19th Century Sources

Scholarly Resources

• Reader's Companion to American History excellent short scholarly articles
• American Economic History by Harold Underwood Faulkner (1960), solid older textbook
• Erie Canal good older history
• Geoffrey Channon, Railways in Britain and the United States, 1830-1940. 2001. ; review in Business History Review
• "Capital Movement and Transportation: Britain and American Railway Development," by Leland H. Jenks, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 11, No. 4. (Autumn, 1951), pp. 375-388. in JSTOR
• EH Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History scholarly
• popular history
• review of Clark, Railroads in the Civil War (2001)
• review of Saunders, Merging Lines: American Railroads, 1900-1970 (2001)
• Dobbin, Frank, Forging Industrial Policy: The United States, Britain & France in the Railway Age (1997), major scholarly comparison for 19c (not online)
  F. Dobbin and T. Dowd. "How Policy Shapes Competition: Early Railroad Foundings in Massachusetts." Administrative Science Quarterly (1997) 42:501-529. valuable chapter online
  "Why the Economy Reflects the Polity: Early Rail Policy in Britain, France, and the United States." (2001)
  "How Institutions Create ideas: Notions of Public and Private Efficiency from Early French and American Railroading." L'Année de la Régulation (2004) 8:15-50.
  . "The Market that Antitrust Built: Public Policy, Private Coercion, and Railroad Acquisitions, 1825-1922." American Sociological Review (200) with Timothy J Dowd 65:635-657.
  review by Thomas McGraw
• "The Franco-Russian Alliance and Russian Railways, 1891-1914, by D. N. Collins in The Historical Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4. (Dec., 1973), pp. 777-788. JSTOR
• John Moody, The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the States (1919) very good, short book by scholar
• "Railroads as an Economic Force in American Development," Leland H. Jenks, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 4, No. 1. (May, 1944), pp. 1-20. in JSTOR recommended
• History of Telegraph Industry
• Timeline for southern RR esp Civil War & Reconstruction
• Entrepreneurs
  "Entrepreneurial Leadership Among the 'Robber Barons': A Trial Balance," by Chester McArthur Destler, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 6, Supplement: (May, 1946), pp. 28-49. JSTOR
  "American Historians and the Business Elite" by William Miller The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 9, No. 2. (Nov., 1949), pp. 184-208. JSTOR
  "The American Business Elite: A Collective Portrait, by C. Wright Mills The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 5, Supplement: (Dec., 1945), pp. 20-44. in JSTOR
  "James J. Hill's Philosophy of Railroad Management," by William J. Cunningham Bulletin of the Business Historical Society Vol. 15, No. 5 (Nov., 1941), pp. 65-72 in JSTOR
  "The Executive Mind: The Role of Railroad Leaders, 1845-1890," by Thomas C. Cochran Bulletin of the Business Historical Society Vol. 25, No. 4 (Dec., 1951), pp. 230-241 in JSTOR
  "Some Social Attitudes of Railroad Administrators at the End of the Nineteenth Century," by Thomas C. Cochran Bulletin of the Business Historical Society Vol. 17, No. 1, in JSTOR
  "Patterns of American Railroad Finance, 1830-50," by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. The Business History Review Vol. 28, No. 3 (Sep., 1954), pp. 248-263 in JSTOR
  "Multiple-Level Organization of a Great Railroad," by Leland H. Jenks The Business History Review Vol. 35, No. 3 (Autumn, 1961), pp. 336-343 in JSTOR
  "Southern Railroad Leaders, 1865-1893: Identities and Ideologies," by Maury Klein The Business History Review Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 1968), pp. 288-310 in
  Cornelius Vanderbilt & eastern RR
  Carnegie as entrepreneur much on Pennsylvania RR, steel rails
  Jay Gould & Erie RR

