1 -- MIDTERM Flashcards
BRITAIN (LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER, OVERVIEW, TREVITHIK, OHIO AND BALITMORE, DEVELOPED AND CHOSE GAUGE, WHY GAUGE MATTERS): Describes the first railways. Mostly talking about Liverpool and Manchester + george Stevenson (including Stockton and Darlington, but not the focus) and the way that he developed rails/chose gauge. Why gauge matters. Challenges of building a railroad. The impact of railroads – civil wars, economic growth, transport of heavy loads (coal). Mentions Trevithick as ‘father of locomotive’. Describes the Rainhill trials (not very descriptive of them. Describes the French and US trains as they move along (french more comfortable than the Stockton and Darlington + were more elaborate). US had an insane amount of them (discussese the Ohio and Baltimore – not much). Says european railraods developed more slowly. Starts off with “It was the world’s first global news story”.
C. Wolmar, “Blood, Iron, and Gold”. Ch1
BRITAIN (STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON, GEORGE STEPHENSON FOCUSED, PEASE): Is focused purely on the early days of Stockton and Darlington. Describes the struggles of George Stephenson and Pease to convince people to fund, to get an act of parliament for the railroad that they wanted to build. Also to convince them to adopt a steam locomotive. Displays Stephenson as an underdog, that never gives up and is always trying to succeed. Describes the Rainhill trials in depth (there was a prize, many scientific men competed, the importance of horizontal tubes through which the heated air passed in streamlets was key to increasing heating surface while not burning them out and raising the steam with the smooth copper tubes as tight as possible together). The Perseverance was withdrawn from the contest early because it could only move at 5-6 MPH, the Novelty was the favorite but it kept breaking down over and over again, and the Sanspareil was both above weight and was also breaking down. Rocket wins. Was reliable and fast enough ( up to 30 MPH ).
Samuel Smiles, Lives of the Engineers (1879)
BRITAIN ( TALKS ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE AND STEPHENSON SUCKS, OVERVIEW AND STRESSES NAVVIES, ABOUT LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER): It took a ton of people to make a railway – describes the ‘navvies’ (ppl building the railroads). Thinks that Stephenson had an inferiority complex because of the fact that he had to be the sole engineer and his own contractor (COULD NOT handle anyone else helping him). More important people include: Robert Stephenson (who is the one who actually improved the locomotive), Joseph Locke (engineered the Grand Junction to link the Liverpool and Manchestor to birmingham), Charles Vignoles (georgie fired him and he went on to build the midland counties railway), Allcard, Dixon, Gooch, and the liverpool party (railway financers sandars and booth). Compulsory purhcase necessary and struggled against landowners (Marquess of Staffrd example is in here! bribery). George stephenson sucked at surveying the line but was appointed cheif engineer after the success of the stockdon and darlington (THIS IS ABOUT THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER). Chat moss (black oozy bog) to cover so they floated across, the western end of Manchester line was deep cutting through sandstone. 63 bridges and viaducts, including 9 arches, and skew bridges at rainhill and elsewhere to get the line done. Thomas brassey became the worlds greatest railway contractor. Rocket is the ancestor of all modern locomotives. People describe the journey: Fanny Kemble (thought it was like a fairy tale and once they set off at the utmost speed, she felt that it was smooth, that she felt she was thrusting into the wind and flying, and that she was not afraid at all) vc. Creevey, an opponent of the railway, (it was frightful and also they were getting hit with sparks of fire that was burning peoples clothes. Navvies were most important. They had a hard job that was very dangerous (could be crushed by rock, suffocated in soft earth, might send a driver hurling over the brink if they sent the horse too fast, tunneling was the most dangerous and only france had employers’ liability. Navvies had highwages but did far more work and high food prices. Navvies = respectful. QUOTE FROM HENRY BOOTH: changed our ideas of time and space.
Harold Perkin, “The Age of the Railway”
BRITAIN (VERY NICE TO HIM, DISCUSSES FATHER, EDUCATION, THAMES TUNNEL, BOX TUNNEL, GWR DOING SO MUCH WORK, PARLIAMENT GENIUS): Describes his father, Marc Brunel first because he was a huge influence. Marc entered the French navy and served in the West Indies and had to escape to America where he became a civil engineer. Isambard started by making blocks at parts which were key to loading and unloading the ships at the dock (he was in England). 6 men can now do the work of 60. When Isambard was 8, he began to go to school and had a great talent for drawing, and made a bet with his friends about the fall of a building because of the way that he noticed the building sucked and the stormy weather. He was at home a lot so he spent a long time with his father and work with him, for veneering machinery, machinery for making shoes, and works at government establishments at Woolwich and Chatham. In 1823, he was working for his father’s office and was helping to start the Thames Tunnel and the suspension bridges for the Ile de Bourbon. Isambard talks about lots of cave-ins including one where he almost died while trying to save his men. He was so injured that he couldn’t superintend the preparations and told his people not to go down the cable. The education that Mr. Bruel received from his father was key to forming the foundation of his career and he acquired the habits of endurance and self-reliance and learned to act with decision and was gentle. Brunel then goes to work on the Great Western Railway and has to build the box tunnel (no river involved). Questions about the rock from a geologist were shut down by Brunel because he knew so much about his projects that he knew the rock better than the geologist did. He also made tunnel fronts and added various designs to match the landscape. After the Great Western Railway opened, Brunel ascended to the role of engineering superstar and spent A TON OF TIME in parliament getting things passed because he was so good at convincing them and he had a unique respect from parliament and as a witness. He was totally truthful but also was very skillful so that his opponents to take care of him. He was a good negotiator, would draw easy-to-read diagrams, and was clear. Brunel looks very good in this piece because its from the perspective of his son.
