Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad

by Chris Enss

**2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award Silver Winner for Western Non-Fiction** When the last spike was hammered into the steel track of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah, Western Union lines sounded the glorious news of the railroad’s completion from New York to San Francisco. For more than five years an estimated four thousand men mostly Irish working west from Omaha and Chinese working east from Sacramento, moved like a vast assembly line toward the end of the track. Editorials in newspapers and magazines praised the accomplishment and some boasted that the work that “was begun, carried on, and completed solely by men.” The August edition of Godey’s Lady’s Book even reported “No woman had laid a rail and no woman had made a survey.” Although the physical task of building the railroad had been achieved by men, women made significant and lasting contributions to the historic operation.
However, the female connection with railroading dates as far back as 1838 when women were hired as registered nurses/stewardesses in passenger cars. Those ladies attended to the medical needs of travelers and also acted as hostesses of sorts helping passengers have a comfortable journey. Beyond nursing and service roles, however, women played a larger part in the actual creation of the rail lines than they have been given credit for. Miss E. F. Sawyer became the first female telegraph operator when she was hired by the Burlington Railroad in Montgomery, Illinois, in 1872. Eliza Murfey focused on the mechanics of the railroad, creating devices for improving the way bearings on a rail wheel attached to train cars responded to the axles. Murfey held sixteen patents for her 1870 invention. In 1879, another woman inventor named Mary Elizabeth Walton developed a system that deflected emissions from the smoke stacks on railroad locomotives. She was awarded two patents for her pollution reducing device. Their stories and many more are included in this illustrated volume celebrating women and the railroad.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, Trains, Womens, Railways, Womens Studies

200 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2021

Reviews

[AC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having enjoyed Chris Enss' Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West some years ago, I had high hopes for Iron Women. However, the title is a bit misleading, and I didn't much care for the writing, what there was of it. It seems more like notes made in the course of research, or verbatim transcribing of quotes, and women didn't actually work on laying the the physical rails.

Their contributions were in rail-adjacent items: engineering better bearings on axle wheels, designing the interior of the cars, creating refrigerated boxcars, and so on. All these things, of course, are incredibly important to rail travel overall, for both people and goods. There were other women, from the bad side of the tracks, as it were, as well: prostitutes and train robbers also plied their trades. I don't see, however, how these women contributed anything to "building the railroad", and the text didn't enlighten me to see how they were.

I was disappointed in this outing. two out of five stars. Sorry, this was a miss (ha!) for me.

Thanks to Rowan & Littlefield and NetGalley for the reading copy.

[David Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Enss writes great books about women who were left out of history, not because they weren't there, but because the authors chose to ignore them. We learn in the wonderful book, Iron Women, that it was a woman who invented the modern refrigerator box, an woman who used her engineering skill to vastly improve the interior of rail cars, a woman who improved the bearings on a rail wheel to respond to axles, a woman who designed the elegant Fred Harvey hotels staples of the old west, a woman who was a hard-nosed train robber and prostitute and so many other things women did that have been left out until now. Bravo, Chris, another home run. Love it.

[Rachel Santino · Rating 5 out of 5]

The railroads of America were built in the late 1800s by men. But what we never hear about, and possibly what most people don’t know, is that women created improvements that made traveling by rail more comfortable and made its purpose of transporting commodities more efficient. Chris Enss brings the stories of these revolutionary women together with a wonderful collection of portraits and images. This book offers a glimpse into our history of the railroads that needn’t be left out. It invigorated my interest in traveling by train and is the first of many books by this author that I look forward to reading.

[Randee Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

In IRON WOMEN, Chris Enss focuses on women’s contributions to the railroads during the 1800s and early 1900s. Men might have physically built the railroads, but women made lasting contributions and helped inspire travel. Enss covers female telegraphers, the Harvey Girls, and women who created the refrigerated boxcars, designed more comfortable passenger cars, promoted westward travel through artwork or written pieces, and an architect who built some of the Harvey Houses and the tourist sites at the Grand Canyon. Some of the women Enss focused on were a bit out in left field—including famous train robber Laura Bullion, a prostitute who was murdered and later had a train car named after her, and Lily Langtry who had a specially made train car for her travels throughout the United States.

