Empire Express Building the First Transc

by David Haward Bain

On the morning of May 10, 1869, a gang of Irish immigrants met a party of Chinese laborers on a windy bluff northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Tired to the bone, the two groups laid down the last of countless wooden ties, bought at the exorbitant cost of six dollars apiece, and thus joined two great rail lines, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to form a single transcontinental route. That rail line made possible the mass settlement of the West, and, as those who conceived it well knew, it changed the course of American history. David Haward Bain's superb narrative of westward rail history, weighing in at 800 pages, ends not with this great achievement but with the political and financial scandal that would almost overshadow it. Along the way Bain looks closely at the entrepreneurial men who foresaw the possibilities of a vast nation joined by a steel ribbon--most memorably the hit-and-miss businessman Asa Whitney, who proposed to Congress an ingenious scheme to fund the building of the railroad through commercializing the right of way. Some of the men who came after Whitney, such as Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington, and Leland Stanford, amassed great fortunes in realizing this dream. Others died penniless and nearly forgotten in the wake of political maneuverings and bad deals. Bain's vigorous, well-written narrative does much to restore those overlooked actors to history. --Gregory McNamee

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Railways, Trains, Business, Politics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

If readers are interested in how business is conducted in the United States, a capitalist democracy, ‘Empire Express’ by David Hayward Bain will be instructive. Although the business was the construction of the first transcontinental railroad from Sacramento, California in the ancient and long-forgotten or unknown American era of 1863, and it was ultimately successful (although costly in lives and sweat besides costing millions of nineteenth-century public and private dollars), it couldn’t have been done without the mental and physical endurance of middlemen surviving destructive personal drama and strife, political corruption, and even more greedy and wealthy powerful men with strong psychopathic and narcissistic tendencies who insert themselves into the project hoping for opportunities for theft and self-aggrandizement.

Stories of Pure Altruism are only for the rubes reading the front pages of local spin-doctored sources, reader. How and why people conduct themselves in getting actual business done is generally not often or only for the welfare of the public. Business majors especially should put this book on their TBR list, although, in theory, stuff that happens like what happens in this book are now prevented by new laws and regulations, and a lot more watchdog institutions.

Not.

It was interesting to me that it was newspapers and journalists who broke the story publicly of the corruption of some members of the U.S Congress and some of their Wall Street investment enablers who supported the successful completion of a railroad stretching across 2,000+ miles. These journalists did so in the heightened political atmosphere of America’s post-Civil War era (1869), after the assassination of an American President, the still ongoing struggle to end slavery, and the dramatic creation of new western states. Three cheers for a Free Press!!!

Without the Constitutionally-protected journalists and historians this book would not have been written and published. Without free access to government records, without democratic legal mechanisms of law, without the uncensored research of academics, without libraries, without voluntary contributions of willing family members who desire to reveal family history warts and all, this American-foundation story would be unknown.

See? I am not entirely negative about American history and accomplishments, and I believe Americans are certainly not all mean and selfish capitalists out to screw everyone for money and power! But I will note, gentle reader, do the paperwork. We all need to learn and succeed by doing the backup paperwork and legal research in a democracy. Turning in the required forms, doing the grunt work of talking to lawyers and bank managers and city officials and, regrettably, politicians - reading and filing the Paperwork - is the true start of success in any endeavor in any capitalist democracy. Founding geniuses, inventors and dreamers of all business ventures pretty much will founder when they f*kc up on the paperwork, social connecting, advice getting and legal leg-work. Some one with charisma, chutzpah, but not much ethics, and maybe they know a lot about paperwork,,will certainly slip past you and claim your dream and work for their own. Hopefully, history will be kinder to you then the unscrupulous are. Free-press journalists and honest historians love paper trails...

Many of the stories behind major contributions to social happiness and class uplift begins with altruistic dreamers, technological geniuses, and genuine heroes who freely pursued their goals, helped by far-seeing folks with money and power. The story of the first American transcontinental railroad definitely begins and ends with happy and admirable chapters included with many heroic engineers, workers and risk-taking businessmen, giving of themselves and their fortunes in a seemingly impossible Herculean task! But finding and buying nuts and bolts (and bullets, which helped eliminate millions of the pesky Indians angry at the uncompensated theft of their country by the railroad companies and emigrants), screwdrivers and equipment, require the skills and compromises of hard-nosed businessmen, lawyers and politicians. Dreamers cannot do it by visionary imagination and wishes alone.

