Transportation
Across the Columbia Plain
1995 344 Pages (Washington State University Press)
DDC: 385 LCC: HE2791.N855 L48
OCLC: 31375071 LCCN: 94039630 ISBN 13: 9780874221145 ISBN 10: 0874221145
In just a few years of prosperity, between 1886 and 1891, a wave of railroad construction broke across the sparsely populated inland plain of the Pacific Northwest. Racing to secure strategic routes and sources of traffic, the railway promoters built an extensive and bewildering network of competing lines. Continuing the saga he commenced in To the Columbia Gateway: The Oregon Railway and the Northern Pacific, 1879-1884 (WSU Press, 1987), Peter Lewty describes the region's dramatic railroad boom [...]
In just a few years of prosperity, between 1886 and 1891, a wave of railroad construction broke across the sparsely populated inland plain of the Pacific Northwest. Racing to secure strategic routes and sources of traffic, the railway promoters built an extensive and bewildering network of competing lines. Continuing the saga he commenced in To the Columbia Gateway: The Oregon Railway and the Northern Pacific, 1879-1884 (WSU Press, 1987), Peter Lewty describes the region's dramatic railroad boom in the years 1885 to 1893. Recreating the prevailing atmosphere of optimism and excitement, he traces the expansion of the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific systems in the interior Northwest, chronicles the construction of the Pacific extension of the Great Northern Railway, and presents a multi-faceted portrait of railway operations on the last frontier of American settlement. [less]
Columbia River Gorge Railroads (Images of Modern America)
2016 96 Pages (Arcadia Publishing)
DDC: 385.09795 LCC: TF25.U5 B868
OCLC: 927383679 LCCN: 2015942839 ISBN 13: 9781467134828 ISBN 10: 1467134821
The Columbia River Gorge is a land of scenic wonder, revered by tourists for its beauty and by recreationalists for its fishing, windsurfing, hiking, and rafting. The region is also a major transportation corridor, home to two vital east-west railroad routes: Burlington Northern Santa Fe on the Washington side of the Columbia River and Union Pacific on the Oregon side. Every day, dozens of freight trainsas well as Amtrak passenger trainssnake along on opposite banks of the wide river, and rail [...]
The Columbia River Gorge is a land of scenic wonder, revered by tourists for its beauty and by recreationalists for its fishing, windsurfing, hiking, and rafting. The region is also a major transportation corridor, home to two vital east-west railroad routes: Burlington Northern Santa Fe on the Washington side of the Columbia River and Union Pacific on the Oregon side. Every day, dozens of freight trainsas well as Amtrak passenger trainssnake along on opposite banks of the wide river, and rail operations have become an integral part of the heartbeat of the gorge. The colorful images in this work celebrate the art and magic of the trains that move goods and passengers through this striking, rugged landscape. [less]
Columbia, The
2004 142 Pages (Schiffer Publishing, Limited)
DDC: 979.7 LCC: F853.L242
OCLC: 53398069 LCCN: 2003024270 ISBN 13: 9780764320033 ISBN 10: 0764320033
Books have been written about the highway that Samuel C. Lancaster built. This is the book that he wrote. Lancaster is known to all who have studied highway engineering. His work directing construction of the Columbia River Highway made history. Lancaster's work followed the pioneering trail of explorers Lewis and Clark. In plotting the route of the first paved road inland from Portland, Lancaster took advantage of every viewpoint the magnificent river gorge offered. This book is a faithful [...]
Books have been written about the highway that Samuel C. Lancaster built. This is the book that he wrote. Lancaster is known to all who have studied highway engineering. His work directing construction of the Columbia River Highway made history. Lancaster's work followed the pioneering trail of explorers Lewis and Clark. In plotting the route of the first paved road inland from Portland, Lancaster took advantage of every viewpoint the magnificent river gorge offered. This book is a faithful reprint of his 1915 book. It is Lancaster's story of the valley; a wonderful collection of essays about the region's natives, early missionaries, fur traders, and soldiers. He discusses many of the great landmarks, from waterfalls and rock formations to man-made wonders including bridges, buildings, and tunnels. A portrait of Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perce, illustrates essays about the native Indians and their arts. In all, more than 100 beautiful images capture the pristine qualities of the gorge in this invaluable reissue of a classic national treasure. A full-color map offers an aerial overview of the area, from Wind Mountain to the shores of the Pacific. A new foreword is by Walt Curtis, who has authored poetry books, as well as articles on Oregon's forgotten authors. He is the current secretary and a founder of the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission. [less]
Early Oregon Days
1987 185 Pages (Caxton Press)
DDC: 385 LCC: TF24.O7 C85
OCLC: 14212266 LCCN: 86023294 ISBN 13: 9780870043147 ISBN 10: 0870043145
Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press How did people travel in the good old days? Ed Culp traces the history of transportation in the West, particularly into Oregon. Old photos, maps, drawings, advertisements and transportation schedules illustrate how improvements were made, with emphasis on the development of the railroad.
Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press How did people travel in the good old days? Ed Culp traces the history of transportation in the West, particularly into Oregon. Old photos, maps, drawings, advertisements and transportation schedules illustrate how improvements were made, with emphasis on the development of the railroad. [less]
King of Roads
2016 72 Pages (Wasco County Historical Museum)
DDC: 979.54 LCC: HE356.O7
OCLC: 949953108 ISBN 13: 9780965758642 ISBN 10: 0965758648
History of the Historic Columbia River Highway
History of the Historic Columbia River Highway [less]
Kinsey Photographer: The Locomotive Portraits
2006 144 Pages (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers)
DDC: 770.922 LCC: TR140.K45
OCLC: 32626715 LCCN: 95000376 ISBN 13: 9781884822650 ISBN 10: 1884822657
In the winter of 1970, Dave Bohn found the surviving negatives of Darius and Tabitha Kinsey. Bohn and his colleague, Rodolfo Petschek, initiated a long-term effort to reproduce in book form the magnificent Kinsey archive. Here you’ll find Darius and Tabitha Kinsey’s lifework on display in this volume featuring 53 superb photographs of the logging industry’s steam locomotives, historical essays by John Labbe on each locomotive and the logging operations it served, and excerpts [...]
In the winter of 1970, Dave Bohn found the surviving negatives of Darius and Tabitha Kinsey. Bohn and his colleague, Rodolfo Petschek, initiated a long-term effort to reproduce in book form the magnificent Kinsey archive. Here you’ll find Darius and Tabitha Kinsey’s lifework on display in this volume featuring 53 superb photographs of the logging industry’s steam locomotives, historical essays by John Labbe on each locomotive and the logging operations it served, and excerpts from conversations with some of the oldtime engineers, firemen, and brakemen. [less]
Long Day's Journey: The Steamboat and Stagecoach Era in the Northern West
1999 408 Pages (University of Washington Press)
DDC: 979.5041 LCC: F593
OCLC: 41299270 LCCN: 99029316 ISBN 13: 9780295976914 ISBN 10: 0295976918
In Long Day’s Journey Carlos Schwantes gathers historical photographs, advertisements, posters, and contemporary accounts to recreate one of the most colorful periods in the American West. He traces the rapidly evolving saga of miners and settlers struggling to get from here to there in the days before railroads reached the West, trying to establish methods of transportation and communication between the eastern United States and the new territories that became Oregon, Washington, Idaho, [...]
In Long Day’s Journey Carlos Schwantes gathers historical photographs, advertisements, posters, and contemporary accounts to recreate one of the most colorful periods in the American West. He traces the rapidly evolving saga of miners and settlers struggling to get from here to there in the days before railroads reached the West, trying to establish methods of transportation and communication between the eastern United States and the new territories that became Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming—first by sea, around continents, then by land and water routes across America. Many of the enduring images and myths of the West derive from this era: the Pony Express, mule trains and plodding ox-team freighters, the picturesque side-wheelers and stern-wheelers that churned along the rivers, the colorful Concord stagecoaches drawn by four or six jingling, fleet horses.Schwantes describes in detail the technology of preindustrial modes of transportation. He explains the economics that linked the birth and death of western towns and cities, the business history of entrepreneurs and stagecoach and steamboat companies, and the challenges facing passengers and employees on the stages and steamers of the northern West. Integrating more than 200 historical photographs and other illustrations with vivid contemporary accounts, Schwantes presents a fascinating history of Americans forging the first working connections between the West and the rest of America—connections that the railroads would soon smooth and strengthen. His book Railroad Signatures across the Pacific Northwest detailed that story; here he tells of the people and animals and equipment supplanted by the twin ribbons of steel. [less]
North Bank Road
1991 288 Pages (Washington State University Press)
DDC: 385 LCC: TF25.S735 G34
OCLC: 37432242 LCCN: 90039951 ISBN 13: 9780874220704 ISBN 10: 087422070X
Gaertner begins his story in the 19th century, continues the saga through 1905 when the SP&S was incorporated, describes six decades of operations, and ends in the 1970s when the railroad was assimilated into the massive Burlington Northern system. Appendices include a roster of SP&S locomotives.
