The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the StatesMoody, John
History
The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the States
Moody, John
Railroads -- United States -- History
misleading, contains valuable information about the development of the
Vanderbilt lines after 1880 and also about the financial vicissitudes
and rehabilitation of the many Morgan properties, such as the Southern
Railway, the modern Erie system, the Northern Pacific, the Reading, and
the Baltimore and Ohio.
Some of the railroad companies many years ago themselves published
histories of their lines, but most of these attempts were of little
value, as they were always too laudatory and one-sided and evidently
were usually written for political purposes. The best of this class of
railroad histories was a book issued by the Pennsylvania Railroad many
years ago, giving a record (largely statistical) of the growth and
development of its lines. But this book has been long out of print and
covers the period prior to 1885 only.
For original material on American railroad history, one must depend
almost entirely on financial and railroad periodicals and official and
state documents. By far the most valuable sources for all aspects of
railroad building and financing during the long period from 1830 to 1870
are the "American Railroad Journal" (1832-1871) and "Hunt's Merchant
Magazine" (1831-1870). Both of these periodicals are replete with
details of railroad building and growth. And for the period from 1870
to the present time the best authority is the "Commercial and
Financial Chronicle", with its various supplements. The story of modern
railroading is so intertwined with finance and banking that to get any
broad and complete view of the subject one must consider it largely
from the viewpoint of Wall Street. For facts regarding operation and
management of modern railroads, the "Railroad Age-Gazette" also
is extremely useful. By far the most valuable sources for railroad
statistics, railroad legislation, and all related facts, are the annual
reports and bulletins of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which
have been regularly issued since 1888. Many state commissions also have
issued volumes of value.
The best account of the origin of the Granger laws is contained in S.
J. Buck's "The Granger Movement" (1913). The beginnings of Federal
regulation are traced in L. H. Haney's "A Congressional History of
Railways in the United States, 1850-1887" (1910). The history of recent
railroad regulation by state and Federal legislation, and of court
decisions affecting the railroads, is clearly and succinctly told in
William Z. Ripley's "Railroads: Rates and Regulation" (1912), and in
Johnson and Van Metre's "Principles of Railroad Transportation" (1916).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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