The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation's First Railroad, 1828-1853
After independence, the Appalachian Mountains just as imposingly barred the way of infant capitalism as they had, in the colonial era, formed political limits. And the impediment called forth construction schemes--of turnpikes, canals, then railroads--each favored in turn by the competing cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore. The latter city's financiers of the 1820s settled on the newfangled iron horse to connect their entrep{"}ot with the Ohio River valley, and here is a comprehensive account of the legendary B & O, which took 25 years to build across Maryland's rugged topography. Dilts recounts all aspects of surveying, civil engineering, steam locomotion, and labor. A major social undertaking, celebrated by civic pomp as various sections opened, the B & O was a reified metaphor for the age's idea of Progress. Anchored in sober fact, adorned by 80 photos of people, bridges, and tunnels, this is a railroad history that can't be bested in its special arena.Gilbert Taylor--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.