  "A Chapter of Erie" classic 1869 account by businessman/historian Charles F. Adams; more of the same, 1871
  Bain, Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad Excellent 1999 history Read Chapter 1
  Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 (2000) Read Chapter 1
  James J. Hill & upper Midwest

  short bio

  another short bio

  Albro Martin, James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest (1990)
  Maury Klein, The Life & Legend of E. H. Harriman (2000) Read excerpt on 1906 financial battle

  E. H. Harriman focus on exploration; from PBS
• Books & articles by historian Alfred Chandler
  Henry Varnum Poor: Business Editor, Analyst, and Reformer (1956)
  editor, The Railroads: The Nation's First Big Business - Sources and Readings. (1965)
  Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Enterprise (1962)
  The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (1977) the most influential single book in business history, heavy emphasis on RR    

  summary of thesis

  major review by David Landes

  For a long recommended analysis of this work see, Richard John, "Elaborations, Revisions, Dissents: Alfred D. Chandler's The Visible Hand After Twenty Years" Business History Review, (1997) Vol.71 #2 p.151-200 recommended

  "Patterns of American Railroad Finance, 1830-50," by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. The Business History Review Vol. 28, No. 3 (Sep., 1954), pp. 248-263 in JSTOR

  review of Channon, Railways in Britain and the United States, 1830-1940 (2001)
• Books & articles by historian Maury Klein
  Unfinished Business: The Railroad in American Life (1997)
  The Life and Legend of Jay Gould (1997) excerpt online at Amazon.com
  The Life & Legend of E. H. Harriman (2000) Read excerpt on 1906 financial battle
  "Southern Railroad Leaders, 1865-1893: Identities and Ideologies," by Maury Klein The Business History Review Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 1968), pp. 288-310 in
  "Competition and Regulation: The Railroad Model," by Maury Klein The Business History Review Vol. 64, No. 2, American Business Abroad (Summer, 1990), pp.
• Books by historian Albro Martin
  James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest (1990)
  Railroads Triumphant: The Growth, Rejection, and Rebirth of a Vital American Force (1992)
  Enterprise Denied: Origins of the Decline of American Railroads, 1897-1917 (1980)
• Books by historian John Stover
  Routledge Historical Atlas of American Railways (1999) ed John Stover
  History of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (1987; 2nd ed 1999)
  History of the Illinois Central Railroad (1975)
  Iron Road to the West : American Railroads in the 1850's (1978)
  American Railroads (2nd ed 1997) good, brief overview; excerpt online at Amazon.com
  The Railroads of the South 1865-1900 A Study in Finance and Control (1955)
  S. Historical Societies
  Links to RR historical URLs
  links to online resources recommended
  1891 maps recommended
  western RRs excellent maps
  National Railway Historical Society
• T. Specific Railroads
  Amtrak: The History and Politics of a National Railroad by David C. Nice (1998)
  Amtrak: current documents 21st century
  books on the Transcontinental
  links

  Baltimore and Ohio

  map

  1827 report shows motivations of early boosters

  1829 report fascinating; one of first in-depth accounts

  John Stover, History of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (1987; 2nd ed 1999)
  Central Pacific

  Central Pacific Museum recommended with many links to original documents and photos

  Constructing the CP

  CP 1869 map

  Ambrose, Stephen E. (2000). Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84609-8.

  David Haward Bain, Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad (2000)

  Cerinda W. Evans; Collis Potter Huntington Vol. 1 Mariners Museum, 1954

  John Debo Galloway; The First Transcontinental Railroad: Central Pacific, Union Pacific (1950)

  Kraus, George. "Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific." Utah Historical Quarterly 1969 37(1): 41-57. Issn: 0042-143x. Shows how Chinese railroad workers lived and worked, how they managed the finances associated with their employment, and concludes that Central Pacific officials responsible for employing the Chinese, even those at first opposed to the policy, came to appreciate the cleanliness and reliability of this group of laborers. There are many quotations from accounts by contemporary observers.