Does the end justify the means? In America, frequently.

Personal enrichment and powerful egos hungry for public acclaim often fuel huge paradigm-shifting technological achievements. When such an individual creates or makes possible a wonderful New Thing that also benefits millions of ordinary people, hooray, right? We can’t all be an Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, or Steve Jobs, so good thing some people are amazing or amazingly lucky despite their personality faults. However, when hundreds of different men, each with the complex ambitions of an Emperor Napoleon, need to yoke themselves together in order to build something as huge as a Wonder of the World (or just a railroad across a country with four time zones with a hellish nightmare of topological landscapes), things get complicated. And nasty.

Gentle reader, if you are a kid or of a Pollyanna disposition, you can read heroic and patriotic versions of this particular story of Great Men, with the help of the U.S. government, who accomplished a miracle of engineering. However, if you are curious about how building enormously important historical structures which did indeed helped to empower and strengthen the American experiment, read this book.

Gentle reader, entire forests were cut down for the ties, workers were scalped, tunnel collapses and bad weather killed hundreds! Millions of dollars in vapor financing and stock deals with politicians frequently were negotiated, fell apart, and we're negotiated again hundreds of times. Communications were messed up, refuted, retracted or purposefully obfuscated previous approvals, responsibility and plans were unmade. Towns were created, like Reno, that did not exist until the railroad was built. 'Hell on Wheels' was a real thing, a movable town which followed the ten thousands of track workers, full of prostitutes, gambling halls, bars, theaters, alcohol, criminals - and no laws whatsoever. Interestingly, EVERYBODY was, profoundly disturbed and horrified by the Mormon towns, over and over, considering them more depraved even than 'Hell on Wheels'. No one who met Brigham Young left feeling very clean.

It wasn’t a pretty story. Sausage making never is. However, 'Empire Express' is a very pretty history book written by an author not afraid of dense and convoluted research. This book is not only a doorstopper physically, it is thick with seemingly day-by-day facts, figures and biographies, backed by journals, diaries, letters and historical documents, of the decades-long birth of the first intercontinental railroad. It ends with the creation of two rival railroad companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific - who despite their lurid bastard beginnings, was a fantastic contribution to America. Trips which had taken three months of travel, for example, from New York City to San Francisco, whether by boat or in covered wagons, now took a few days. Everything changed.

The book has an extensive Notes, Bibliography and Index sections. There also are pictures which are extremely interesting of the main 'characters' - the good guys and the horrible crooks - as well as of the rough terrain - mountains, deserts, rivers, canyons and deep valleys and hills, granite and clay and rocks and sand and high altitudes - that the surveyors, engineers, and workers (Irish and Chinese) struggled and blasted through to lay down track.

It's a mind-blowing book!

[Florence Buchholz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the construction of America's transcontinental railroad is also a tale of corruption, political intrigue, Civil War, appropriation of native lands, slaughter of animals, immigration, and the rise of a powerful nation. It was a monumental feat of engineering for its time. The Union Pacific began laying track in Omaha, Nebraska. The Central Pacific began in Sacramento, California and soon began tunneling through the snow bound peaks of Sierra Nevada. In 1869, after six years of construction, the two railroads met near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The nation celebrated from coast to coast. Let's not forget that this engineering achievement led to the loss of life for laborers and native Americans who were deprived of their hunting grounds, needed for survival. Some so-called military heroes of the Civil War went on to commit genocidal acts against not just warriors, but native women and children. The mighty railroad was a symbol of America's glory and it's shame. It's a complex story.

[Aaron Million · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monumental history of a massive undertaking: the joining together of the East and West coasts of the United States via rail. Bain is an excellent storyteller and a gifted writer, not to mention a prolific researcher. In the latter compartment, he spent a decade researching and then putting into words this incredible tale. The research is borne out by the detailed Notes section. This is one of those books where - at the end of each chapter - I would turn to the Notes to read through them for any additional context or stories that Bain captured.