Gaertner begins his story in the 19th century, continues the saga through 1905 when the SP&S was incorporated, describes six decades of operations, and ends in the 1970s when the railroad was assimilated into the massive Burlington Northern system. Appendices include a roster of SP&S locomotives. [less]
Northern Pacific Railway Photo Archive
2007 128 Pages (Bridgewater Book Group LLC.)
DDC: 385.0978 LCC: HE2791.N855 K45
OCLC: 148754480 LCCN: 2007920338 ISBN 13: 9781583881866 ISBN 10: 1583881867
"All aboard the streamlined, Vista-Dome North Coast Limited leaving on Track 1 for Minnesota's Lake Region, the vast prairies of North Dakota, Montana's magnificent Rockies, Idaho's lakes and forests, the Inland Empire of Spokane to Puget Sound country, and the great seaports of Seattle-Tacoma and Portland." The Northern Pacific was always a progressive leader in railroading, and was the first to offer sleeping and dining car service from St. Paul to the Pacific Northwest. Covering the 30s [...]
"All aboard the streamlined, Vista-Dome North Coast Limited leaving on Track 1 for Minnesota's Lake Region, the vast prairies of North Dakota, Montana's magnificent Rockies, Idaho's lakes and forests, the Inland Empire of Spokane to Puget Sound country, and the great seaports of Seattle-Tacoma and Portland." The Northern Pacific was always a progressive leader in railroading, and was the first to offer sleeping and dining car service from St. Paul to the Pacific Northwest. Covering the 30s through the '60s, this book's outstanding vintage photography highlights the North Coast Limited (the finest passenger train in North America), the faster Vista-Dome passenger trains, NP's team and diesel locomotives, and NP's Freight cars, Maintenance-of-way and Cabooses. [less]
Oregon & Northwestern Railroad (Images of Rail)
2013 128 Pages (Arcadia Publishing)
LCC: HE2791.O74
OCLC: 852733498 LCCN: 2013933773 ISBN 13: 9781467130479 ISBN 10: 1467130478
In 1922, the US Forest Service offered one of the largest timber sales in the agency’s history, encompassing 890 million board feet of mostly Ponderosa pine timber in the mountains north of Burns, Oregon. Among other requirements, the sale terms required the successful bidder to build and operate 80 miles of common carrier railroad through some of the most remote and undeveloped country in the state. The Fred Herrick Lumber Company and its Malheur Railroad initially won the bidding, only to [...]
In 1922, the US Forest Service offered one of the largest timber sales in the agency’s history, encompassing 890 million board feet of mostly Ponderosa pine timber in the mountains north of Burns, Oregon. Among other requirements, the sale terms required the successful bidder to build and operate 80 miles of common carrier railroad through some of the most remote and undeveloped country in the state. The Fred Herrick Lumber Company and its Malheur Railroad initially won the bidding, only to lose it when a crash in the lumber market forced the company into insolvency. The Edward Hines Lumber Company of Chicago picked up the pieces, and from 1929 until 1984, its subsidiary Oregon & Northwestern Railroad made a living hauling logs, lumber, and occasional livestock between Burns and Seneca, Oregon. [less]
Oregonian Railway, The (Images of Rail)
2014 128 Pages (Arcadia Publishing)
DDC: 385 LCC: TF24.O7 A95
OCLC: 862781928 LCCN: 2013932275 ISBN 13: 9781467130318 ISBN 10: 1467130311
To those with an interest in railroad history in the United States, mention of the words narrow gauge may bring to mind the extensive three-foot-gauge railroads of Colorado and Utah or perhaps the famous two-foot-gauge lines in Maine. However, few would think first of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Nonetheless, between 1877 and 1893, an extensive narrow-gauge railroad developed in Oregon one that had aspirations of crossing the Cascade Mountains and connecting with the Central Pacific [...]