While an interesting read, I didn’t feel as if the book really had much focus on the railroad.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

“When the last spike was hammered into the steel track of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah, Western Union lines sounded the glorious news from New York to San Francisco. An estimated four thousand men - mostly Irish working west from Omaha and Chinese working east from Sacramento - had labored for more than five years to connect the country coast to coast. While the physical task of building the railroad had been achieved by men, women made significant and lasting contributions to the historic operation.
As far back as 1838, women were hired as registered nurses/stewardesses in passenger cars. Those ladies attended to the medical needs of travels and also acted as hostesses of sorts, helping passengers have a comfortable journey. Beyond nursing and service roles, however, women played a larger part in the actual creation of the rail lines than they have been given credit for: Inventor Eliza Murfey created devices for improving the way bearing on a rail wheel responded to the axles in 1870. Miss E. F. Sawyer became the first female telegraph operator when she was hired by the Burlington Railroad in 1872. And Dr. Mary Pennington invented the modern refrigerator car in the early 1900s. Their stories and many more are included in this history of women and the railroad.” - Quote from the back cover of my copy of Iron Women.

I was given a free copy of Iron Women:The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad in exchange for my review of the book.

The book is divided up into sections where each section is about a different woman and how she helped to build the railroad. I found some sections really interesting while other sections were kind of boring. I felt like I was reading a textbook at times.

[Bunny Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have an interest in either the railroad or women's history, this is a really good, quick read.

Growing up, my parents, grandparents, and uncles all worked for Southern Pacific railroad. I found this book at a gift shop in Colorado and was intrigued. I remembered my mom's stories of working in the male-dominated industry in the 60s, so I was curious about the women who came before her.

The title is somewhat misleading. In the book's introduction, the author points out that, "although the physical task of building the railroad had been achieved by men, women made significant and lasting contributions to the historic operation." To be more accurate, the women helped build the industry, not the physical railroad as the title suggests.

Nevertheless, the author paints a fascinating historical picture of the significant contributions women made to the success of the railroad industry. From the lady journalists who published travel diaries that promoted rail travel to the first female railroad president, the book documents a wide variety of women whose influences shaped the early railroad industry.

Each of the 15 chapters covers either an individual woman or a group of women who engaged in a specific profession within the industry. The chapters are short - between 2-19 pages - in a book that is only 154 pages. The narratives are well-written and simple enough for young readers. The book does have a chapter dedicated to one women engaged in the oldest profession and her murder, so parents and educators should be advised. The descriptions are not graphic in nature, but the subject matter may not be suitable for all ages.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers a nice little segment of history that we don't hear much about, which is how women drove progress to the western US through their contributions to the railroads and the hospitality industry that supported railroad travel.

The book wasn't exactly what I expected because I thought it would be more about women who were somehow involved in building the transcontinental railroad, whereas this was all about activities after that milestone event. Some of the contributions discussed in this book were truly remarkable for their time, such as the improved design of refrigerated boxcars, better windows for passenger cars etc. But some of the women discussed in this book were socialites, actresses, waitresses or journalists that were really just out on a fabulous journey. I didn't think they really qualified as "Iron" women, but they were at least tangentially associated with railroads at some point.

The two chapters that covered the Fred Harvey houses were a little redundant - it was pretty interesting reading about the architect that built those houses, but when the next chapter covered the Harvey girls, and even used some of the exact same quotes (e.g. Will Bill), it felt like the author just crammed in that chapter with a lot less attention to her story lines.

Many thanks to the author and to NetGalley for the free advance reading copy. The opinions expressed here are purely my own.

