Nothing like it in the world: the men who built the transcontinental railroad, 1863-1869
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Published:
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2005, c2000.
Format:
Book
Edition:
Simon & Schuster pbk. ed.
Physical Desc:
431 pages, [32] pages of plates : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Accelerated Reader:
IL: UG - BL: 8.5 - AR Pts: 28
Status:
Description
In this account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage, Stephen E. Ambrose offers a historical successor to his universally acclaimed Undaunted Courage, which recounted the explorations of the West by Lewis and Clark. Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad -- the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks. The Union had won the Civil War and slavery had been abolished, but Abraham Lincoln, who was an early and constant champion of railroads, would not live to see the great achievement. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat, comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies -- the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads -- against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. Locomotives, rails, and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West or lugged across the country to the Plains. This was the last great building project to be done mostly by hand: excavating dirt, cutting through ridges, filling gorges, blasting tunnels through mountains. At its peak, the workforce -- primarily Chinese on the Central Pacific, Irish on the Union Pacific -- approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as fifteen thousand workers on each line. The Union Pacific was led by Thomas "Doc" Durant, Oakes Ames, and Oliver Ames, with Grenville Dodge -- America's greatest railroad builder -- as chief engineer. The Central Pacific was led by California's "Big Four": Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, were latter-day Lewis and Clark types who led the way through the wilderness, living off buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope. In building a railroad, there is only one decisive spot -- the end of the track. Nothing like this great work had been seen in the world when the last spike, a golden one, was driven in at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific tracks were joined. Ambrose writes with power and eloquence about the brave men -- the famous and the unheralded, ordinary men doing the extraordinary -- who accomplished the spectacular feat that made the continent into a nation.
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Location
Call Number
Status
Branford/Blackstone Adult Nonfiction
385.0973 AMB
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New London Adult Non Fiction
385.0973 AMB
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More Details
Language:
English
ISBN:
0743203178, 9780743203173
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 8.5, 28 Points

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (p. 407-411) and index.
Study Program Information
Accelerated Reader AR,UG,8.5,28.0,54436.
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Ambrose, S. E. (20052000). Nothing like it in the world: the men who built the transcontinental railroad, 1863-1869. Simon & Schuster pbk. ed. New York, Simon & Schuster.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Ambrose, Stephen E. 20052000. Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869. New York, Simon & Schuster.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Ambrose, Stephen E, Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869. New York, Simon & Schuster, 20052000.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869. Simon & Schuster pbk. ed. New York, Simon & Schuster, 20052000.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
9be488cc-3bc5-17af-38ff-5f06c15bff71
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Record Information

Last Sierra Extract TimeMar 17, 2024 07:05:51 AM
Last File Modification TimeMar 17, 2024 07:06:14 AM
Last Grouped Work Modification TimeMar 27, 2024 10:42:36 AM

MARC Record

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24510|a Nothing like it in the world :|b the men who built the transcontinental railroad, 1863-1869 /|c Stephen E. Ambrose.
250 |a Simon & Schuster pbk. ed.
260 |a New York :|b Simon & Schuster,|c 2005, c2000.
300 |a 431 p., [32] p. of plates :|b ill., maps ;|c 24 cm.
504 |a Includes bibliographical references (p. 407-411) and index.
50500|g ch. 1.|t Picking the route 1830-1860 --|g ch. 2.|t Getting to California 1848-1859 --|g ch. 3.|t Birth of the Central Pacific 1860-1862 --|g ch. 4.|t Birth of the Union Pacific 1862-1864 --|g ch. 5.|t Judah and the elephant 1862-1864 --|g ch. 6.|t Laying out the Union Pacific line 1864-1865 --|g ch. 7.|t Central Pacific attacks the Sierra Nevada 1865 --|g ch. 8.|t Union Pacific across Nebraska 1866 --|g ch. 9.|t Central Pacific assaults the Sierra 1866 --|g ch. 10.|t Union Pacific to the Rocky Mountains 1867 --|g ch. 11.|t Central Pacific penetrates the summit 1867 --|g ch. 12.|t Union Pacific across Wyoming 1868 --|g ch. 13.|t Brigham Young and the Mormons make the grade 1868 --|g ch. 14.|t Central Pacific goes through Nevada 1868 --|g ch. 15.|t Railroads race into Utah January 1-April 10, 1869 --|g ch. 16.|t To the summit April 11-May 7, 1869 --|t Done May 8-10, 1869.
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61020|a Central Pacific Railroad Company|x History.
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