Download or read book The Rail Roads History and Commerce of Chicago Classic Reprint written by Daily Democratic Press and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Rail-Roads, History and Commerce of Chicago The whole country between the two rivers is not only all susceptible of cultivation, but a large portion of it is too rich to grow wheat successfully. Corn, hemp and tobacco are the principal staples. Mr. McAlpine says it is one of the best timbered portions of the Mississippi Valley. At no place is the road more than four miles from fine groves, which, with the fertile lands and delightful climate, make it peculiarly inviting to settlers. The soil is a rich loam, resting on a substratum of clay. The prevailing rock is limestone. The road is all under contract, and is to be finished by two years from the first of May. Messrs. Duff & Larned are the contractors. They are gentlemen of large experience, and are in all respects able to fill their contracts by the time specified. Twenty-five miles at each end of the road is to be completed and in operation during the present season; and the entire line is to be completed by the first of July, 1865. Chicago has a large interest in the construction of this road. We shall have two lines connecting with it either at Hannibal or Quincy, and perhaps at both of these points. The Aurora and Central Military Tract, and the Peoria and Hannibal Railroads will both be finished by the tune the Hannibal and St. Joseph's road is in operation. We shall receive a large trade from Northern Missouri as soon as we have a direct railroad connection with that fertile region. Although this road lies at a considerable distance south of this city, the result will show that it may justly be regarded as a part of that great system which has its centre here. No better example can be given of the rapidity and energy with which great enterprises are pushed forward to completion at the West, than the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Its progress seems more like the wonders of magic than a plain matter of fact reality. It was commenced on the 10th of April, 1852, and opened to Joliet forty miles, on the 18th of October, in the same year; to Morris, sixty-one miles, Jan. 5th, 1853 to Ottawa, eighty-three miles, Feb. 14th; to La Salle, ninety-eight miles, March 10th; to Peru ninety-nine miles, March 21st; to Tiskilwa, one hundred and twenty-two miles, Sept. 12th; to Sheffield, one hundred and thirty-six miles, Oct. 12th; to Geneseo, one hundred and fifty-eight miles, Dec. 19th - all during the last year. It was completed and opened to Rock Island, one hundred and eighty-one miles, on the 22d of February, 1854; being the first continuous line of railroad to reach the Mississippi from Lake Michigan. The city of Alton was reached about the first of October last; but three different roads had to be passed over in order that the iron horse might renew his strength from the great artery of the Western Continent. Think of this, ye ancient worthies, who, some fifteen years ago, would have required as many years to build the same number of miles of railroad! One hundred miles of the line was built, stocked, and in running order in less than a year; and the whole distance to the Mississippi, one hundred and eighty-one miles, was finished, and the road was in operation, in twenty-two and a half months! This simple statement speaks volumes for the intelligence, energy and business capacity of the contractors, Messrs. Sheffield & Farnam. It is one of the proudest monuments they could possibly have to their memory; and it will confer blessings innumerable upon the people of this city and those whose fertile fields lie along the line of the road for all time to come. We almost envy them the satisfaction which the accomplishment of so great a work in so short a period must afford them. The location of the road is peculiarly favorable for business. For the first hundred miles, it follows down the valley of the Illinois and its tributaries, through the flourishing towns and cities of Joliet, Morris and Ottawa, drawing the trade of
Download or read book Chicago America s Railroad Capital written by Brian Solomon and published by Voyageur Press (MN). This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A history of the development of Chicago as a railroad hub, from its earliest days to the present, illustrated with color and black and white photographs, maps, and railroad memorabilia"--
Download or read book Classic American Railroads written by Mike Schafer and published by Motorbooks International. This book was released on 2003-09 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book picks up where the previous two Classic American titles left off, focusing on the golden age of American railroading from 1945 to the early 1970s. It extends to the present day where applicable, providing a colorful look at locomotives, passenger and freight operations, development, and, in some cases, demise. Full color.
Download or read book Moonlight in Duneland written by Ronald D. Cohen and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insull launched an aggressive marketing campaign producing booklets, movies, and in particular a set of colorful, artistic posters, which attracted many from Illinois to the sand dunes and steel mills of Northwest Indiana.
