Download or read book Nothing Like It In the World written by Stephen E. Ambrose and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-11-06 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.

Download or read book Gateway to Freedom The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad written by Eric Foner and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-01-19 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic story of fugitive slaves and the antislavery activists who defied the law to help them reach freedom. More than any other scholar, Eric Foner has influenced our understanding of America's history. Now, making brilliant use of extraordinary evidence, the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian once again reconfigures the national saga of American slavery and freedom. A deeply entrenched institution, slavery lived on legally and commercially even in the northern states that had abolished it after the American Revolution. Slaves could be found in the streets of New York well after abolition, traveling with owners doing business with the city's major banks, merchants, and manufacturers. New York was also home to the North’s largest free black community, making it a magnet for fugitive slaves seeking refuge. Slave catchers and gangs of kidnappers roamed the city, seizing free blacks, often children, and sending them south to slavery. To protect fugitives and fight kidnappings, the city's free blacks worked with white abolitionists to organize the New York Vigilance Committee in 1835. In the 1840s vigilance committees proliferated throughout the North and began collaborating to dispatch fugitive slaves from the upper South, Washington, and Baltimore, through Philadelphia and New York, to Albany, Syracuse, and Canada. These networks of antislavery resistance, centered on New York City, became known as the underground railroad. Forced to operate in secrecy by hostile laws, courts, and politicians, the city’s underground-railroad agents helped more than 3,000 fugitive slaves reach freedom between 1830 and 1860. Until now, their stories have remained largely unknown, their significance little understood. Building on fresh evidence—including a detailed record of slave escapes secretly kept by Sydney Howard Gay, one of the key organizers in New York—Foner elevates the underground railroad from folklore to sweeping history. The story is inspiring—full of memorable characters making their first appearance on the historical stage—and significant—the controversy over fugitive slaves inflamed the sectional crisis of the 1850s. It eventually took a civil war to destroy American slavery, but here at last is the story of the courageous effort to fight slavery by "practical abolition," person by person, family by family.

Download or read book Empire Express written by David Haward Bain and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-09-01 with total page 1432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.

Download or read book When Railroads Were New written by Charles Frederick Carter and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ghosts of Gold Mountain written by Gordon H. Chang and published by Houghton Mifflin. This book was released on 2019 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking, breathtaking history of the Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad, helping to forge modern America only to disappear into the shadows of history until now.

Download or read book Orphan Road written by Kurt E. Armbruster and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This well illustrated account describes the growth of railways across the Puget Sound region, from the initial 1853-54 government surveys to the completion of the Milwaukee Road in 1911. Included are descriptions of the individual lines, the intense Seattle-Tacoma rivalry, and the colorful personalities and urban aspirations that eventually brought Seattle to the forefront of Washington commerce.

Download or read book Iron Rails Iron Men and the Race to Link the Nation The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad written by Martin W. Sandler and published by Candlewick. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experience the race of rails to link the country—and meet the men behind this incredible feat—in a riveting story about the building of the transcontinental railroad, brought to life with archival photos. In the 1850s, gold fever swept the West, but people had to walk, sail, or ride horses for months on end to seek their fortune. The question of faster, safer transportation was posed by national leaders. But with 1,800 miles of seemingly impenetrable mountains, searing deserts, and endless plains between the Missouri River and San Francisco, could a transcontinental railroad be built? It seemed impossible. Eventually, two railroad companies, the Central Pacific, which laid the tracks eastward, and the Union Pacific, which moved west, began the job. In one great race between iron men with iron wills, tens of thousands of workers blasted the longest tunnels that had ever been constructed, built the highest bridges that had ever been created, and finally linked the nation by two bands of steel, changing America forever.

Download or read book Transcontinental Links in the History of Non Western Christianity written by Klaus Koschorke and published by Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. This book was released on 2002 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sehr viel starker und fruher, als bislang wahrgenommen, ist die Geschichte des Christentums in Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika seit dem 16. Jahrhundert durch polyzentrische Strukturen gekennzeichnet. Zugleich bestanden zahlreiche Querverbindungen zwischen den entstehenden UberseeKirchen, teils auch ganz unabhangig von missionarischen Netzwerken. Die Beitrage der Zweiten Internationalen Munchen-Freisinger Konferenz behandeln unterschiedliche Formen transkontinentaler Verbindungen und fruhe Beispiele direkter SudSudBeziehungen. Dabei werden drei Paradigmen diskutiert: 1. Ethnische Diasporen als Netzwerke, die fur eine uberregionale Selbstausbreitung des Christentums relevant sind; 2. Transkontinentale Rezeptionsprozesse; 3. Parallelentwicklungen in Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika. (Texte in deutscher und englischer Sprache). Since the 16th century the history of Christianity in Asia, Africa and Latin America has been much more polycentric in patterns of interaction than has been traditionally recognized. At the same time there have existed many links between the emergent overseas churches, often quite independent of missionary connections. The papers from the Second International MunichFreising Conference deal with various forms of transcontinental links and early instances of SouthtoSouth interactions. (Texts in German and English)

Download or read book The Transcontinental Railroad written by Therese Harasymiw and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2017-07-15 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers may know the basic facts about the creation of the first transcontinental railroad, but the full story behind the push to connect the United States by rail is much more than the names and dates taught in history classes. Readers discover the exciting, important details—including the contributions of immigrants—as they encounter engaging main text, comprehensive sidebars, and historical images that include carefully chosen primary sources. These text features come together to give readers an in-depth look at the first successful attempt to connect the United States through transportation.

