five years, and there's a reason for that: it's good.

My Name Is America: The Journal Of Sean Sullivan, A Transcontinental Railroad Worker (My Name Is America)
Average customer rating:

Ok for Boys

Good read for all! You should buy it, no matter what

Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker

Very entertaining.

Sean Sullivan

My Name Is America: The Journal Of Sean Sullivan, A Transcontinental Railroad Worker (My Name Is America)
William Durbin
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama, 1948 (My Name is America)

ASIN: 0439049946

Book Description

The author of the award winning The Broken Blade tells the story of a fifteen-year-old who goes to Nebraska to work on the Transcontinental Railroad with his father.

Customer Reviews:

Ok for Boys.......2004-05-05

It is a good book for more boys. It can keep you interested in it. There was alot of flashback in the story. He keeps remembering when he had all the different jobs on the railroad, and keeps thinking how lucky he is where he is.My favorite part in this book is when the indians shot at them. It made every body jump.

Good read for all! You should buy it, no matter what.......2003-04-20

This fictional journal centers around 15 year old Sean Sullivan. Coming from Chicago, he meets his father. His father works for the Union Pacific Railroad in Nebraska. Soon, Sean encounters Old West Towns, mean workers, and prejudice towards Chinese and Irishmen. You'll also learn about the Transcontinental Railroad, one of our history's interesting subjects. This book takes you from Omaha to the meeting of the Central Pacific at Promontory Summit. Hop on board and enjoy for yourself, The Journal of Sean Sullivan. I assure you, you won't be disappointed!

Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker.......2003-01-02

I really enjoyed reading this book it was very interesting and adventurious. It was an average reading book and the words were not that hard to understand. I wuold recomand this book for sixth grade and up. I hope William Durbin writes more books like this I really enjoy reading them.

Very entertaining........2001-08-09

The book was really interesting. Sean Sullivan like everyone else had to start as a water boy and work his way up: he worked as a butcher, then he shot rattlesnakes, then he laid down the rails, then finally he became a spiker. This way the reader could see what it was like to work at each job. Sean wrote in detail, but not so much as to be unrealistic. I liked the letters he got from his brother in Chicago as well.

Sean Sullivan.......2001-01-10

" I saw my first scalp today and I have to admit it scared me good." That's only the begging of The Journal of Sean Sullivan. William Durbin wrote the book. It's a book about boy who writes in it and the book is his journal. He tells what happens on different days. What I liked about the book was that it was interesting and it was like no other book I have read before. What I didn't like was it kept skipping days and it made it hard to follow. The style the author writes is both diary and journal style. He also writes about things in the past. This book is a journal and it has some historical fiction in it. I'd recommended this book to any one who likes to read about someone's experience or history. Some of his other work is The Journal of Collin Pendleton. It's about World War two and a guy writes in his journal. You should try to read one of these books because you can learn about what people did in the past to make your life easier. Who knows you might even like the story.

Ten Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad

Average customer rating:

great resource for report

Ten Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad

Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0805047034

Customer Reviews:

great resource for report.......2000-05-03

im a kid i loved this book because believce it or not it gave me seven typed spaces of info on the transcontinetal railroad. i found it agreat source.

Slavery, Scandal, and Steel Rails: The 1854 Gadsden Purchase and the Building of the Second Transcontinental Railroad Across Arizona and New Mexico Twenty-Five Years Later (N)

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Slavery, Scandal, and Steel Rails: The 1854 Gadsden Purchase and the Building of the Second Transcontinental Railroad Across Arizona and New Mexico Twenty-Five Years Later (N)
David Devine
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

In 1875, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington, and Leland Stanford of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company began taking steps to construct a southern transcontinental railroad line east from California. The implementation problems encountered over the next six years, the company's internal disagreements along with those it had with its rivals, and the anticipated regional economic benefits the tracks would bring comprise the concluding chapters of Slavery, Scandal, and Steel Rails.

The book's beginning details how the southwestern territory those rails crossed was purchased from Mexico in 1854.

James Gadsden of Charleston, South Carolina started championing a southern cross-country railroad in 1846 to improve his hometown's economy and to export slavery west of Texas. At the conclusion of the Mexican American War two years later, the United States obtained 600,000 square miles of new territory, but not enough to accommodate the southern route. That is why, at the urging of Jefferson Davis, Gadsden was appointed Minister to Mexico.

Gadsden's negotiations to acquire more Mexican land were complicated by several factors, including dubious instructions from a secret messenger. He was able, however, to finalize a treaty, which was later substantially altered by the United States Senate, that resulted in the Gadsden Purchase.

The Transcontinental Railroad (Building History Series)

Average customer rating:

The Transcontinental Railroad (Building History Series)
Thomas Streissguth
Manufacturer: Lucent Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1560065648

The Transcontinental Railroad (Cornerstones of Freedom)

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The Transcontinental Railroad (Cornerstones of Freedom)
Peter Anderson
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0516066358

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