Isambard Brunel Jr. (1871), “The Life Of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer”
BRITIAN (ABOUT GWR AND BRUNEL): Talks about the reasons why railways were desired: demand for better inland communication, cheap labour was available, population was rising, poor country rwellers were being thrown off the land by ag reform, needed to move bulk goods by rail (not even steam yet) i.e coal or stone. Reminder: canals cannot operate in the winter because they freeze up. Says that the railways in britian shot up quickly, with 3 being finished (including the liverpool and manchestor in 1830). Explains that it was all done by private initiative and the state was only there to grant acts of parliament which was key to levy tolls, raise share capital, and enter and purchase land property compulsorily. Explains the compeittion between mail coaches and canal companies. Brunel begins by surveying for the new ‘Bristol Railway’. Describes the important things railways need to abide by: line needs to be straighta and level. Brunel was planning to have an integrated system for smooth running and high speeds. Others had it wrong but brunel undesrtood that the essence of a national railway network wuld be that it should have fast ‘trunk routes’ linking to main center. Brunel began with a northern line that he took through country (mentions ‘Brunel’s billiard table’). Talks about how he labored and didnt sleep and ended up naming the railway the GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. They recieved a lot of opposition in getting their act of parliament from stagecoach and canal companies and it took 2 tries but they got there. Then shows his journal entry with tons of engineering projects that he was “a part of” but was not nearly as involved as the GWR. He chose a 7 ft gauge because he thought that the larger locomotives would be more powerful, faster, and smoother. Invented his own kind of wrought-iron rail. He was very involved - set out the route, designed most of the buildings and bridges, produced his own estimates and was involved in negotitations with landowners, purchase of property and even selling shares. Describes the line from London to bristol –TALKS ABOUT THE NAVVIES but doesn’t talk about the dangers that they went through. Brunel says that he can’t trust anyone and has to do everything himself but he gets so tired he feels stupid. Paddington station was initially temporary station instead of the grand vision of brunel, and GWR had to face more trials. Brunel, literally did not know anything about locomotives. and was really confused on the specifications, ect. Gooch tries to create the crazy Brunel locomotives but eventually says that they don’t work and they got a bunch from Robert Stephenson. The stone blocks under the tracks made them just as uncomfortable as every other railway and criticisms of Brunel increased, especially about the whole gauge thing. It ended up being okay thanks to the North stars speed and reliability. They then started to create stations with refreshment rooms but the food was the worst. Some designs didnt work out like haberbeams structure which required large columns because the wood wouldn’t stay up. The box tunnel sucked and was hard. Used gunpowder and was very dangerous. It did turn out to be VERY profitable though! Next: Gauge war between Stephenson gauge and brunels. GWR won the speed trial but there were so many stephenson gauge lines out there that it won out because of the inconvenience of changing them all. He tried the atmospheric railway. It did not work and was seen as the great failure of brunel – it worked in theory but not in practice ( maintaining the vaccuum was impossible, ect.). Finally, the GWR was super expensive, BUT they only used the best materials to get it done because it was supposed to be ‘the finest work in England’.