Download or read book The Last Spike written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2010-12-22 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the four years between 1881 and 1885, Canada was forged into one nation by the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Last Spike reconstructs the incredible story of how some 2,000 miles of steel crossed the continent in just five years — exactly half the time stipulated in the contract. Pierre Berton recreates the adventures that were part of this vast undertaking: the railway on the brink of bankruptcy, with one hour between it and ruin; the extraordinary land boom of Winnipeg in 1881–1882; and the epic tale of how William Van Horne rushed 3,000 soldiers over a half-finished railway to quell the Riel Rebellion. Dominating the whole saga are the men who made it all possible — a host of astonishing characters: Van Horne, the powerhouse behind the vision of a transcontinental railroad; Rogers, the eccentric surveyor; Onderdonk, the cool New Yorker; Stephen, the most emotional of businessmen; Father Lacombe, the black-robed voyageur; Sam Steele, of the North West Mounted Police; Gabriel Dumont, the Prince of the Prairies; more than 7,000 Chinese workers, toiling and dying in the canyons of the Fraser Valley; and many more — land sharks, construction geniuses, politicians, and entrepreneurs — all of whom played a role in the founding of the new Canada west of Ontario.

Download or read book The Transcontinental Railroad written by Dan Elish and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the efforts to build the first railroad to link the eastern and western United States and the obstacles that had to be overcome in the process.

Download or read book Dreams of El Dorado written by H. W. Brands and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope" (Hampton Sides), this masterfully told account of the American West from a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist sets a new standard as it sweeps from the California Gold Rush and beyond. In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame-and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East. Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West.

Download or read book Railroaded written by Richard White and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize "A powerful book, crowded with telling details and shrewd observations." —Michael Kazin, New York Times Book Review The transcontinental railroads were the first corporate behemoths. Their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating economic panics. Their dependence on public largesse drew them into the corridors of power, initiating new forms of corruption. Their operations rearranged space and time, remade the landscape of the West, and opened new ways of life and work. Their discriminatory rates sparked a new antimonopoly politics. The transcontinentals were pivotal actors in the making of modern America, but the triumphal myths of the golden spike, Robber Barons larger than life, and an innovative capitalism all die here. Instead we have a new vision of the Gilded Age, often darkly funny, that shows history to be rooted in failure as well as success.

Download or read book The Transcontinental Railroad written by Budd Bailey and published by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2017-07-15 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People today refer to the Midwestern and prairie states as flyover country. During the Civil War, crossing those areas was the biggest obstacle in uniting the East and West Coasts of our divided nation. An act of Congress in 1862 authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroad companies to build a railroad that would link the coasts. Seven years later, on May 10, 1869, an overwhelmingly immigrant labor force completed the task when a rail line was join in Promontory, Utah. The states had become united at last.

Download or read book The Transcontinental Railroad written by Edward Renehan and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 1869, the US railroad network unified when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads came together in Promontory, Utah. This book discusses the important milestone in the expansion of the United States and its impact on the nation, both positive and negative.

Download or read book Events that Changed the Course of History The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later written by Anyone Pierucci and published by Atlantic Publishing Company. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 21st century, it’s easy to get from New York to California — take a road trip, board a plane, or hop on a train; you’ll be there in no time. The continental United States is separated by mere hours. But back in the 19th century, a journey from New York to California required voyaging around the entire continent by sea in disease- and vermin-infested ships or trekking across great stretches of unknown wilderness by covered wagon, a perilous journey that could take up to a year. But the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 changed everything. Travel was no longer relegated to the very rich or the very courageous. The average American could now make the coast-to-coast expedition in a matter of days for less than $150. It may seem like a railroad that spanned the massive continent was an obvious solution, but it wasn’t as simple as just laying some tracks. Such a feat was a high-risk business venture that most couldn’t envision ever being completed. The transcontinental railway was possible because of dreamers like Asa Whitney and Theodore Judah, the cutthroat businessmen who invested monetarily, and the millions of laborers who invested their own blood, sweat, and tears. into an unimaginably immense and momentous display of human ingenuity. Events That Changed the Course of History: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway 150 Years Later follows the transcontinental railway’s history, from the creation of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies (and the backroom dealing that made them possible) to the Credit Mobilier scandal and strikes on the front lines that threatened to upend the entire project. The transcontinental railway changed the course of history, setting us on a path to expansion that opened the door to the West like never before. Take a journey and learn more about the unimaginably immense and momentous display of human ingenuity that forever changed American life.

Download or read book The Transcontinental Railroad written by Christine Zuchora-Walske and published by Core Library. This book was released on 2016-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1800s, traveling to the West could be dangerous. Horse-drawn wagons were slow, and Native Americans were not always friendly. In the 1840s, plans for a transcontinental railroad were proposed. When gold was discovered in California in the 1850s, the dream started to gain backers. Discover the story of this stage of our country's history.