The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

by David Haward Bain

In the summer of 2000, David Haward Bain and his family left their home in Vermont and headed west in search of America’s past. From Omaha to San Francisco, Bain and his family retraced the entire route of the first transcontinental railroad. Following abandoned railroad tracks and the traces of old wagon trails, cruising down back roads and main streets, they discovered the deep, restless, uniquely American spirit of adventure that connects our past to our present.

A superb writer and an exacting researcher, Bain conjures up the marvelous sense of coming unstuck in time as he lingers in the ghost towns and battlegrounds, prairies and river ports, train yards, museums, and diners that line the old emigrant routes of the railroad and the Lincoln Highway. As he cruises west to California, Bain encounters a fascinating cast of characters, both historic and contemporary—from Willa Cather to Marlon Brando, from pathfinder John Fre´mont to naturalist Terry Tempest Williams. Here, too, are memories of Bain’s own grandparents and the journeys that shaped his own heritage.

Writing in the tradition of William Least Heat-Moon and Ian Frazier, yet with an engaging warmth and a deep grasp of history all his own, Bain has fashioned a quintessentially American journey.

Genres: History, Travel, Nonfiction, American History

464 pages, Hardcover

First published May 11, 2004

Reviews

[Cindy Dyson Eitelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

History lesson--travel essay--family journey. All here--everything I enjoy most in a whopping big volume.

And I did enjoy the heck out of it, even though I found it slightly hard to keep reading. I don't know why, but that probably has something to do with me rather than the writing. It's the kind of book you want to pick up on a lazy Sunday afternoon when you're got your whole life in front of you to savor it. But before you do, get a really good book of maps and keep it handy. Not a phone, either. You need great big maps with rivers that have names. Google maps on a computer might be okay.

It's mostly about the author and his family's trip to follow the path of the first cross-country railroad, but it includes some fascinating stories of the California and Oregon pioneers, too. Lot of detail and plenty of anecdote. Bravo,

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author David Bain's knowledge of Western history is encyclopedic, and this book was enjoyable in that sense. But too much of his travelogue anecdotes just weren't very interesting -- restaurant reviews, tedious praise for his friends on the trail, etc.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read “Empire Express” several times, and considering it the best book (well ahead of Stephen Ambrose, who’s overrated in general) on the building of the transcontinental railroad, I grabbed this when I saw it. (That said, the writing in EE tended to get “dense” at times.)

And, while not totally disappointed?

First, different chapters aren’t always perfectly sewn together.

Second, I’d hit historical errors by page 110, and in a group. Kit Carson most certainly did NOT visit Buffalo Bill’s “Scout’s Rest” second home in North Platte, Nebraska, since it was built in 1886 and he died way back in 1868, just a year after North Platte was founded. In fact, I’m sure he never visited North Platte at all, and fairly sure he never even met Buffalo Bill. Sheridan may have been to North Platte several times, but given that he died just a year after Scout’s Rest was built, wouldn’t hold my breath over that being true, either. I didn’t see anything egregious after that, but that was a whopper. If Bain got that from some claim in Buffalo Bill’s logorrhea, he should be ashamed of taking that at face value. Per a quick internet search, from what I know, the two met exactly once, and before William F. Cody became “Buffalo Bill.”

Later? Talking about the foundation of Cheyenne and Indian wars? Red Cloud’s War and related stuff never mentioned. And, at this point, I knew the skeptical antennae needed to go up more.

Third, the book is kind of a hodgepodge. The first part is mini-family biography by Bain, mainly, tying himself loosely to the journey he’s about to make. It’s a mix of travelogue and history after that, and the travelogue part, while not totally gushing, is partially so. Cheyenne is one example.

And, if you’re going to write about the trails as well as the railroad, and you don’t want to be on the interstate, why didn’t you drive the Oregon Trail route through Wyoming?

I mean, you can’t even go up to South Pass? But, you can spend half a dozen pages on Owen Wister? I understand you’re a professor of creative writing, but still. (Edit: Per narrative, he actually did go to South Pass ... but the map on the two endcovers doesn't illustrate that.)

And, of course, that illustrates the ultimate issue with travelogues, when you’ve been in the same general vicinity yourself. If the content is not to your interest, just if the writing style is not, it’s not your cup of tea. And, at this point, I wasn’t quite ready to DNF, but I was in “grokking” territory for sure, and 3-star on the book.

The people Bain meets in the second half of the book keep it from a 2-star rating, but this is really 2.5 stars, and folks, don’t read any other book by Bain.

Side note: While he mentions the trails museum in Independence, Missouri, the National Historical Trails Interpretive Center in Caspar, Wyoming is a MUST. I first thought he had written before it opened, but no, it opened in 2002 and the book has a 2004 pub date. That said, the travelogue itself is from 2000, but, a footnote, an asterisk?

[Bob Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much that I did not know as the author describes his family journey out west, retracing the entire route of the transcontinental railroad.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting saga about the author's family vacation following the old rail lines and the pioneer trails west. I especially enjoyed the section about the old Lincoln highway that was the nation's first attempt at a transcontinental highway. Entertaining travel diary with lots of U.S. history mixed in.

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great tale of crossing the United States by a writer passionate about the country's history. A must read for those who are going on that particular road trip from St. Louis to San Francisco! Beats a guide book any day, and to boot is much much better reading.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

was a page turner......now want to explore the RR's crossing of the Sierra Nevada range....