So many famous figures are involved in the making of the competing railroad lines: the Union Pacific (starting westward from Omaha) and the Central Pacific (starting eastward from Sacramento). Abraham Lincoln, William Tecumseh Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, James G. Blaine, Brigham Young and Leland Stanford are the most well-known. But, countless other people were involved in this endeavor - sadly many of them for their own personal gains. Bain spends ample time on all of the main players, especially the directors of both companies. He provides biographical information and illuminating character sketches on each of them, but never does this slow down his narrative. Whenever possible, he allows them to speak for themselves by quoting mounds of letters and telegraphs that they all sent out. Specifically noteworthy was the correspondence - on the Central Pacific side - between Collis Huntington and his partners Edwin Crocker and Mark Hopkins (all three were directors of the railroad, along with Charley Crocker and Stanford). On the Union Pacific side, communications between Oliver Ames (nominally the President of the Board) and General Grenville Dodge (Chief Engineer and former Civil War hero) was particularly enlightening.

Bain is scrupulously fair and plays it neutral - hardly anyone comes in for favorable treatment here. And that is because hardly anyone deserves it. Almost every single person appearing in this book - aside from Lincoln, Johnson, and Dodge's predecessor Peter Dey - were motivated by one thing: MONEY. And lots of it. Each person who was on the Board of Directors for either of these railroads (in particular the consummate schemer and backstabber Thomas Durant of the Union Pacific), each person who bought (or was given) stock - and this includes a long list of Congressmen (including future President James A. Garfield), each person who worked on the railroad, successive Secretaries of the Interior, Army officers, and naturally the laborers, all wanted to get rich, either directly by profits from the railroads, or indirectly by land made valuable due to the proximity to the railroads. This is a tale of greed as much as it is anything else, although the creation of the railroad is truly incredible when one stops to consider everything that it took in terms of planning, financing, manpower, political clout, and materiel that was needed to make it a successful venture.

Continually alternating back and forth between both railroads, Bain keeps the story interesting by focusing on the personalities involved. He also leaves room to discuss the issues concerning American Indians during this time period. He chronicles the bloody battles on the Plains, the senseless violence and murder committed by both sides, and the gradual loss of the Indians' land by the U.S. Army. At a few points, Bain describes suffering and individual death in detail - enough to make one pause to shudder at the barbarism employed by both sides. But he does not dwell excessively on this subject.

Concurrently, this book would not be complete without a review of labor standards during this period. The Central Pacific, being based on the West coast, at first reluctantly - and then willingly - recruited Chinese laborers. The typical white racial superiority views of the time entered here, with Charley Crocker and his foreman James Strobridge almost despairing at first of hiring anyone aside from Strobridge's Irish work-gangs. Only after the Chinese have proved themselves to be far superior and more industrious workers - largely immune to the temptations of whiskey and women that so plagued the Irishmen - do they then actively try to hire more. But they ruled all of the workers with an iron fist, refusing to capitulate on most demands for increased wages, and exposing these men to atrocious working conditions.

To give an example of how fluidly and easily Bain writes, here are the opening lines from Chapter 29, on page 506: "Four summers before, Samuel Benedict Reed had found the outdoor life in the deep, shadowy Weber and Echo gorges to be magnificent. He drank in the scenery, feasted on the abundance of mountain trout and wild berries, in the cool nights slept on buffalo and beaver robes and felt, upon awakening and emerging from his tent for the next day's survey work, remarkably collected and clear-headed. Now, in June and July 1868, nothing was clear; he was deep in a canyon - a canyon of confusion, only partially of his own making."

There were a few loose ends that I would have liked to have seen tied up. One is the relationship between Dey and Dodge. Bain quotes many letters that Dey sends to Dodge, but never really describes the return correspondence emanating from Dodge. Another is that, late in the book when Congress is investigating charges of corruption and bribery among its own members, he is oddly silent about Grant's thoughts (Grant was President and had just been re-elected). Also, while there were several full-page maps, I would have liked to have seen a few more added as Bain was describing certain areas where the railroad was being built. But this is a great book, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in U.S. History during the Civil War/beginning of the Gilded Age, transportation or railroad history, or just interested in reading a great story.

