The Railroad and the Canyon

ISBN-13: 9780882899862 / Angielski / Miękka / 1994 / 128 str.

Rudy J. Gerber

Opis

Exploration of the Grand Canyon has attracted
the attention of adventurers from Coronado to Roosevelt and captured the
imaginations of millions worldwide. In the early part of the twentieth century,
development of the canyon as a tourist destination, a source of mining
prospects, an artistic subject, and a geological wonder increased at tremendous
rates due to the linking of the Santa Fe railroad line with the canyon's edge
from Williams and Flagstaff.
Rudy J. Gerber's The Railroad and the Canyon is a historical
expedition into the events that led to the building of the railroad and its
impact on the canyon. From the first deadly attempts to run trains through the
canyon to the industries that sprouted up alongside its tracks, this story of
man's quest to conquer the canyon by train is both fascinating and
enlightening. Gerber introduces the famous figures from John Hance, whose
stagecoaches brought adventurous spectators to the rim; to Buckey O'Neill, who
convinced financiers to run the rails to his property; to Mary Jane Colter, the
architect whose work remains today as part of the national park grounds.
The race to the canyon was not without legal battles and dry spells for
tourism. This book tells how landowners battled for rights to the rails, how
the railroad marketed its canyon trips, how the hotels developed and grew, and
how roads and cars competed with the rails for carrying visitors to the canyon.
Included are also stories of the archeological finds along the tracks and
sights found along the guideposts of the trek.
Rudy J. Gerber has been a longtime college professor, lawyer, writer, and
explorer of the canyon lands. He currently sits as a judge on the Arizona State
Court of Appeals in Phoenix. Escaping from the city, he can be found at his
mountain cabin outside of Williams, still within earshot of the famed train
lines he has written this book about.