This extraordinary piece of Americana preserves a unique juncture in the nation's history, the moment of transition from the freewheeling pioneer days of the past to the industrialized present and future. The building of the "great iron highway" that linked East and West marked the beginning of the end of the American frontier.

This book tells the heroic and scandalous story of the transcontinental railroad in the words of contemporary diaries, newspaper accounts, speeches, reminiscences, handbills, official testimony, government reports and gossip.

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But the words are only part of the book. Its heart is a remarkable group of photographs, taken from a collection of original glass photographic plates, that reveal the engineering feats and the life-styles of the men who built the road and of those who profited from it.

PUBLISHER:
Makin' Tracks - Barnes & Noble Books, 1995
Makin' Tracks - Praeger Publishers, 1975