Steven Brindle, “Brunel: The Man Who Built the World”, Ch4
EUROPE BROADLY: Begins by explaining that Europe either used British tech, engineers, and workers (navvies) or copied them. Britian began a decade before with the Stephensons. European railways were constructed on very different terrain and geopolitical boundaries and issues. Despite outliers, locomotive traction was seemed as a favoured option and many countries were smaller states that were next to each other (i.e germanic states, holland, italy, belgium, ect.). HUGE difference in the role of the state – belgium (entirely state controlled), Britian (private companies), france (ppp). Says that they all knew the economic benefits from railroads and connection. Also k2 responding to rebellion and nation building. CASE: Belgium – carved out of the netherlands in 1830 and wanted to spur nationhood by connecting the whole country with distinct differences (flemish v french). it was planned, owned, and operated by the state and was somewhat a military project. also it was also very vulnerable to a blockade with no access to the main northern waterways. Stephenson helped Leopold 1. Expanded quickly and had the densist network in the world in terms of milage relative to its SA. CASE: Holland – developed a lot more slowly due to lots of waterways, competition from canals and lack of industrializaton. hard to get financing. Eventually holland iron railway in 1839 built for passenger traffic mainly and rhenish railway started in 1838 took 18 years to reach the rhine (freight). TAKEAWAY: different levels of rail develpment was based on lack of interest shown by the dutch state. Rhenish had many more difficulties because of lage hills, water ways, bad weather, unpaid navvies roited and the law allowed landowners to extract crazy concessions. CASE: German – developed far faster despite small squabbling states. k2 nation building – LIST – he was key in explaining that poverty and political fragmentation were inseperably related because poverty destroyed industry and therefore trade. He advocated for the railways and wanted to unite the politically and linguistically similar german states. They began in Saxony which was built quickly thanks to british tech and a scottish engineer. CASE: France – really slow and lines remained fragmentary until the 1860’s. France suspricios of new tech and debates constant. Good roads. First railway was the Rothschild line with was a pleasant scenic journey that crossed the seine twice and was very profitable. Progress derailed by accident (haha). derail, set on fire, kill all the people inside. SO to get them started the state started to join the effort. Louis Legrand (public works minister) set up a plan for creating a track and tunnels and bridges for a great set of lines. Also offered companies a monopoly in their area. ELABORATE RULES: began on liverpool and manchester but rules included the passenger was checked and supervised at all stages, there was no advanced ticket sales, young children could not go, old people did not get a discount, and the opening of the ticket office was only shortly before the departure of the train. Leipzig and Althen was an immediate success and railway mania was taking hold. First came the Union of German Railway Administration and then to federal german union. German used standard gauge and was becoming the heart of european railways. CASE: Italy: slow to develp because they were poor but then they built it and the king eventually went on because it connected his houses. It began in peidmont whcih was rich and boosted the developed economy of italy. Was helped by the government which developed lines in piedmont and cavour. it was easier for governments to obtain credit on the capital markets, and railroads also key to state building and used the standard gauge. CASE: spain – didnt want to use standard gauge becuase of military reason because they were afraid of being militarily invaded. This would hurt their economic development with the rest of europe. That forced portugal to replicate their gauge. CASE: Russia – also chose a different gauge also different than ireland and spain – 5ft. also for military reasons. Russia had really harsh conditions and was lacking the amount of capital needed to fund the project. the first approved line was between moscow and st petersburg (1851 completed). CASE: scandinavia (norway, denmark, sweden, finland) all were working in the late 40s, 50’s, and 60’s. They started later because of harsh climate, small population, and finland ended up using the russia 5ft gauge instead of standard which is what teh rest of them used. All rich countries experienced some form of railway mania, the actual development was somewhat hindered by changes in gauge.
Wolmar, “Blood, Iron, and Gold”, Ch2
IRELAND, INDIA (INDIA): until 1870, britain was the heart and centre of railway activity throughout the world. British tech was exported everywhere, british knowlege was exported everywhere and was used by the colonial empire. IRELAND: didnt use standard gauge in dublin and kingstown railway. Describes the irish railway in depth. Roads lost lots of business because the railway was better. Dargan built it – was a farmer, and treated his workers well. Ireland not a great place for railways with no industry, low population, low income levels, and terrain was difficult. financial support from the state was the rare early recognition of the econ benefits. Northern ireland railways remained public owned and run as an integrated business while UK was private. Unique gauges in ireland, that weren’t even the same with one another. This would also come up in brazil, australia, new zealand and hampered development. the 