To those with an interest in railroad history in the United States, mention of the words narrow gauge may bring to mind the extensive three-foot-gauge railroads of Colorado and Utah or perhaps the famous two-foot-gauge lines in Maine. However, few would think first of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Nonetheless, between 1877 and 1893, an extensive narrow-gauge railroad developed in Oregon one that had aspirations of crossing the Cascade Mountains and connecting with the Central Pacific Railroad, thus giving Oregon its first access to the transcontinental railroad system. It is this railroad system, from its inception in 1877 to the present day, that Ed Austin explores herein. [less]
Oregon's Highway 99 (Images of America)
2016 128 Pages (Arcadia Publishing)
DDC: 388.109795 LCC: HE356.O7 F56
OCLC: 936962521 LCCN: 2015948920 ISBN 13: 9781467115346 ISBN 10: 1467115347
From the Columbia River to the Siskiyou Mountains, Highway 99 traverses 300 miles of western Oregon. Big cities and small towns, the level Willamette Valley and steep hills, rich agricultural lands and tall evergreen forests, and rushing rivers all lie along its path. Arising from an early network of emigrant trails, stagecoach routes, and farm-to-market roads, the highway had developed into Oregon’s major transportation corridor by the end of the 19th century. The dawn of the automobile age [...]
From the Columbia River to the Siskiyou Mountains, Highway 99 traverses 300 miles of western Oregon. Big cities and small towns, the level Willamette Valley and steep hills, rich agricultural lands and tall evergreen forests, and rushing rivers all lie along its path. Arising from an early network of emigrant trails, stagecoach routes, and farm-to-market roads, the highway had developed into Oregon’s major transportation corridor by the end of the 19th century. The dawn of the automobile age saw an exponential increase in traffic, creating a greater demand for improved roads; these better roads, in turn, created yet more traffic for both business and recreation. Roadside businesses, such as auto courts, restaurants, and service stations, sprang up along the highway to cater to a new type of motorist―the tourist. Today, much of Highway 99 and its predecessor, the Pacific Highway, remain in daily use. [less]
Railroad Shutterbug: Jim Fredrickson's Northern Pacific
2000 160 Pages (Washington State University Press)
DDC: 385 LCC: HE2791.N855 F74
OCLC: 44516589 LCCN: 00043518 ISBN 13: 9780874221978 ISBN 10: 0874221978
Practically growing up with a camera in hand, Jim Fredrickson of Tacoma, Washington took his first picture of a steam locomotive in 1936. In a few years, railroad men were regularly seeing the "kid with the camera" alongside the tracks and in the rail yards. Then one day in 1943, one of the men said, "You're always hanging around here, kid, you might as well go to work." The chief dispatcher at Tacoma's Union Station hired the sixteen-year-old high school student to serve as a "callboy," [...]
Practically growing up with a camera in hand, Jim Fredrickson of Tacoma, Washington took his first picture of a steam locomotive in 1936. In a few years, railroad men were regularly seeing the "kid with the camera" alongside the tracks and in the rail yards. Then one day in 1943, one of the men said, "You're always hanging around here, kid, you might as well go to work." The chief dispatcher at Tacoma's Union Station hired the sixteen-year-old high school student to serve as a "callboy," telephoning conductors, brakemen, engineers, and firemen an hour-and-a-half in advance of when they were scheduled for duty. Thus began Fredrickson's thirty-nine year career with the Northern Pacific Railway's telegraph and dispatching departments. Fredrickson continued to take exceptional photographs - his many pictures depict the last great glories of the steam era as coal-fired locomotives were replaced by diesel engines in the 1940s and 1950s. His photots and yarns tell of the NP's men and women as well as the steam engines, depots, diners, cabooses, sidings, yards, shops, bridges, and tunnels. Today, whether it is a BNSF freight train with containers or a silvery AMTRAK passenger train, the engineers all know Jim Fredrickson. [less]
Railroads in the Columbia River Gorge
2004 128 Pages (Arcadia Publishing)
DDC: 385 LCC: TF25.U5 B87
OCLC: 56627803 LCCN: 2004107312 ISBN 13: 9780738529165 ISBN 10: 0738529168
Before the rails were up and running along the stunning Columbia River landscape of Oregon and Washington, 19th-century westward travelers faced treacherous conditions. Many emigrants perished before reaching Oregon Territory. Only recently have railways bridged the wide gap formed millions of years ago. Today the gorge remains the major commercial route through the Cascades, and the tracks are a shining example of human engineering and a mecca for rail enthusiasts. Mount Hood, Union Pacific, [...]