  Lake, Holly. "Construction of the CPRR: Chinese Immigrant Contribution" Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 1994 94(4): 188-199. Issn: 0160-9602

  Ong, Paul M. "The Central Pacific Railroad and Exploitation of Chinese Labor." Journal of Ethnic Studies 1985 13(2): 119-124. Issn: 0091-3219. Ong tries to resolve the apparent inconsistency in the literature on Asians in early California, with contradictory studies showing evidence both for and against the exploitation of Chinese labor by the Central Pacific Railroad, using monopsony theory as developed by Joan Robinson. Monopsonists are buyers whose share of the market is large enough to affect prices, or whose supply curves are not completely elastic. By setting different wages for whites and Chinese - each having different elasticities of supply - and using Chinese in the menial and dangerous jobs, with whites in the better positions, the two groups were complementary rather than interchangeable. Calculations thus prove higher levels of exploitation of the Chinese than in previous studies.

  Tutorow, Norman E. "Stanford's Responses to Competition: Rhetoric Versus Reality." Southern California Quarterly 1970 52(3): 231-247. Issn: 0038-3929 Leland Stanford and the men who ran the Central Pacific Railroad system paid lip-service to the idea of free competition but in practice sought to destroy or weaken competing railroad and shipping lines. Focusing on the years between the completion of the first transcontinental railroad line (1869) and Stanford's death (1893), the author shows how Stanford and the Central Pacific associates repeatedly entered into pooling arrangements to prevent competition, brought out competitors, or forced rivals to agree not to compete with them. He concludes that Stanford and his partners viewed laissez-faire as applicable only to government controls and not to destruction of competition within the system by those involved

  Williams, John Hoyt. A Great and Shining Road: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad (1988)

  Goodwin, Neil, prod. The Iron Road. Video. Color. 58min. (American Experience series.) Publication: Peace River Films, 1990. Distrib. by PBS Video
  Chesapeake and Ohio
  "A Chapter of Erie" classic 1869 expose of Erie RR by businessman/historian Charles F. Adams
  "Erie Lackawanna: An Ohio Railroad" scholarly 1992 article by H. Roger Grant, author of Erie Lackawanna: Death of an American Railroad: 1938-1992 (1994) After briefly tracing its mid-19th-century beginnings as the Erie Railroad, America's first long-distance trunk rail line, concentrates on the rise and fall of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad (EL). Formed in 1960 with the merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the EL faced enormous problems until 1968, when it was merged with the Norfolk & Western. An infusion of new executive talent as a result of this last merger helped boost the morale of EL workers, but the rail line nonetheless faced bankruptcy in 1972, as its volume of freight traffic dropped drastically due to trucking industry competition. Finally in 1976, after an effort to reorganize, EL was forced to accept financial assistance from the federal government and was absorbed into Conrail, thus disappearing as an identifiable carrier. [Am Hist & Life]
  Great Northern

  GN history

  James J. Hill & Great Northern

  1930 route guide

  THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY: A HISTORY by Ralph W. Hidy, Muriel E. Hidy, Roy V. Scott and Don L. Hofsommer (1988) ISBN 0-87584-185-6
  Illinois Central Hist. Society

  Illinois Central map
  Missouri Pacific map
  New York Central

  Cornelius Vanderbilt

  NYC Historical Society

  NYC Museum

  Albany NY region
  Pacific Electric inter-urban
  Southern Pacific
  Southern Pacific
  major history of Southern Pacific by Richard Orsi (2005)
  Robert Fogel, The Union Pacific Railroad: A Case in Premature Enterprise (1960) classic study by Nobel-Prize winning economist
  Union Pacific
  Union Pacific
  Wabash RR scandals 1888 article
  U. State/Regional Histories
  Links

  Northeast

  Maine

  "The 'Railroad Scheme' of Massachusetts," scholarly article by Edward C. Kirkland in The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 5, No. 2. (Nov., 1945), pp. 145-171. in JSTOR