5ft 3 in guage necessitated teh construction of specifically adapted rolling stock and prevented shipments of rail wagons from the UK which increased costs. Rapid development in ireland – big towns had a railway by 1853. INDIA: farther away than ireland, but british held same amount of control. The british designed and built the railroads and was began by the British East India Company. The british did it because they needed cotton and the US was not growing as well. Indias topography was brutal – monsoons, mountains, heat, intense disease, marshes like chat moss. Robert Stephenson did the survey and left to James Berkeley. The rail network was created through centralized planning and the british gov paid a lot more attention because a haphazard process was wasteful. Argued gauge needed to be wider to prevent being pushed over with the narrow gauge – settled on 5ft 6 ins. This project was very imperial – a. lucrative for britain (cotton) but no development of india, b. they did whatever they wanted where they wanted, c. used it militarily to maintain control and crush rebellion. First completed railway in india was Bombay and Thana and had a huge celebration and many people came to see the enormous project. British presented the railway as part of a civilizing mission. Second line was the bengal line (began 1851). Ship to australia instead of calcutta example. Progress fast and first section opened in 1854. Railway development focused on trunk routes betwen major citires and developed public-private partnerships. Ghats project: western ghat mountains, with 2 major inclines, several tunnels, a reversing section, a stationary engine, ect. It was a huge endevour with perilous working conditions with monsoons, no food, no foodholds on the mountain. Diseases i.e choleria, malaria, typhoid, smallpox, blackwater fever killed overworked coolies. Colonial britiain did not give a fuck. Lack of food and shelter killed many indians and british and employers also did not care that much with themselves being bad engineers. Some workers reovlted due to the wages and bad working conditions. British couldn’t force western working on indians – would carry things on their head, would employ as failies with different labor, and religious sensibilities couldn’t be compromised. The british way also didn’t work sometimes – the Bhore incline project proves – it was an eight arch bridge which fell and they had to adapt to water flows caused by monsoons and snow melting from himilayas. Massive expansion of railways over the next century relatively fast. Basic network of trunk lines covering the whole country was finished by the 1890’s. The railways were a great engine of economic growth for the british (not so much india) and the rails were primarily for the british. first class was the preserve of white people and they gave food really only to white people restricting even affluent and educated indians. Indian that stole the a white guys coat after he took his slippers. AUSTRALIA: the faliure to impose a uniform set of standards (gauge) was damaging. their first rail was human powered (convicts). Using convicts was difficult on them, was dangerous for passengers, and braking was crude and bad for the peple doing it. for some passengers it was likely though. Then horse drawn railway in tasmania to exploit tin mines. finally it was replaced within a decade by a narrow gauge steam railway. used the irish 5 ft 3 in guage in victoria at the same time. the gauge situation didn’t make any sense at all. It was a disaster and therefore di dnot have the nation building effects of other pleaces. No one was willing to change their gauge ideas which just messed everything up. Some used 3 ft 6 in guage too . The first railway ceremony the superintendent was killed by being knocked from the train 2 miles from melbourne. had to get up the blue mountains and zigzags similar to indian ghats project with a mile long tunnel. 2004 was when there was finally a line linking north to south finished.
Wolmar, “Blood, Iron, and Gold”, Ch3
AMERICA (ENVO, LOW FRICTION, AMERICAN CAPITALISM, LORDS DAY, REGULATION?): describes america started building in the 1830’s and were key to move heavy loads of coal, iron, and grain very long distances. by 1916 – railroads over a quarter of a million miles long. Says that railrads are being brought from brink of extinction in 2000’s. Key to rail tech was smooth metal rails and low friction envo. They cannot climb steep slopes, needs to be high investment and trains only go where tracks go. American capitalism example and provokes political and legal disputes. i.e what amount of government intervension should there be – also civil war. Americans were fascinated by it but also afraid of it increasing crime, degrade morality and threaten the nations republican traditions. Also could impact people who built, worked and traveled on them, and should they run on THE LORDS DAY? Railroads employed more workers than any other industry (except) farming and work conditions were hard which started unions which sometimes resulted in violent confrontations. Managers walked a tight rope where they had to satisfy shippers and their workers and had to develop safe principles for running a railway. This was really new. ENVO HISTORY: transformed great plains – killed immense buffalo, and natives. turned into farmland and cattle land BUT also increased food suppy. it depleted the nations aquifers and also were dirty and contributed to smoke. Now they’re considered green. and they have been a symbol of a technologically daring nation and opening stations was a cause for celebration but their image changed after the development of cars and aircrafts where they seemed old.
