Not the book I promised a coupla posts ago, but another railroad item just the same: Robert Lardin Fulton’s Epic of the Overland, a short account of the human side of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, by a man who worked on it; there are a couple of hilarious stories in it, as well as some rather somber stories of hangings and scalpings, and then those poor itchy buffaloes: it’s a good read, and includes a detailed map of the line from Omaha to San Francisco. [In sum, to use a railroad image, I got sidetracked. The (much longer, more technical) book I promised otter be finished in a day or two; a few images remain to be scanned.]
American History 