Grade: A

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive, intricate account about an integral episode of American history. The length and detail of the book is overwhelming but this is understandable. Bain incorporates history of finance, engineering, immigration, labor, politics and public policy to make the significance of the building of the transcontinental railway relevant today. And it brought to life the Crédit Mobilier scandal, something my high school history teacher succeeded in making as boring and irrelevant as possible.

And, like most good historical works, Bain provides a number of less important, albeit interesting, anecdotes that entertain as well as inform. For example, I was unaware of how much active interest Abraham Lincoln took in the project. His recounting of the Lincoln funeral train provides a wonderful summary about the fractured nature of early rail travel in the United States. Lincoln's casket had to be constantly transferred from train to train because the gauge of the rails and distance between them was not standardized. Other interesting tidbits are the cameo by Henry Morton Stanley, of African exploration fame, and how the California wine industry started (hint: railroads made it happen).

A good read for anyone interested in 19th century American history.

[Gene Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about the construction of the first railroad across the country, one of the first great accomplishments of the Gilded Age. The book book itself is amazingly well-referenced, with extensive end notes (although I hate end notes). Like most Americans of a certain age, I knew the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads linked up Utah in 1869. I knew there were Irish laborers in the East and Chinese ones in the West and that was about it. I dimly recalled something called the Credit Mobilier scandal, but I didn't connect it with the railroads. Now I do.

I'll be perfectly honest, this book isn't for everyone. It's too dense and there are too many persons to follow for the casual reader to keep up. I was willing to make the multi-week commitment to plowing my way through this nearly 1000 page long book that covers about 7 years of history. I was willing to do this because I'm looking to fill a gap in my own knowledge of American history. You don't have to, unless you want to. If you're willing to put in the time and the effort to read and understand this book, you will be rewarded.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 5 out of 5]

The building of the Transcontinental Railroad which upon its completion in 1869 joined Omaha on the Missouri River to San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean was a remarkable feat of engineering, entrepreneurship, political determination, and human courage. It was, however, accomplished through a remarkable sequence of lying, treachery, bribery and fraud. Author David Bain makes the justifiable choice to focus on the corruption rather than the noble endeavour. His narrative builds towards the congressional investigation into the illegal practices of the railway owners rather than the laying of the last spike to commemorate the completion of the work which in Bain's book becomes a meaningless rite for which the various tycoons take a brief respite from stabbing each other in the back in order to create a media event to promote the corporation that they jointly owned.
The book's great strength and worst fault is its mind-numbing comprehensiveness . Bain omits nothing. Accidents with nitro-glycerine, mountain snow storms, massacres of the hapless Indians, the dangerous working conditions, the mistreatment of the Chinese labour force, the impact of the Civil War and the role of the political process are all duly examined. Bain makes reserved and balanced judgements about everything. He is never shrill nor righteous. The problem is that Bain's moderate tone makes the work quite dull.
While the "Empire Express" is unquestionably a dreary read, the author is probably right about everything. America's link to the Pacific Ocean was built during the Age of the Robber Barons and was in every respect a project of its time.

[Daniel Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting this to focus more on the people who actually built the railroad and to be challenged by not having enough engineering and railroad vocabulary to comprehend it. Instead, this went into a lot of detail about the backroom dealings of the few powerful men who ran the companies behind the railroads, and I was challenged to comprehend a lot of it for a lack of financial and historical vocabulary. This is more for the history buff than the casual reader interested in learning more about this era of history.

