The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation’s First Railroad, 1828-1853This masterful, richly illustrated account of the planning and building of the most important and influential early American railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, is an essential contribution not only to railyway history but also to the broader history of the development of the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. There was no precedent for the building of the B&O. The construction of the 380-mile line from Baltimore to the Ohio River over a period of 25 years is an epic story of astute planning and innovative engineering that overcame many formidable obstacles, notably the arduous traversing of 200 miles of mountain wilderness. Its successful inauguration provided a spur to internal improvements throughout the United States. Railroads, and certainly the B&O, epitomized progress, not only in the development and extension of the Western frontier but in the revelation that personal travel and the delivery of freight could be dramatically faster, better, and cheaper. The railroad deeply affected the development of Baltimore's port, industry, and urban geography, as well as its financial, educational, and cultural institutions. George Peabody, Enoch Pratt, William Walters, and Johns Hopkins--the city's most prominent philanthropists--were involved with the B&O, some intimately; the Johns Hopkins University was founded on B&O Railroad stock. The B&O also contributed by aiding in the growth of the state's iron and coal industries. The B&O came to be called "the Railroad University of the United States." Its civil engineers formed the core of the railroad engineering profession in America. The company's annual reports during the building of the line were, according to the American Railroad Journal in 1835, "a textbook and their road and workshops have been as a lecture room to thousands." Throughout, the author highlights the many types of men who were involved in that history: promoters, financiers, politicians, lawyers, newspaper editors, fixers and bagmen, civil engineers, inventors and mechanics, foremen, contractors, and feuding Irish laborers, who together built the first long-distance, general-purpose railroad in the United States. The book is illustrated with 80 photographs and drawings and 5 maps. |
Contents
Prologue I | 1 |
Baltimore to Harpers Ferry 18271836 | 5 |
Procession | 7 |
Reaching Enchanted Ground | 13 |
The Last Resort | 25 |
Sons of Commerce | 36 |
The Train and the River | 49 |
Inventing a Railroad | 62 |
The Eight Million Bill | 202 |
Harpers Ferry to Cumberland 18361848 | 221 |
Three Statesmen | 242 |
Engines in the Hills | 252 |
Building on Promises | 265 |
Cumberland Coal and Iron | 279 |
This Noble Enterprise | 298 |
The Trouble with Wheeling | 314 |
The Triumph of Steam | 81 |
A Race for Popularity | 100 |
Men of Iron | 122 |
City Extension Frederick Branch | 140 |
Road to Washington | 151 |
The Thomas Viaduct | 159 |
The Bank War | 170 |
The Bridge at Harpers Ferry | 185 |
The Financier | 339 |
Tracking the Wilderness | 358 |
The Work Is Done at Last | 382 |
Epilogue | 389 |
Notes | 403 |
Works Cited | 449 |
458 | |
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The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation's First ... James D. Dilts No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
American B&O Rr Baltimore and Ohio Bank Baring became began Benjamin bill bonds Branch bridge Brown build built called canal cars Charles Chesapeake and Ohio coal committee completed connection construction continued contract contractors cost Creek Cumberland designed directors early engineers fall feet final finished four George half Harpers Ferry Hezekiah Niles House important improvements interest iron James John July June Knight land later Latrobe legislature letter locomotive March Maryland McLane meeting miles million Mills months mountains named offered official Ohio Railroad Ohio River opened operation passed Pennsylvania Philadelphia Pittsburgh Point Potomac president rails Ridge River road Rocks route running side spring steam stone Street surveys Thomas took town track trade train tunnel turned Valley Viaduct Virginia Washington western Wheeling York