#Netgalley #IronWomen

[Anne Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was rather a miss for me. the title "Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad" suggested a book examining women who directly influenced the building of the early railroads. And a few of the stories were about women with direct influence on the railroad industry- the president of a railroad line, the woman who created modern refrigerated boxcars, a civil engineer who worked on railroads. Others seemed to have really no place here, like a madam (prostitute) honored by the railroad at her funeral. Chapters were generally short, the writing was more like note-taking and there was no independent analysis on anything.
Not a book I would recommend to anyone looking to discover more on the subjects of early American railroads, the American West, or women in either, although the bibliography was impressive.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike many traditional books of history, this consists of a bunch of shorter articles about subjects related to the interaction between women and railroads in the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
That sounds like a lot of ground to cover, and it is. Luckily the author is both a good historian and a good writer. In fact, the only weakness is that the chapters are so separate that they feel like they were written for separate publication.
Still, there were some really great stories being told here, ranging from the women who helped to design railroad equipment and facilities to women who were famous passengers...especially ones who had their own dedicated passenger cars. Of these, the stories of Lillie Langtry were great, at least for those of us who grew up watching old westerns, because she was mentioned in some of them.
I am now interested enough to try to track down some of her other books.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iron Women examines women who contributed to the rise of the railroads. The chapters cover inventors, writers, bosses, and the infamous Harvey Girls. Women played an integral part in making the railroads a significant factor in US history. The chapter I find the most interesting was the one on the HArvey Girls. I had a vague idea who they were, but I had no idea it was a chain of restaurants and hotels along the southwest that gave jobs to thousands of women from the 1890s-1930s. This book adds to women’s history and Industrial history genres. Thanks to Edelweiss and Two Dot Books for the advance copy.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The documentation and presentation are very similar to Publish or Perish theses. The women included worked as telegraphers, the owner of narrow gauge railroad, a travel writer, train robber, one who developed the modern refrigerator car, a journalist, civil engineers, an architect, lawyers, and a railroad muralist. The intense research is meticulously documented and attests to its validity. The title is a little off center, but how else might one title a book on the importance of women in railroad history? I enjoyed the read (but then, I really like Charles River Editors).
I requested and received a free temporary ebook from Rowman & Littlefield/TwoDot via NetGalley. Thank you.

[Amanda]

I only read one chapter of this book before I decided it wasn't for me, but that one chapter had one of the wildest paragraphs I've ever read in a book: "Jane continued to work as a telegraph operator at the railroad depot in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She eventually remarried in 1869. Jane died a tragic death at her home in January 1903. While reclining in a chair in front of an open grate, her dress caught fire. Screaming, she threw herself on her bed. The entire bed then caught on fire. Jane was seventy-four when she passed away."

[Erica Nesbitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book as an advance copy and was not compensated for my review.

This book had an interesting topic and a lot of potential. The pictures were good additions but unfortunately, the book is a difficult read. The content consists of mostly verbatim quotes and little to no analysis, independent thought, or conclusions. Not sure I've ever read a book before where every single paragraph had at least one footnote. I would not recommend this book to others.

[Teri Reck · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that relates the tales of a number of women associated with the railroads, either in the actual engineering, or in the implementing and improving 0f it, or in popularizing it's use, or even, in perpetrating nefarious deeds against it. As in all things, and although history may not record it, nothing happens without the work of men AND women. A fascinating peek at a former way of life, and definitely worth reading.

[RCC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories in this book. They were short reads and made me want to learn even more about some of the individuals. I was particularly glad that Enss brought up Mary Colter and the Harvey Girls, because I knew about them, but there were lots of other women that I was not familiar with, which was a treat.

[Harriet Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this short but informative book about women's roles in the early railroad, from the refrigeration car to the painted murals inside the cars and leadership in a male-dominated industry.
I definitely learned a lot about the era and the accomplishments of these strong women.

[Marilynn Dillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So interesting to discover how creative and intelligent women were responsible for the success of the railroads. Without their beauty and talent I doubt that the railroad system would be as desirable as it was.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea so many women were involved in the success of the railroad. I thought the book title meant actual labor on the tracks, but this book was a very good chronicle of how women were involved in other railroad accomplishments.

[Nicholle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with the reviewers that thought this book lacked analysis and connection between the various women highlighted. But the research is appreciated and I learned about history I was not familiar with.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories in this book. I liked that they were short reads and some of the individuals mentioned made me want to learn more about them, so I was glad to see some have their own biographies. I look forward to reading more by Enss.

[Mary Nee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had an interesting topic and the pictures were good. I especially liked the chapters about the Harvey Girls.

[McKenna Servis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read but it seems like a combination of the authors research notes.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative little book about some of the major women involved in the building and expansion of the American railroad.