A Great & Shining Road - The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad (gnv64)

A Great & Shining Road - The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad
by John Hoyt Williams
Times Books | 1989 | ISBN 0-8129-1832-0 | 341 Pages | scanned PDF | 41.3 mb
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Shining-Road-Transcontinental-Railroad/dp/0812916689

The Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads were officially joined on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah, with the driving of a golden spike. This historic ceremony marked the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Spanning the Sierras and the "Great American Desert," the tracks connected San Francisco to Council Bluffs, Iowa. A Great and Shining Road is the exciting story of a mammoth feat that called forth entrepreneurial daring, financial wizardry, technological innovation, political courage and chicanery, and the heroism of thousands of laborers.

CONTENTS
Introduction 3
1. America, the Machine, and the Idea Whose Time Had Come 6
2. Understanding the Void 20
3. "Crazy" Judah, the Big Four, and the Pacific Railroad Act 29
4. The First, Faint Stirrings 49
5. Schemirrg in the Wild East 69
6. The Chinese Factor and the Indian Threat 93
7. The UP Gets an Army; the CP Gets a Race 119
8. War Whoops on the Plains and the Octopus Is Born 146
9. Into Darkest Wyoming and the Sierras Surrender 170
10. Backstabbing Across the Plains and Blessedly Flat Nevada 189
11. The Union Pacific Does Not Bear Scrutiny Well 215
12. Carving Through Nevada 236
13. Crocker's Wager and the Golden Spike 244
14. Judgment Day 269
Acknowledgments 288
Notes 289
Bibliography 325
Index 332