Download or read book The Rail roads History and Commerce of Chicago written by and published by . This book was released on 1854 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Santa Fe Railway written by Steve Glischinski and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tracks Across Continents Paths Through History written by Douglas J. Puffert and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-04 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A standard track gauge—the distance between the two rails—enables connecting railway lines to exchange traffic. But despite the benefits of standardization, early North American railways used six different gauges extensively, and even today breaks of gauge at national borders and within such countries as India and Australia are expensive burdens on commerce. In Tracks across Continents, Paths through History, Douglas J. Puffert offers a global history of railway track gauge, examining early choices and the dynamic process of diversity and standardization that resulted. Drawing on the economic theory of path dependence, and grounded in economic, technical, and institutional realities, this innovative volume traces how early historical events, and even idiosyncratic personalities, have affected choices of gauge ever since, despite changing technology and understandings of what gauge is optimal. Puffert also uses this history to develop new insights in the theory of path dependence. Tracks across Continents, Paths through History will be essential reading for anyone interested in how history and economics inform each other.
Download or read book The Railroad Tycoon Who Built Chicago written by Jack Harpster and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2009-08-28 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Butler Ogden was a pioneer railroad magnate, one of the earliest founders and developers of the city of Chicago, and an important influence on U.S. westward expansion. His career as a businessman stretched from the streets of Chicago to the wilds of the Wisconsin lumber forests, from the iron mines of Pennsylvania to the financial capitals in New York and beyond. Jack Harpster’s The Railroad Tycoon Who Built Chicago: A Biography of William B. Ogden is the first chronicle of one of the most notable figures in nineteenth-century America. Harpster traces the life of Ogden from his early experiences as a boy and young businessman in upstate New York to his migration to Chicago, where he invested in land, canal construction, and steamboat companies. He became Chicago’s first mayor, built the city’s first railway system, and suffered through the Great Chicago Fire. His diverse business interests included real estate, land development, city planning, urban transportation, manufacturing, beer brewing, mining, and banking, to name a few. Harpster, however, does not simply focus on Ogden’s role as business mogul; he delves into the heart and soul of the man himself. The Railroad Tycoon Who Built Chicago is a meticulously researched and nuanced biography set against the backdrop of the historical and societal themes of the nineteenth century. It is a sweeping story about one man’s impact on the birth of commerce in America. Ogden’s private life proves to be as varied and interesting as his public persona, and Harpster weaves the two into a colorful tapestry of a life well and usefully lived.
Download or read book Regional Railroads of the Midwest written by Steve Glischinksi and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Along the Chicago South Shore South Bend Rail Line written by Cynthia L. Ogorek and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting in 1901 as a three-mile-long trolley line in East Chicago, Indiana, the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad expanded in 1908 to connect South Bend, Indiana, with Chicago, Illinois. Once a treasure in the Sam Insull utilities empire, today it is the only functioning electric interurban in the United States. From a world-class city through rolling agricultural acres, from steel mills through a national lakeshore, some 200 vintage photographs illustrate the unique view of the Calumet region that South Shore passengers have traditionally enjoyed. Images of rolling stock, passenger depots, excursion destinations, and historic sites along the way combine to reveal the century-long story of the railroad and its 90-mile corridor.
Download or read book The Birth of Big Business in the United States 1860 1914 written by David O. Whitten and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-11-30 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The economic and cultural roots of contemporary American business can be traced directly to developments in the era between the Civil War and World War I. The physical expansion of the country combined with development of transportation and communication infrastructures to create a free market of vast proportion and businesses capable of capitalizing on the accompanying economies of scale, through higher productivity, lower costs, and broader distribution. The Birth of Big Business in the United States illuminates the conditions that changed the face of American business and the national economy, giving rise to such titans as Standard Oil, United States Steel, American Tobacco, and Sears, Roebuck, as well as institutions such as the United States Post Office. During this period, commercial banking and law also evolved, and, as the authors argue, business and government were not antagonists but partners in creating mass consumer markets, process innovations, and regulatory frameworks to support economic growth. The Birth of Big Business in the United States is not only an incisive account of modern business development but a fascinating glimpse into a dynamic period of American history.
