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Iron Road to the West American Railroads in the 1850s by John Stover Dust Jacket
Iron Road to the West American Railroads in the 1850s by John Stover
Hard cover with dust jacket
Copyright 1978
266 pages Indexed
Contents
Maps and Illustrations
Introduction
ONE The Iron Horse at Midcentury
TWO Yankee Railroads
THREE The Railroads of Dixie
FOUR Uncle Sam and the Railroads
FIVE Iron Roads in the West
sIx Victory over Road, Canal, and Steamboat
SEVEN Technical Advances in Antebellum Railroads
EIGHT Railroads on the Eve of War
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A reclining car seat of 1856
An artist's impression of night-time travel
A Wagner sleeping car
Ten Minutes for Refreshments
Maps
1. Northeastern Railroads in 1850-New England and Mid-Atlantic States
2. Northeastern Railroads in 186o-New England and Mid-Atlantic States
3. Southern Railroads in 185o
4. Southern Railroads in 186o
5. Western Railroads in 185o
6. Western Railroads in 1855
7. Western Railroads in 186o
Illustrations
The Daniel Nason
The Boston
Schedule of Boston & Maine Trains
Engine crew of the 1$5os
The Baltimore & Ohio locomotive No. 232
The General
The Harnden Express Company
Roundhouse and yards of the Orange & Alexandria
Baltimore & Ohio station in Washington, D.C.
A "Camel" locomotive
Artists crowd the pilot of a Tyson ten wheeler
The Lackawanna Valley
Chicago skyline and Illinois-Central station, 1856
New rail service available between Cincinnati and
St. Louis, 1857
A wood-burner of the mid-185os
"Old Number 9"
The Pacific
The first railroad bridge over the Mississippi River
The steamboat Denver
The Pioneer
American "Express" Train by Currier and Ives
Railroad suspension bridge, near Niagara Falls
Trestle and bridge in California in the 185os
Types of railroad signals in use at mid-century
Interior of passenger coach
Accident on the Camden & Amboy Railroad
In 1850 the railroads in America were a scattering of short lines from Georgia to Maine. But in the next ten years, rail mileage tripled, and by 1860 the railroads had burgeoned into a solid iron network serving every state east of the Mississippi. This book is a vivid, richly illustrated account of this tumultuous decade in the history of American railroads.
In a lively, readable manner, John F. Stover tells how the railroads gradually displaced canals, roads, lakes and rivers. More than 20,000 miles of track were laid in one decade, and railroads soon became the most lucrative business of the era. No other trade did business on so vast a scale, was financed by such a variety of sources, or employed so many men of varied skills. Railroad construction in the West proceeded so rapidly that the new lines through the Mississippi valley almost reached the moving edge of the frontier, giving America a national, pre-Civil War rail network.
Iron Road to the West presents the many facets and consequences of this important event in American history. Stover examines the political and economic aspects of the railroad boom, showing how the westward drive reshaped the national economy by shifting the axis of commerce away from the old north-south traffic of the Mississippi riverboat days. He describes the effects of this change on American agriculture and industry, and he shows how it determined loyalties during the Civil War. While emphasizing the economic and political significance of the railroad boom, this colorful account does not slight the many technological developments emerging in the 1850s.
The cogent text, enhanced by an abundance of photographs, makes Iron Road to the West fascinating reading for anyone interested in American history and American railroads.
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