Before the rails were up and running along the stunning Columbia River landscape of Oregon and Washington, 19th-century westward travelers faced treacherous conditions. Many emigrants perished before reaching Oregon Territory. Only recently have railways bridged the wide gap formed millions of years ago. Today the gorge remains the major commercial route through the Cascades, and the tracks are a shining example of human engineering and a mecca for rail enthusiasts. Mount Hood, Union Pacific, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains seem to connect in a magical way with the land, blasting out of raw, rock-faced tunnels, gliding under bridges, snaking along the edges of towns and along the big river, always rolling somewhere distant, symbolic of our national connectedness--and our restlessness. [less]
Rail-Trails Washington and Oregon
2015 168 Pages (Wilderness Press)
DDC: 796.509797 LCC: GV191.42.W2 R35
OCLC: 906839586 LCCN: 2015009027 ISBN 13: 9780899977935 ISBN 10: 0899977936
Across the country, more than 1600 unused railroad corridors have been converted to level, public, multiuse trails, where people can enjoy a fitness run, a leisurely bike ride, or a stroll with the family. In this new guide in the popular series, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy presents the Northwest region's finest rail-trails plus other great multiuse trails.Rail-Trails Washington & Oregon includes detailed coverage of more than 40 great trails. Many rail-trails are paved and run through [...]
Across the country, more than 1600 unused railroad corridors have been converted to level, public, multiuse trails, where people can enjoy a fitness run, a leisurely bike ride, or a stroll with the family. In this new guide in the popular series, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy presents the Northwest region's finest rail-trails plus other great multiuse trails.Rail-Trails Washington & Oregon includes detailed coverage of more than 40 great trails. Many rail-trails are paved and run through the most scenic parts of town. Others travel along dense forests, open fields, and lush waterways. Some explore the area's history, and others help users enjoy the serenity of the rural countryside.Favorites noted by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy staff include the Chehalis Western Trail and Olympic Discovery Trail in Washington and the Banks-Vernonia State Trail in Oregon.This full-color book includes succinct descriptions of each trail from start to finish, plus at-a-glance summary information indicating permitted uses, surface type, length, and directions to trailheads for each trail. Every trip has a detailed map that includes start and end points, trailhead, parking, restroom facilities, and other amenities. [less]
Stagecoach: Rare Views of the Old West, 1849-1915
2004 175 Pages (Schiffer Publishing)
DDC: 978 LCC: F596.D46
OCLC: 56129370 LCCN: 2004015492 ISBN 13: 9780764321245 ISBN 10: 0764321242
Over 280 rare and often unpublished vintage photographs explore life in the Old West, from the Gold Rush to the First World War. Here are the stagecoaches, the horse drawn wagons, the towns, and the people who lived on the frontier of America. These are the emigrants who bet their lives, and many times the lives of their entire family, on a trip taking hundreds of days in cramped wagons through very dangerous territories. What is remarkably evident in this book is that there were photographers [...]