Allitt, “New History of American Railroads”, intro
AMERICA (OVERVIEW OF RAILWAYS, VAGUE IN MOST PARTS, NORTH V SOUTH SPECIFICALLY): First railway – stockton and darlington then liverpool and manchester (all made my george stephenson) VS America travel was slow, difficult, and expensive due to a lack of paved roads that sucked. Almost all markets were local becaus eof the lack of ability to get heavy goods, especially west of the appalachian mounts whcih took months and was frought with hazards. 1820’s (open in 1830) – Baltimore and Ohio Railroad with “Tom Thumb”, a steam locomotive that convinced the US to use steam vs horses. The track was layed by irish and black enslaved peoples. Challenges: needed new kinds of expertise – i.e surveyors, no gradients about 1 ft rise for every 50 ft, curves needed to be shallow, cuttings and embankments planned, track would need to be elevated several inches above the surrounding ground ontop of a bed f crushed rock ballast to be stable and durable. Adopted standard gauge (Erie Railraod decided on 6 ft gauge). In 1830’s most imported from britain – they tried to make strap rails made of wood but they rotted and disintegrted under trains. Mentions “snakeheads”, “sleepers”. Each task required lots of money, labor and organization. CHALLENGE CANALS – railraods better than canals because they run in winter and tehyre faster and lobbuing was rarely successful. 1830’s-40’s jacksonian democracy and manifest destiny crazy. Canal competition with railraods reduced freight rates for both but railraods sped up developement of the trans-appalachian west. HOW TO BUILD – step 1: get mney from wealthy men. step 2: get charter from state government for emminent domain, taxes and state regs. SOUTH: state govs (virginia and georgia) underwrote financing of early railraods to gaurentee investment from north + europe. Atlanta line built! Southern railraods designed to give planters access to fertile land – labor and maintence of railroad doen by enslaved people that were either owned by the rail companies or leased from plantation owners. Still smallers system due to the ag econ of the south. NORTH: Pensylvania railroad (philadelphia and pittsburgh) – accross alleghany mountains using the horseshoe curve (became tourist attraction). They could pull enormous loads faster for longer. NEW ENGINE ENGINEERS: engineers were steamship men – railroad engine needed to be far smaller but just as powerful – ex. Isaac drips (irish) assembled john bull which had been sent with no instructions. and invented cow catcher to push livestock off of the track. TRAIN WORK? Fire boils water - then heats steam to high pressure that moves close fitting pistons inside cylinders. Pistons connected to wheels. High pressure vulnerable to explosion (i.e The Best Friend of Charleston) and they were less effective in the winter and they were slow to start. Metalworking and precision improved as time went on, but british locomotives did badly in america due to poor quality of tracks, rougher terrain, and greater distances. AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE BUILDERS: Matthias Baldwin, bult many of the first american locomotives and each was made from scratch. Even exported his engines. Charles Parry streamlined assembly by standardizing components. This created the look of the engines. Describes how locomotives looked (chimney, behind boiler = cab) vs. Camel where driver is ontop of boiler (too hot and seperated him frmo firemen). WOOD-UP: fuel=wood. trackside train sheds w wood. Wood became scarce in some densely populated areas and started to use coal which tended to destroy the grate bars. Also need to be supplied with water. Trackside water towers (source of stop-go train process) also water freezing and impurities was an issue. Describes turntables. First passenger cars were stagecoach bodies on rais and were jerky. Couplings were bad and tended to break which was unpleasant. Builders started to create longer stagecoaches and allowed people to get the benefit from the heat of the coal-burning stoves. PEOPLE RIDE – many people felt wonder (cites ebenezer chamberlain, Nathanial Hawthorne (House of seven gables (1851)) – reciews were pretty good. Lots of flying references. CAR DESIGNS IMPROVE – Pullman cars are luxury travel busses – trai land error to run trains. DANGERS: wooden cars desintegrate in train crashes. vanderbuilt + adams hurt. US had only single track could result in head on collisions. Drivers got lazy. Even if they werent, still lots of dangerous (worse in night or fog). William stevenson (described the fear of being in a train crash. Wood cars splinter, set fire to debris and people locked in. DICKENS: Saw dangers himself when he saw the train screaming through – describes as a monster. UNSETTLED: railway building in america was to much unsettled terriroty to expand farming and bring raw materials to factories. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD: Linked Galena to Cairo. Enjoyed Fed land grants whcih helped to defray cost of building. 7 percent of annual revenue to the state. Resorted to financers from eastern cities which contributed to the centralization of investment banking in NYC. Led to development of large-scale contracting companeis. Became a main stem (chicago). GARLAND: prarie to city. LINCOLN: Loved the railroads. EMERSON also liked the railroads and thought that it was a benefit to everyone else. THOREAU: “hear the iron horse make the hills echo” “earth got a race now worthy to inhabit it”. Railroads first beaurocratic organization. Scheduling trains, mainting track and rolling stock, creating timetables, collecting money for fares and freight drumming up new business and trying to establish and uphold safety rules. First american buesiness to have a large group of professional managers who were not themselves owners. Managers — long term versus investors – short term. Needed precise record keeping for accurate scheduling of trains and trains kept running even if they were below break even point. This was made worse by the financial panics in 1837 and 1857 which made the possibilities of bankruptcy still likely. DREW THE COOL DIAGRAM of the company. Unpredictable rates and people suspected of defrauding them. SUING — some landowners felt cheated, people sued when they were hurt. talks a lot about legislation ( killed cows). MORSE CODE. (1844 when he proved that it worked). Railraods used morse for news, to allow changes on the schedule to work better. describes ANDREW CARNEGIES LIFE. He often drove workers under his control hard and carnegie would mass produce strongger and less brittle rails from steel and was also part of the keystone company. talks about the underground railroad and RAILROAD LANGUAGE. Abolitionist movement and how railroads helped. Also mention mark twain.