  Massachusetts in 1829 fascinating early report

  Albany NY region

  Pennsylvania post 1950

  Midwest

  Encyclopedia of Chicago wonderful guide to history of RR center (2004)

  Interurbans scholarly articles on 1900-1930 era in Midwest

  Union stations

  Interurban RR Indiana

  Michigan

  "Interurbans in the Automobile Age: The Case of the Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside" scholarly 1994 article by Douglas Shaw. During the 1900's-30's, electric interurban railways connected almost all Ohio towns and cities of populations over five thousand. Such lines as the Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway initially filled a useful niche, transporting seasonal tourist traffic as well as agricultural and mining products. As trucks and automobiles became more popular, however, the sale of excess electricity became a more important source of income. By 1940 most interurban railways had folded, as motorized transportation on paved highways was found to be more flexible and convenient. [Am Hist & Life]

  The Ohio railroad guide; illustrated and descriptive. 1852

  Railroads in Ohio. Fast freight lines, etc. Abuses practised and remedies proposed. Report of special committee of the Ohio Legislature. 1867

  The street surface railway franchises of New York city by Harry James Carman (1919). best scholarly study, 1840s-1900

  Wisconsin Central started 1987

  South

  South

  Appalachia

  Mary Verhoeff, Kentucky mountains, transportation and commerce, 1750 to 1911: a study in the economic history of a coal field (1911) covers trails, wagon roads and turnpikes, but no railroads

  West

  The Transcontinental Railroad Recommended Primary sources from the Linda Hall research library in Kansas City

  The Story of the Western Railroads by Robert Edgar Riegel ((1926) recommended

  They Built the West: An Epic of Rails and Cities by Glenn Chesney Quiett - (1934)

  The Man Who Found the Money: John Stewart Kennedy and the Financing of the Western Railroads by Leonard Bushkoff and Saul Engelbourg (1996)

  building the transcontinental excellent site from PBS

  Transpacific news from 1869

  background to Transpacific & vg cartoon

  "Rail Road to the Pacific" 1848 magazine article

  Bain, Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad Excellent 1999 history Read Chapter 1

  Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 (2000) Read Chapter 1

  "Kansas City to Denver to Cheyenne: Pacific Railroad Construction Costs and Profits" by William R. Petrowski The Business History Review Vol. 48, No. 2 (Summer, 1974), pp. 206-224 in JSTOR

  how many workers killed building transcontinental? the number is fewer than 1000 but often exaggerated

  Land grants

  California: San Diego

  Central Pacific Museum [California] recommended

  James J. Hill & Great Northern

  Kansas Railroads: Cutler's 1883 history

  Nebraska railroads by Robert Cutler, in Andreas, 1882

  Oregon

  Santa Fe: The Railroad That Built an Empire BY James Marshall (1945)

  Texas

  Texas comprehensive scholarly guide to all Texas RR and entrepreneurs recommended

  Transcontinental, 1869

  Southern Pacific

  Union Pacific

  The First Transcontinental Railroad: Central Pacific, Union Pacific. BY John Debo Galloway (1950)

  Cerinda W. Evans, Collis Potter Huntington (1954) builder of Central Pacific and Southern Pacific

  Rusling, The great West and Pacific coast; or, Fifteen thousand miles by stage-coach, ambulance, horseback, railroad, and steamer--across the continent and along the Pacific slope ... among Indians, Mormons, miners and Mexicans full text of 1877 book

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  Copyright (c) 2012 Richard Jensen. This Guide was prepared with support from the National Endowment for Humanities, the Center for Global Partnership of the Japan Foundation, the University of Illinois, RPI, the Gilder-Lehrman Foundation, the Luce Foundation, and the Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grants sponsored by The Dirksen Congressional Center. Scholars are invited to post the complete Guide to campus WWW sites and distribute it to students.

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