Hear that lonesome whistle blow. Railroads in the West

by BROWN, DEE

Price: $15.00
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Book desription: New York: Simon & Schuster. Very Good. 1977. Soft Cover. 0671899392 . [8], 311 pages, well illustrated, maps, pictorial wrappers, very good. From the publisher: In February 1854 the first railroad from the East reached the Mississippi; by the end of the 19th century 5 major transcontinental railroads linked the East Cost with the Pacific Ocean and thousands of miles crisscrossed the West, a vast and virginal land just a few years before. The story of this extraordinary undertaking is one of breathtaking technological ingenuity, other-worldly idealism, and all-too-worldly greed. The heroes and villains were Irish laborers, Chinese coolies, intrepid engineers, avaricious bankers, stock manipulators, and corrupt politicians. Before it was over more than 55 million acres (one tenth of the country) 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. Woven into this dramatic narrative are the origins of present-day governmental corruption, the first ties between powerful corporations and politicians who enjoyed the frequent shows of money that fell upon them from railroad stock manipulators, and gave away America. How the people of the time responded to disillusionments that are remarkably similar to our own adds a contemporary dimension to this story. .

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