The West the Railroads Made

The West The Railroads Made Recounts The Stories Of Visionaries Such As Henry Harmon Spalding, Samuel Parker, And Asa Whitney, Who Imagined The Railroad As A New Northwest Passage, An Iron Road Through The West To The Orient. As The Idea Of A Pacific Railroad Grew In The 1840s And 1850s, Many Americans Imagined The West As A Fertile Garden Or A Treasure Chest Of Priceless Minerals. Railroads Could Deliver The Riches Of That West Into The Hands And Pockets Of The Modern World. These Two Compelling Ideas - The Railroad And The West- Came Together To Create An Irresistible Dream. Filled With Contemporary Accounts, Illustrations, And Photographs, The West The Railroads Made Offers A Fresh Look At What The Iron Road Created.--book Jacket. The Magician's Rod : Railroads, The West, And Manifest Destiny -- Space Race ; Or A Tale Of Rival Cities -- Tracking A Transformation -- Lords Of Creation -- Manifest Destinies : The Railroad West And The Modern World. Carlos A. Schwantes, James P. Ronda. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 215-221) And Index.