[Ted Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells one of the most interesting tales of technological conquest in American history: the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the late 1860's. The author clearly knows the subject well, he has done very impressive research, and his interest in the story is very clear. But I hate to say that I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped that I would. At 711 pages of text, it was a real slog to get through. I humorously thought that the book did a great job of conveying to the reader the long grind of the actual project, as I found myself towards the end girding myself for another hour or so of less-than-enjoyable reading. And unfortunately, the emphasis of the study was on the financial and political "wheeling and dealing" of the people at the top of the two enterprises (the Central Pacific building west to east and the Union Pacific building east to west). A while the actions and maneuverings of the small number of officers at the top of the two companies get precedence, the numbers of names presented throughout the book are far more than most readers can handle. The details presented concerning the funding, loan manipulations, etc. are impressive, but if one is not interested in this side of the story, the book becomes incredibly dull. While there is material presented about the physical construction of the railroad, as well as some stories about the men who did the actual construction, most notably the Chinese men who provided the bulk of the labor force on the Central Pacific project, in general the book is a top-down, rather elitist look at the enterprise. Not surprisingly, the epilogue of the book, rather than analyzing the long-term impact of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, discusses the Congressional investigation of the financial improprieties, popularly known as the Crédit Mobilier scandal. Twenty years ago I read Stephen Ambrose's book on the transcontinental railroad project, "Nothing Like It In the World," which was half as long and much more interesting to read. Unless one is looking for a complete dissection of the financial side of the project, the Ambrose book is the one to read.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history as expansive as the territory in which it takes place. The dirty start to The Gilded Age.

[Shannon Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book entertained me for a really, really long time.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, comprehensive, and well-told -- that's all I ask for when I read a book about any event in history. But my favorite thing is when I unexpectedly come away with so much more, like with David Haward Bain's book about the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads and the strong-willed men behind them. The glory of ingenuity, a construction that would benefit the nation and commerce worldwide, and the death of that when greed and unchecked ego supersede ambition, all explored in just a couple decades of our nation's past. I now have a different angle on what drives the American spirit. We all know that wealth is the mother of all legacy, and beneath that, the fraternity of compromise and corruption lay the tracks for progress to roll through (if you will accept my cool railroad metaphor). But when you read a book like this, it evokes a precise image and brings new life to indictments (greed, excess, corruption) that become, frankly, trite when unexplored. Bain's "Empire Express" only needs to be read once so you'll never forget that, historically, any grand public or private endeavor is largely unsafe from the influence of the most reckless men depicted here.

Separately, I want to add that I sought this material out because I was looking for the tales of the many workers who actually built the railroad mile by mile. I did not find those tales in this book, but it was a fascinating perspective nonetheless. I'm sure those stories are out there, and I will surely seek them out to supplement what I've already read here, but if that's what you're seeking you may want to look elsewhere.

[Pamela_b_lawrencemsn.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. What work went into creating this wonderful book for all of us. The story is really incredible - two companies competing to get as far across the country as possible. Central Pacific, coming from the West Coast, was more focused on actually completing the railroad. The Union Pacific gang, from St. Louis, was rip-roaring, with an incredible cast of characters that did their best to undermine each other. Amazing that their part of the railroad actually got built and didn't disintegrate. I hadn't thought about the fact that building started during the Civil War, and the completion only a few short years later. From America's lowest moment to an ultimately fine achievement. Lots of great tidbits. The author also tries to weave in the other issues of the time - Reconstruction, immigration, Johnson's impeachment and Grant's election - My only criticism is that, as I've read in several popular history books, the author provides biographical detail - parents, education, etc. - of every player he introduces. Makes the book denser than it needs to be. But fortunately those parts can be skimmed. One story, that probably meant much to a country that had been devastated by war, was that at the time the spike to connect the railroads was driven the cross-country telegraph wire was connected. And cannons and bells in big cities across the country had been hooked up to go off when those wires were connected. What a day that must have been. This book is well worth the reading.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Empire Express" is a quite worthwhile and often fascinating look behind the scenes and on the tracks of America's first transcontinental railroad (of course a connecting of several different railroads to form a connecting whole). David Haward Bain sometimes gets bogged down in the machinations of the movers and shakers to the detriment of the overall story. "Empire Express" is too long, but it tells an often wondrous story capably.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history, extremely detailed. I was tempted to knock the book down to 4 stars due to the perhaps excessive detail & length (over 700 pages). The author does an excellent job in bringing historical characters to life. The transcontinental railroad was a stunning achievement, in the same class as the project to put man on the moon or the effort to find the Norhtwest Passage. The author tells the tale well.

[Jerry]

"I'm getting more stories for my role as a docent at the Truckee Railroad museum. Bain's scholarship on this book is excellent. He is very good on the politics and personalities of the people involved. This is a much better explanation of the building of the transcontinental railroad than Ambrose's "Nothing like it in the World." "

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has put forth a LOT of time and effort. It's very hard to fault him for that. It's a very scholarly work. But the problem is, for the average reader, this book simply gets bogged down in WAY too many minute details and becomes a chore to read.

