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Railroads in New Jersey The formative years by John Cunningham
Railroads in New Jersey The formative years by John Cunningham
Hard cover with dust jacket
Copyright 1997
328 pages
Indexed
Railroads in New Jersey The Formative Years By John T. Cunningham
This long-awaited saga of the first century of New Jersey railroading depicts the period when transportation shook off its medieval shackles and spread across the state and nation By World War 1, railroads had become the major economic and social factor in the United States and had earned the affection and respect of all who rode the cars or lived near town depots.
Nothing changed New Jersey-and all the world-more radically than railroads. Strings of towns followed the steel rails-westward and southward from Jersey City or Hoboken, eastward and northward from Camden or Trenton. Many of the railroads that created those towns have vanished, but the towns they spawned remain.
New Jersey's diversified terrains tested early engineering and construction skills. Builders conquered the rugged slopes that rose west of the state's northern cities and laid rails across seemingly bottomless meadowlands east of Newark. They built bridges across numerous streams in the Pine Barrens and in the northern Highlands. The path to magnificent Jersey Shore beaches required inventiveness and skill to cross treacherous sedges and broad bays.
Railroads brought dynamic, long-lasting changes to the economy, customs, living habits, and, many insisted, even to the moral tone of the inhabitants. Change also brought appalling problems when the omnipotent Camden & Amboy Railroad monopoly eroded the integrity of New Jersey's legislature, corrupted judges, and controlled towns and villages along rights-of-way.
Railroads in New Jersey offers the lively and precise historical perspective and the journalistic skills that readers of John T. Cunningham expect. His narration is under-girded by solid research and illuminated by bright anecdotes.
This volume features every section of the state- the mountains, highlands, swamp, the Jersey Shore, the farmlands and the Pine Barrens. It reveals the plight of railroad workers in a time when railroad directors blithely ignored safety measures. It proves the great dependency on railroads, particularly in the chapter on the famous Blizzard of 1888, and ends with the high affection for railroads as the 20th century dawned.
Contents
Preface: The Road to Railroad History Introduction: The Founding Century6
8
1. Chaos at the Crossroads11
2. Father of American Railroading22
3. The Camden & Amboy34
4. Defying the Mire48
5. Westward the Course62
6. Awakening the Echoes77
7. The Road to El Dorado94
8. Road of Fits and Starts111
9. Paterson's Iron Horses128
10. The Coal Rush142
11. Fields of Dreams161
12. Through the Midsection178
13. State of Camden & Amboy191
14. The Golden Strand204
15. Peaches and Cream221
16. Probing the Highlands235
17. Terminal Land250
18. Up from Damnation266
19. The Blizzard of '88283
20. Railroading's Golden Age294
Acknowledgments314
Bibliography316
Index319
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