Over 280 rare and often unpublished vintage photographs explore life in the Old West, from the Gold Rush to the First World War. Here are the stagecoaches, the horse drawn wagons, the towns, and the people who lived on the frontier of America. These are the emigrants who bet their lives, and many times the lives of their entire family, on a trip taking hundreds of days in cramped wagons through very dangerous territories. What is remarkably evident in this book is that there were photographers to record these events on film. Here they are given credit for capturing on film a historic chapter in the nation's history. Their images speak for themselves and Demlinger shares them with the reader, so they may understand the work of these photographers who gambled that they had recorded images for our history. [less]
This Was Logging
2007 157 Pages (Schiffer Publishing)
DDC: 634.982 LCC: TS805
OCLC: 13710017 LCCN: 54004868 ISBN 13: 9780887400353 ISBN 10: 0887400353
"Someday" Big Fred Hewett used to say in his Humboldt Saloon in Aberdeen, Washington, "these pictures will show how the boys used to do it." He knew the day would come when the Pacific Northwest's "Big Woods" would be only a fog-blurred memory and the cry "Logs! More Logs!" would no longer be heard ringing up and down the skidroads. With the superb views of timber photographer Darius Kinsey, comprising more than 200 pictures made from wet plate celluloid negatives, 11" x 14", and processed by [...]
"Someday" Big Fred Hewett used to say in his Humboldt Saloon in Aberdeen, Washington, "these pictures will show how the boys used to do it." He knew the day would come when the Pacific Northwest's "Big Woods" would be only a fog-blurred memory and the cry "Logs! More Logs!" would no longer be heard ringing up and down the skidroads. With the superb views of timber photographer Darius Kinsey, comprising more than 200 pictures made from wet plate celluloid negatives, 11" x 14", and processed by his pioneer wife, Tabitha, author Andrews dramatically presents a panorama of lumbering's great days in these woods from 1890 to 1925. Shown in sharp detail are the first axes, 12-foot crosscut saws, the first oxen and horses, the first donkey engines and "lokeys". Then the story continues into the "highball" days, the high production period with the steel tower skidders and miles of steel rigging. [less]
This Was Sawmilling
1994 176 Pages (Schiffer Publishing)
DDC: 674.2 LCC: TS850.A55
OCLC: 31019097 ISBN 13: 9780887405945 ISBN 10: 0887405940
The reissue of the classic history about the sawmill industry in the Pacific Northwest is rich in memories. Here is the vital and true story of the triumphant growth and its undying promise, shown with superb photography and told with exciting text. The utilitarian waterwheel, the great days of the steam sawmill, and the epic courage of the schooner masters are told in all their glory. Ralph Andrews augments his careful and thorough research with anecdotes of the men who transformed logs into [...]
The reissue of the classic history about the sawmill industry in the Pacific Northwest is rich in memories. Here is the vital and true story of the triumphant growth and its undying promise, shown with superb photography and told with exciting text. The utilitarian waterwheel, the great days of the steam sawmill, and the epic courage of the schooner masters are told in all their glory. Ralph Andrews augments his careful and thorough research with anecdotes of the men who transformed logs into the building materials of a nation. The reader takes a step back in time, as the history of the industry which has gone on continuously since 1825 is brought to life. [less]
Timber: Toil and Trouble in the Big Woods
2007 182 Pages (Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.)
DDC: 338.174909795 LCC: HD9757.A5
OCLC: 13751925 LCCN: 68022357 ISBN 13: 9780887400360 ISBN 10: 0887400361
Has anyone today any conception of the grandeur, the extent, the million board feet a day production...the entire meaning of the forests of the Pacific Northwest-the "Big Woods"? The photographs alone in this absorbing book will instantly transport the reader into this former world. Here was the greatest stand of Douglas fir timber in existence and here was labor for the Poles, Finns, Swedes and Norskies lured out of the Midwest to convert the mammoth trees into the lumber that helped [...]
Has anyone today any conception of the grandeur, the extent, the million board feet a day production...the entire meaning of the forests of the Pacific Northwest-the "Big Woods"? The photographs alone in this absorbing book will instantly transport the reader into this former world. Here was the greatest stand of Douglas fir timber in existence and here was labor for the Poles, Finns, Swedes and Norskies lured out of the Midwest to convert the mammoth trees into the lumber that helped build the West Coast cities. Ralph Andrews presents a fascinating subject-the hope, courage and tragedy in the lives of the men and women who opened up the dense native forests or as the loggers said "brought daylight into the swamp," and converted the trees into the lumber which built the West Coast cities. Here are many nostalgic scenes showing high climbers, fallers balanced on high springboards, yokes of oxen and up to eight spans of horses dragging logs on skidroad, yokes of oxen and up to eight spans of horses dragging logs on skidroads to flumes, rivers and salt water, early donkey engines, railroads on steep grades, logging camps as well as devastating fires. Andrews' style of writing is graphic and spirited with strong emphasis on human interest. [less]
West the Railroads Made, The
2008 256 Pages (University of Washington Press)
DDC: 338.978 LCC: HE2771.A17
OCLC: 157022862 LCCN: 2007029363 ISBN 13: 9780295987699 ISBN 10: 0295987693
Named an "Outstanding Title" in University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2009America's Railroad Age was little more than a decade old when Ralph Waldo Emerson uttered these prophetic words: "Railroad iron is a magician's rod in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water." Railroads exercised a remarkable hold on the imagination. The railroad was not merely transportation; it was a technology that promised to transform the [...]