[George King · Rating 1 out of 5]

I Was really looking forward to reading this book but it got bogged down into too much deatail

[Greg Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empire Express by David Haward Blain is a monumental feat. This praise is fitting for a book whose pages contain the story of building such a monumental feat as the first intercontinental railroad. Meticulously researched and well-written, this tome is a must-read for anyone interested in railroads, American history, Congressional corruption, the Gilded Age, and the treatment of Native Americans in service of the goal of manifest destiny.

Like a locomotive starting from a dead stop and picking up speed until it reaches a crescendo, Bain's writing starts out somewhat timid, as if the author thought he bit off more than he could chew. Throughout the course of the book, however, Bain's writing becomes stronger and more compelling. This was no doubt aided by what was assuredly a massive volume of research that he performed over the course of years. Much of Bain's source material seems to consist of the letters and telegrams that the Central Pacific and Union Pacific executives sent to each other over the course of some 30 years. This correspondence is illuminating, as it shows the intrigue present at such a high level of American business, with the stakes so exorbitantly high. It also reveals the extent of the corruption that these railroad bigwigs wrought upon the American people in their quest to unite the East and West coasts of the country. Moreover, these letters reveal that the completion of this unbroken railroad was no sure bet. Labor shortages, conflict with Native American tribes, and shoddy financing seemed poised to bring the whole empire crashing down. Yet Bain shows that these challenges, though towering, did not break the resolve of those who wanted the railroads connected.

Other reviewers no doubt delve more into these aspects of the book, so I will henceforth contain myself to explaining why I gave this book four stars and not five. For the first 200 or so pages, I was floored by the author. Bain seemed to write with an urgency that matched that of Asa Whitney and Theodore Judah, the two pioneers of the East-West railroad lines that he writes so glowingly about in the first part of the book. Their vision, as well as their thwarted pleading to build the railroad, were remarkably compelling and devastating, respectively. Once Judah got his early support of the eventual Central Pacific clique, the narrative seemed to roll forward with even more steam. But when Bain dove into the nitty-gritty of the financing aspect of the operation, as well as some of the shifty shenanigans out East in the Union Pacific boardroom, he lost me for a bit. Bain would have benefited the general reader more had he spent less time explaining the complicated maneuvering of Collis Huntington in Washington or Dr. Thomas Durant in New York. These were no doubt important aspects of the story, but the level of detail was too high for the general reader.

These long explanations made the book too long. At 711 pages of text, anyone without a deep interest in railroads or the American West may be found snoozing in the middle third of the book. Bain could have had in me a captivated audience for the entire book if it was about half as long (350 pages or so), and I think I am not alone in saying this.

The end of the book, however, was just as compelling as the beginning. The race to meet the rails somewhere in Utah, the subsequent celebrations, and even the resulting congressional inquiries were expertly rendered by Bain. This book, though at times frustrating because of its deep dives into the mundanities of railroad financing and board-room intrigue, was nonetheless a masterpiece. I would, however, caution those who are not railroad geeks to prepare for some long stretches of boredom--just as, I imagine, conductors on the railroad advised passengers to prepare for their own stretches of boredom on the great Western plains of the United States.

[Renaissance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-detailed account of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and the characters involved in this venture. At times a bit dry or slow-paced, overall the book held my interest and from it I learned much about the process of the building of the railroad and especially about the individuals in charge of the project.

I finished the book with the sense that the railroad was completed through greed, deceit, bribery, lying, and other forms of corruption--with the American taxpayer footing the bill. The "railroad barons" financially benefited immensely from their corrupt practices, although sometimes they created institutions that have benefited the American public (e.g. the unification of the country by the railroad, the establishment of Stanford University, public access to the Huntington Library). The US government representatives (i.e. senators and representatives) showed themselves to be inept and incapable of indicting the wrongdoers, largely because they themselves had profited from the "largesse" of the railboard administrators.

The Chinese laborers were recognized for their efficiency, hard work, and self-discipline, but soon afterwards dismissed as a threat to the "American Way" to the point of the government eventually passing the "Chinese Exclusion Act".

