Union Pacific
Volume I, 1862-1893
Maury Klein, America's foremost railroad historian, re-creates the powerful personalities and dramatic events that led to the construction of the Union Pacific. With over one hundred historic photographs and maps, Union Pacific details the feat of engineering and human strength and also the wheelings and dealings that were waged as dreamers and scoundrels, politicians and patriots forged a pioneering enterprise in transportation.
A ‘must’ for any serious transportation history holding and particularly for any collection solid in railroad history.
The Bookwatch
The Union Pacific Railroad is renowned as America’s first transcontinental railroad and is one of the strongest companies in the railroad industry today. The driving of the golden spike in Promontory, Utah, in 1869 marked not only the opening of the continent to settlement but also the transformation of the United States from an agricultural nation to an industrial one.
Maury Klein, one of America’s foremost railroad historians, re-creates the powerful personalities and dramatic events that led to the construction of this legendary railroad. Fully illustrated with over one hundred historic photographs and maps, Union Pacific details the feat of engineering and human strength that conquered the terrain of the desert and mountains and also the colorful wheelings and dealings that were waged in executive boardrooms in New York and Boston and in the chambers of Congress as dreamers and scoundrels, politicians and patriots forged a pioneering enterprise in transportation.
A ‘must’ for any serious transportation history holding and particularly for any collection solid in railroad history.
The Bookwatch
Klein has provided the best summary available of the way in which the road was built, financed, and frequently mismanaged.
Barrons
Maury Klein has done a splendid job of writing this thoroughly and compellingly detailed history.
Chicago Tribune
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Railroad Reference Key
Map
Prologue: The Monument, 1965
Part One: The Challenge, 1862-1869
1. The Vision
2. The Promoters
3. The Company
4. The Surveys
5. The Organization
6. The Falling Out
7. The Standoff
8. The Payoff
9. The Showdown
10. The Race
11. The Golden Spike
Part Two: The Quest for Respectability, 1869-1884
12. The Mourning After
13. The Bridge
14. The Scandal
15. The Newcomer
16. The Resources
17. The Branches
18. The Ancient Feud
19. The Competition
20. The Consolidation
21. The Explosion
22. The Crisis
Part Three: The Road to Hell, 1884-1893
23. The Man on Horseback
24. The Massacre
25. The Service
26. The Assets
27. The Labyrinth
28. The Northwest Passage
29. The System
30. The Wars
31. The Leader
32. The Turnover
33. The Collapse
Source Reference Key
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