Allitt, “New History of American Railroads”, Ch1
AMERICA (MAD, HATES THINGS, GENERALLY DISTASTEFUL, SIERRA NEVADA): Left sanfrancisco - describes the fruit she passed and the flour and lunch baskets around her. Describes what she loves about sanfran and says that cali is a “kand flowing with milk and honey”. horses shine, fat cows, ect. hates sacremento and sacremento valley. went into the sierra mountains no more dust but rocks, deep ravines and briken ridges. went to colfax and looked at the engine. Described as “gaudy” and the grizzley bear and white fox. mentions the chinamen in the smoking car (workers of the railroad). Describes indians as savages and then describes why they are. Describes some of the beauty of the sierras and desciribes how the chinamen worked down the ravines and how astonished she is by it. She mentions the snow sheds which shut out all the splended views of the region including donner lake. mentions Truckee, center of the lumbering region, but indicated that the workers would show a lady respect. Went out to see the lakes, and the area around this town/in this town and describes it pretty negatively (cyclopean eyes, frostily, noisily, unholy) very negative. MAKES AN EXCURSIION INTO THE SIERRA NEVADA’S. went in a silver palace car (pullman) and describes how nice it is in the sleeping cars. describes truckee faded as “dreams fade”. Describes the shitty, greasy, fly infested food. Describes the desert as being a desert that she does not like. Talks about the mormons who describes are ugly and horrible, that the fine dust was irritating, the trip was monotonous, the carcases of oxen??, and that it was freezing and she hated it. Describes the surrounding planes as endless and verdureless (lacking vegitation) and that this is a “god forsake, god forgotten place”. In drinking areas, describes murder as a common occurance and lynches as common. and that there is just horrible people (120 ruffians killed in 1 fortnight – court martial lynching). She literally hates everything.
Isabella Bird, “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains”
AMERICA (NICE, I PERSPECTIVE, NO SIERRAS, PEOPLE FOCUSED): Begins in New York and then goes to sanfran. MAIN POINT: Went incognito as a normal traveler and describes the people he met and what the californians, and travelers where like at the time. 1. ACROSS THE PLAINS. describes an emigrant ship arribes him and then he describes getting on the plane with his ticket. Sat in the baggage room and talks about his suitcase for forever. Mentions the porters directly. Describes the train as very tight and people were just milling around with no regard for one another, saves a child from falling. then gets on a river boat to jersey city and describes how cramped it was, and gets passed by steamers which were way better and faster. Describes getting off the boat as a calamity in which people stampeded out of the boat, a child lost her family, a child was hit under the stampede, and many kept going for fear including stevenson. Even once they got there there was no waiting room or refreshment room and the cars were locked so they had to wait on the platform. Threw 4 of the oranges under the cars and people literally ran to go get them from under it. The cars were wet and people were yelling at him to move. the next day he woke up no where near a station and describes the beautiful planes that looked like france and england, but were unique and special in their own way like the sky. Mentions that there were no meals all day and he was too slow to get to the coffee counter. Describes the atmosphere as NOBEL and beautiful and and how it smells f woods, rivers and earth. Describes the names as beautiful (the names of the states). Then arrives in pittsburge and was watching a dutch widow and he children. Meets a Porter and describes him and his first meal as amazing and very polite. He refused the offer of a tip though and talked a lot. He still tipped him. Some stuff about an indian portrayer who turned out to be a nromal guy. Ohio is not he had pictured it rich and various and that there were many good things about it, but that there were bad things too; cold, malaria, mists. Met the dutch widow. She was happy to ask him to buy fruit and candies for her kids, carry her stuff, and have him sleep on the floor so she could have his seat. She told him about her whole life. Told him about her late husband, fortune, cost of housekeeping, hopes, prospects, and that she liked this man Mr. Z. She was not a talker, but liked to be prompted and would tell all the stories of her past. She didn’t like him though. Reached Chicago! Thought it was create and gloomy and then was in a 3rd class waiting room with a bad dinner. Was very tired in chicago and met a somewhat drunk german gnetlement who tried to keep up with him. He talked about pickpockets and gabbled all night. Mad german man. Thursday – had a hearty breakfast at burlington on the way to mississippi. at creaston, met a drunk man who was aggressively friendly which was normal on trains i guess but he got thrown out and everyone laughed in the cars, and they were all speaking english which made him feel foreign. Made it to council bluffs and waited. Went to the union pacific hotel. There he struggles with the slang of american language and gets in a fight with the black hotel worker who did not understand what he was wanting. Then the guy tells him he just needs a drink. and they got back on the train where an official is calling