The disheartening treatment of the Native Americans is well-documented here, as they were thrust aside, usually in a violent manner, for the sake of getting the railroad over their lands and to allow the land-hungry whites to seize all they could.

I enjoyed especially tracking the development of the railroad and identifying geographical landmarks with which I was familiar, and learning how some towns along the way sprung up and how few actually survived.

For a history and railroad buff, it's worth the read.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredibly in-depth history of the building of the transcontinental railroad, complete with end notes. If one likes history, I would recommend this book. Personally, I found my interest waxing and waning, but I’m not a big fan of historical books in general. I was interested initially in this topic because my husband works for a subsidiary of the Union Pacific. We studied a bit about it in school, but I thought it may be interesting to learn more. This book provided more information than I wanted to know and I had a hard time distinguishing who is who among the many people involved. I wish I would’ve taken notes so I could’ve referred to them throughout the book. I gave the book four stars because I have to give the author credit for all the research he did for this book. That was phenomenal, but the book itself did not hold my attention. That’s why it took me so long to finish. I had to step away from it for a while and read other books that interested me more.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

What could be and should be an interesting story gets bogged down with too many details, especially political machinations, and is often sidetracked by facts and historical events that don’t have significant impacts on the actual construction of the railroad, or could easily have been summarized.

I forced myself to read 1/3 of the way through before admitting I was wasting my precious reading time on something that no longer fascinated me. If you want to read interesting stories about massive engineering that actually I highly recommend Path Between the Seas and The Great Bridge. David McCullough does a fantastic job telling the story while educating the reader, instead of regurgitating facts, figures, dates and other events in a barely coherent manor.

This is likely the most extensive history of the Transcontinental Railroad, but certainly not the most entertaining.

[Straker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhaustive - and exhausting - history of the building of the transcontinental railroad. Author Bain obviously intended for his book to be the definitive popular history of the project and thus the level of detail is very deep and occasionally overwhelming. I found the sections dealing with the actual planning and construction of the railroad to be the best. Those parts concerned with the financial aspect of the project - particularly on the Eastern or Union Pacific side - often grew tedious and labyrinthine. There's only so much you can read about the machinations of Dr. T.C. Durant before your eyes start to glaze over. And yet, Bain couldn't write the book he wanted to write without plumbing those depths. Cautiously recommended for those who like their history on the heavy side.

[Matthew Stienberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed, if cumbersome book on the construction and financing of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States! Stocked with anecdotes, colourful tales of everything from backroom double dealing, congressional corruption and all the notorious "Hell on Wheels" towns which sprang up in the period, its a tome that brings the period to life. The depiction of financing and steering the business is well done, but makes this a thick read. I didn't mind overall, but it takes some time to get through and appreciate. Very well written however and chock full of sources and notes!

[Douglass Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read book if you've a deep interest in the building of the transcontinental railroad. It focuses on the men who were instrumental in its construction with detailed accounts of the politics and financial issues behind the project. It is very well researched with detailed references. The only negative is that its level of detail makes for parts of it being a difficult read.

[Linda Callahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me. Well it did the job. But I did not find it particularly interesting. Maybe it is me and not the book. It's long and detailed. It's history and there is history. There is the history of school: data and lists. There is the history of people, places and events. This book does speak of the people- but for me, it was too much data without people's viewpoints.

[Kirby Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant retelling of an American history epic! It's wonderful to gain such fresh insight on an event as big in its day as our first flights across the Atlantic and our trip to the moon. Highly recommended for everyone from Civil War enthusiasts to business strategists.

[Wes Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very educational reading. Saw many of the same actions of congress and congressmen in this book that I see going on today Got interested in this book after watching the series s, Hell On Wheels. Thick book and academic proclivities made this book a long read but I enjoyed it.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its been a long time since I read this, but I still remember the joy of encountering the social history entwinned with the corruption and audacity of the times and of this project. Readable and enjoyable.

[Devan Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive research and exhaustive discussion of nearly every angle of the story of the Transcontinental Railroad. My only quibble is that this book could have been streamlined a bit.

[Paul Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the longest book I’ve ever read.