Download or read book American Book Publishing Record Cumulative 1950 1977 written by R.R. Bowker Company. Department of Bibliography and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 2530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Chicago Union Station written by Fred Ash and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-23 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the Midwestern transportation hub and its impact on the city and the region, plus stunning photographs of the station’s architecture. More than a century before airlines placed it at the center of their systems, Chicago was already the nation’s transportation hub—from Union Station, passengers could reach major cities on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts as well as countless points in between. Chicago’s history is tightly linked to its railroads. Railroad historian Fred Ash begins in the mid-1800s, when Chicago dominated Midwest trade and was referred to as the “Railroad Capital of the World.” During this period, swings in the political climate significantly modified the relationship between the local government and its largest landholders, the railroads. From here, Ash highlights competition at the turn of the twentieth century between railroad companies that greatly influenced Chicago’s urban landscape. Profiling the fascinating stories of businessmen, politicians, workers, and immigrants whose everyday lives were affected by the bustling transportation hub, Ash documents the impact Union Station had on the growing city and the entire Midwest. Featuring more than one hundred photographs of the famous beaux art architecture, Chicago Union Station is a beautifully illustrated tribute to one of America’s overlooked treasures. “The book includes more than 100 illustrations, a quarter of which are in color—but the real value is in author Ash’s narrative; he’s devoted decades to the study of terminals in the Railroad Capital, and it shows in this marvelous work.” —Classic Trains “The station’s history is thoughtfully revealed alongside concurrent economic and political events unfolding in Chicago at given points in time, thus providing the reader with a deeper understanding of why certain station milestones occurred when they did and the way they did.” —The Michigan Railfan
Download or read book Streets Railroads and the Great Strike of 1877 written by David O. Stowell and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1999-06 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For one week in late July of 1877, America shook with anger and fear as a variety of urban residents, mostly working class, attacked railroad property in dozens of towns and cities. The Great Strike of 1877 was one of the largest and most violent urban uprisings in American history. Whereas most historians treat the event solely as a massive labor strike that targeted the railroads, David O. Stowell examines America's predicament more broadly to uncover the roots of this rebellion. He studies the urban origins of the Strike in three upstate New York cities—Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse. He finds that locomotives rumbled through crowded urban spaces, sending panicked horses and their wagons careening through streets. Hundreds of people were killed and injured with appalling regularity. The trains also disrupted street traffic and obstructed certain forms of commerce. For these reasons, Stowell argues, The Great Strike was not simply an uprising fueled by disgruntled workers. Rather, it was a grave reflection of one of the most direct and damaging ways many people experienced the Industrial Revolution. "Through meticulously crafted case studies . . . the author advances the thesis that the strike had urban roots, that in substantial part it represented a community uprising. . . .A particular strength of the book is Stowell's description of the horrendous accidents, the toll in human life, and the continual disruption of craft, business, and ordinary movement engendered by building railroads into the heart of cities."—Charles N. Glaab, American Historical Review
Download or read book The Story of American Railroads written by Stewart H. Holbrook and published by New York : Crown Publishers. This book was released on 1947 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The birth and development of our national railroad system, the men who built it in spite of weather, politicians, desert, and rivals; the ingenuity and inventiveness used to improve constantly devices and techniques in railroading.
Download or read book Chicagoland written by Ann Durkin Keating and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-11-15 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers the collective history of 230 neighborhoods and communities which formed the bustling network of greater Chicagoland--many connected to the city by the railroad. Profiles the people who built these neighborhoods, and the structures they left behind that still stand today.
Download or read book Trading Freedom written by Dael A. Norwood and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: America's Business with China -- Founding a Free, Trading Republic -- The Paradox of a Pacific Policy -- Troubled Waters -- Sovereign Rights, or America's First Opium Problem -- The Empire's New Roads -- This Slave Trade of the Nineteenth Century -- A Propped-Open Door -- Death of a Trade, Birth of a Market.