Named an "Outstanding Title" in University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2009America's Railroad Age was little more than a decade old when Ralph Waldo Emerson uttered these prophetic words: "Railroad iron is a magician's rod in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water." Railroads exercised a remarkable hold on the imagination. The railroad was not merely transportation; it was a technology that promised to transform the world. Railroads were second only to the federal government in shaping the West, and nowhere was that shaping more visible than on the Great Plains and in large parts of the Pacific Northwest.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.If railroads brought the West into the world, they also brought the world to the West. In less than half a century, railroads made the West a permanent extension of the modern, capitalist world. Washington Territory governor Marshall F. Moore got it right when he described railroads as the "vast machinery for the building up of empires." The West the Railroads Made portrays the size and complexity of that railroad empire. Railroads brought immigrants by the thousands, forever changing the character of the West's human population. Railroads also promoted agriculture, ranching, and mining on a grand scale. They constructed their own landscapes filled with depots, roundhouses, bridges, and tunnels. Through the depot came mail-order treasures, the latest newspapers, and letters from distant friends. Beyond the right-of-way, the presence of the railroad was felt every day in hundreds of small towns.The railroad West sprang to life with amazing speed. Overnight a windswept stretch of Wyoming became Cheyenne. Prairies were fenced or plowed to make rangeland or farmland. New plants and animals shoved aside those that did not fit marketplace needs. All of this was touted as the new West, the railroad West. But all too often, the railroad West promised prosperity and security but delivered hard times and bitterness. By the middle of the twentieth century, many parts of the West were filled with empty farmhouses, nearly abandoned towns, and boarded-up stations.For more than a century the American West was the Railroad West. While the railroad's influence was challenged in the twentieth century by automobiles and the interstate highway system, railroads did not vanish from the landscape. Instead, they reinvented themselves. Companies merged to create superrailroads, service on unprofitable routes was ended, and trademark passenger trains vanished. In their place came mile-long trains hauling coal, grain, and lumber. Containers stacked with consumer goods from Asia rode on tracks that were the modern version of the Northwest Passage. The iron road had once defined the West; now it was part of a larger landscape. [less]
Willamette Valley Railways
2008 128 Pages (Arcadia Publishing)
DDC: 385.509795 LCC: TF725.W55 T56
OCLC: 181601916 LCCN: 2007934170 ISBN 13: 9780738556017 ISBN 10: 0738556017
Willamette Valley Railways tells the story of the electric interurban railways that ran through Oregon's Willamette Valley and of the streetcars that operated in the towns they served. Long before modern light rail vehicles, electric trains were providing Portland and the Willamette Valley with reliable, elegant transportation that was second to none. Between 1908 and 1915, two large systems, the Oregon Electric Railway and the Southern Pacific Red Electrics, joined smaller competitors [...]
Willamette Valley Railways tells the story of the electric interurban railways that ran through Oregon's Willamette Valley and of the streetcars that operated in the towns they served. Long before modern light rail vehicles, electric trains were providing Portland and the Willamette Valley with reliable, elegant transportation that was second to none. Between 1908 and 1915, two large systems, the Oregon Electric Railway and the Southern Pacific Red Electrics, joined smaller competitors constructing railways throughout the region. Portland became the hub of an impressive interurban network in a frenzy of electric railway building. Yet all too soon, this brief but glorious interurban era was over. Highway improvement and the growth of automobile ownership made electric passenger trains unprofitable in the sparsely populated valley. By the early 1930s, the company that had launched the nation's first true interurban was the only one still offering passenger service here. [less]