up names, where one train car is for women and children (and families), and a second for men travelling alone, and a third for the chinese. describes the cramped cars of the union pacific. official (matchmaker) introduced couples because he wanted to keep them happy as possible for his pockets (people having to share a bed). Ended up joining iwth a penssylvania dutchman after being rejected by another guy. Chinamens car was closes to the boiler because of the heat, and while people mixed in the other 2 cars, the lone men car was basically only lone men. Lol gotee beard. Talks about the news boys who brought books, newspapers, cigars, food, coffee, ect. They had funny nicknames and describes the meals on the train and also off the train. Conductors didnt respond to questions. The importance of a newsboy in making you feel welcome and nice. One kid said he looked like “he was on deaths door” LOLLLL. and another gave him a pear and some newspapers because he looked sick. Compares the plans of nebraska to sea. also things that it looks like a billiard board and very flat. also flower bed. Loud grasshoppers. Reflects on those that had to cross the wilderness on foot with oxen. Also reflects on who must live in this place (the plains) i.e they’re cut off from much of society and can go 5 miles without seeing anything. Talks abou tthe nebraskan settler. A woman he saw that was totally content and was very pretty. again talks about the billiard board. Crosses the north platte. Met an asshole guy who yelled at someone asking to pass the milk. The dester of wyoming. longs for the black kills of wyoming, ALSO says god forsaken land. Was sick for a ton of the ride. talks about the sleepers and how people slept like they were dead or stretched their arms out like children or groaned and murmered in their sleep. Explains that the train was the one peice of life in a dead land. Mentions savage tribes, gold cities, desert, chinese pirates, ruffians, and gambling. Says its not troy, its only homer. all the things to fear – indians, hunger, thirst, ect. Describes a story where this guy homer was attacked by indians, escaped, found his friend jerry, and then ate flour. then caught up with the train and got back. Swaps trains from union pacific to central pacific. There was a man who had epileptic seizures. Reading the testiments. All of these american born. SANDY HOOK? El dorado. Come back. Talks about race relations between white and chinese people. Compares them to european women. Says that they were wayy cleaner than the white people. They say that theyre dumb and theives and he reflectst hat used to be the irish. He respects the chinese and their development in civilization and the great wall. They also didnt like british people and he feels sad for the indians who have been insulted, invaded, and hunted by ruffianly differs. Mentions the eviction of the cherokees. and the way that they were treated. Ate in nevada. atlks about the currencies of the world. Also mentions the alkali sands. Some guy thinks hes a musician and tries to get him to play at his theater. Also mentions a snowshed and how he saw the pin-forested ravine and his heart leaped at this he praised god. and saw the mining camps and forests. He cried. Positive experience on the whole.
Robert Louis Stephenson, “The Amateur Emigrant (1893)
GOLD RUSH (cali)
1849
MEXICAN CESSION of____
1848
Isabella Bird wrote in…
1873
What was one of the first and most famous pullman cars?
Pioneer, emerged from the shed in 1865
When was the transcontinental railroad finished?
1869
Where did the central pacific railroad meet?
Promotory Point, Utah
Where did Central pacific railroad start?
Sacremento, CA
Where did the Union pacific begin?
Council bluffs, IA
AMERICA (SLAVERY UNDEMOCRATIC, CAPRICIOUS, VAGUE WOMEN OF COLOR, NO AMUSEMENT, JURY DUTY): Talks about the consistuion and the social contract theory and how it is unjust to remove an entire sect of the people from the process. Explains that the only way to preserve the sacred will is the voice of the majority. “human wisdom has not found any other scheme” and indicates that it is an antique usurpation of human rights. Indicates that it is antidemocratic to do so. Also indicates that ruling the black people without their consent is bad. Indicates that the arguments from those who disagree are very bad. Talks about how they go to church and how theyre shut out due to their race and how they accept seperate schools, although all of the children suffer. Especially the black children due to the lack of schools. Railway – capriciousness. Discusses various laws in various states for segregation. Woman of color got damages for being forced to accept inferior accomodations. Mentions the jim crow car. They had to change cars in satates. White passengers weren’t excluded from the black passengers cars. Talks about the lady like lady who was thrown out. Indicatse that she won some damages but not enough. and that it would have been far worse recieved if it had been a white lady. Indicates that they are arbatrary distinctions. No place where a person of color can catch a hastee meal. no place of amusement for black people can buy anything but a second, third or fourth class accommadation. Ladies, Gentlement, and Colored wiatiing rooms. Its a contradiction with equal rights. Talks about the differences in jury duty for the both and how there is little to no warrant for the race distinction. Why can there not be a single trustworthy black juror of 6 mil?
