A most magnificent machine : America adopts the railroad, 1825-1862
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Authors
Miner, H. Craig
Advisors
Issue Date
2010
Type
Keywords
Railroads History , Railroads Social aspects History
Citation
Miner, H. Craig. A Most Magnificent Machine: America Adopts the Railroad, 1825-1862. University Press of Kansas, 2010.
Abstract
Table of Contents
Just as the railroad transformed America's economic landscape, it profoundly transfigured its citizens as well. But while there have been many histories of railroads, few have examined the subject as a social and cultural phenomenon. Informed especially by rich research in the nation's newspaper archives, Craig Miner now traces the growth of railroads from their origins in the 1820s to the onset of the Civil War. Miner examines the cultural, economic, and political aspects of this broad and complicated topic while remaining rooted in the local interests of communities. He takes readers back to the days of the Mauch Chunk Railway, a tourist sensation of the mid-1820s, navigates the mixed reactions to trains as Baltimore's city fathers envisioned tracks to the Ohio River, shows how Pennsylvanians wrestled with the efficacy of railroads versus canals, and describes the intense rivalry of cities competing for trade as old transportation patterns were replaced by the new rail technology. Miner samples individual railroads to compare progress across the industry, showing how it became a quintessentially American business -- -and how the Panic of 1837 significantly slowed the railways as a major engine of growth for many years.
Description
Publisher
University Press of Kansas