Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910

by William Francis Deverell

Nothing so changed nineteenth-century America as did the railroad. Growing up together, the iron horse and the young nation developed a fast friendship. Railroad Crossing is the story of what happened to that friendship, particularly in California, and it illuminates the chaos that was industrial America from the middle of the nineteenth century through the first decade of the twentieth.

Americans clamored for the progress and prosperity that railroads would surely bring, and no railroad was more crucial for California than the transcontinental line linking East to West. With Gold Rush prosperity fading, Californians looked to the railroad as the state's new savior. But social upheaval and economic disruption came down the tracks along with growth and opportunity.

Analyzing the changes wrought by the railroad, William Deverell reveals the contradictory roles that technology and industrial capitalism played in the lives of Americans. That contrast was especially apparent in California, where the gigantic corporate "Octopus"―the Southern Pacific Railroad―held near-monopoly status. The state's largest employer and biggest corporation, the S.P. was a key provider of jobs and transportation―and wielder of tremendous political and financial clout.

Deverell's lively study is peopled by a rich and disparate railroad barons, newspaper editors, novelists, union activists, feminists, farmers, and the railroad workers themselves. Together, their lives reflect the many tensions―political, social, and economic―that accompanied the industrial transition of turn-of-the-century America.

Genres: History, Railways

308 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 1994

About the author

An American historian and educator specializing in the nineteenth and twentieth century American West. Deverell is a professor at the University of Southern California.

Reviews

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a dissertation (which it is). Aside from the exhaustive bibliography, I can think of a reason for recommending this book (unless you are a graduate student working in the area of the history of California 1850-1910, which I'm not).
Deverell didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, which is a little dissapointing since I have only a light background in this area (i.e. The first three volumes of Kevin Starr's history of California, Fragmented Metropolis by Fogelson and The Octopus by Frank Norris).

It's a suprisingly short book with only six chapters. The first chapter handles early reactions to the coming of the transcontiential railroad (Mostly positive). The second chapter covers slightly later reaction to the railroad (mostly positive, some negative). The third chapter discusses the Pullman Strike in Califonia. In my opinion, this was the stand out chapter of the work.

Chapter four covers the Los Angeles "Free Harbor Fight". This chapter is largely duplicated in "Fragmented Metropolis". Chapter five covers written opposition to the railroad, with a close up of Frank Norris' "The Octopus". Chapter six covers "Progressives and the Railroad"(they didn't like it.)

At this point, I'm ready to never read anything about the California Progressive movement ever again. They are, simply put, a boring, hypocritical bunch.

Again, if you're looking for a book with a good guide to the less accesible literature in within the field (academic journals, etc.) this book does have an excellent bibliography. Otherwise, you might want to just stick to the more well known works in the field of California history and skip this book.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Besides earthly union and brotherhood, the transcontinental railroad would yield spiritual as well as secular gain. Many saw in the enterprise a fulfillment of the biblical obligation to 'make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'" (12)

"'You can get any man to be unfriendly with a railroad after it is built.'" (quoting Charles Crocker, 34)

"'The public blames a representative when he flops about, and yet the public itself is the boss flopper of the age.'" (quoting Stephen Mallory White, 116)

[Gregory Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Convincing revisionist history