George Washington Cable, “The Silent South”, 1885
AMERICA (POST SLAVERY AMERICA OVERVIEW – IDA B WELLS – GREAT MIGRATION – WOMEN ON TRAINS): 1865-1900 accelerated settlement and exploitation of whole US. Southern railroads destroyed by sherman. Talks about how the north invested and basically picked them all up. Mostly for stock manipulation though. Talks about how southern railraods were largely built with african labor by black convicts caught on bogus charges. Eipidemics, malnutrition, exhausttion led to a high death rate (malaria). John henry was a legend for strength and endurance. many laborers died. and the treatement was probably worse than slavery because they weren’t considered property anymore. Free black workers helped to run the southern railroads and were excluded from all white brotherhoods. Main job: pullman porter which formed to white ideas about black servility, obediance, and natural inferiority. Mentions pullman outpaced rivals with palace cars. He used mostly house slaves because they could be disregarded as parts of the furnishings (is citing Larry Tye here). They were severly underpaid and relied on tips. It was one of the best jobs though (lists people who became important after (langston hughes). For 20 years railroads racially integrated until segregation began. Traveling was significant to formed slaves. Talks about Ida B. Wells, and her forcibly removed from the railroad. Keeping the railroads seperate but equal was a headache for the railraod companies because they needed more cars on each train. THey would say racist shit to porters. They were more afraid of crackers though who would kill them like a conductor and vigilance committees. talks specifically about booker T. washington and how he rode with white pullmans because he argued for black acceptance of segregation. Segregation laws really only applied to balck people though. TEST CASE: plessy v ferguson. Also man hunt for a lynching (apparently killed a young white girl in paris). Illinois central was the overground railraod for slaverys grand children. and indicates how the pullman porters smuggled papers from chicago to the deep south to convince people to do the GREAT MIGRATION. Discusses men v womens roles during this time (victorian era). Womens books, dark colors, look for older ladies to help. Suspicious travelers and also didn’t care about people around them. “good samaritan woman” – rose of dutchers coolly – scary conductor messes with her. women backed their own lunches, changed and brushed their hair behind curtans. Victorian were less delicate than reality , and began to be more proactive in the following decades. I.e Lily bart trying to seduce a rich guy. Railroads wanted to be attractive to women too so they would decorate to impress. Nellie Bly went on a round-the-world trip and did it the fastest, 72 days after she left new york. Pheobie snow (fictional character) to sell the lackawanna and western railroad and wore a white dress to show that there was not so much smoke and tha tit was totally safe (clean burning coal). Emma Goldsman. Solo traveled many times and travels through the mountains and engineering restored her faith in humanity. More women worked for the railraods during WW1.
Allitt, “Pride and Progress on the Railroads”
When was the berlin conference?
1884
AFRICA (ARMOURED TRAIN, FROM I PERSPECTIVE, BOERS, PRISONER, ESCAPE): Boers invaded Natal. Talks about the armoured train and the british in ladysmith. Was a journalist but really in love iwth adventure. Talks about his boat trip in which he was constantly sick and sea-sick. Also mentions how vulnerable an armered train is. Talks baout how it derailed and he quickly took control to try and get the train back on. Gets the train conductor to listen to him and try to get the train back on but it was in a T shaped position and it just wasn’t workering that well. Eventually he tries to go back to help his captain but gets captured by General Botha after realizing he had no weapon and nothing he could do. He was captured in 1899. Later, he had a lunch with botha when he was asking for some loan or assistence. Tlkas about how close they were and how often they talked. They also warned each other when things are dangerous. Smuts got the telegram and that stopped general botha from getting on a german ship and made it to pretoria just intime for war to break out. Churchill was secretyary of state for war when he went to england for the last time and he put his own hands on his car. He was happy that he was a prisoner because he had not been a coward but he would not be a prisoner for forever so he started to plan to escape. Thinks hes going to die because they take him apart because he was clearly violating his part as purely a civilian journalist. Mad he was missing all the time in war. Escaped less than a month later. Hated being a prisoner and so improved conditions for prisoners. They were transported to the heart of pretoria in State model schools. Carefully studied their guard tents. At firs they planned a big escape where they take the whole town ebcause so many were angry but the closest british army was so far away that what came after wouldnt make any sense (talks about Zarps). He escapes by going into the circular office and climbed over the wall when the guards backs were turned, but he got stuck in the ornamental metal-work and egentuall ran away. He tried to wait for the comrades but they couldn’t and he had to go alone. He ran through the streets and sat in the streets because no one even knew he was gone. His plan was to find the delgoa bay railway and follow it to the portugese colony hunreds of biles away. He boarded a rail and hid with the empty coal sacks and slept for a while, hoping it was the delgoa bay railway. He hid in the forest and ate a slab of chocolate. Carefully wathced the railways so that he could get on another train to portugese territory but the trains didnt work at night! He started just following the track at night. He then followed the lights of fires to see if they were the fires of a Kaffir Kraal who he had heard were friendly to the british. He found them and he knocked and said that he had an accident and needed help. The guy didnt believe him and he told the truth and he was the only guy who was sympathetic to the british for miles (Mr. John Howard). He gave him a gun, some food, and helped him to get out by hiding him in a truck then moved onto a regular train and went on the journey for all the way through. Saw the uniforms of portugese officials and ran to the british consul where he got shelter and became a hero. k2 his political career.
Winston Churchill, “My Early Life”, (1930)
When was the boer war
1899-1902
