Iron Road to the West: American Railroads in the 1850's (review)

188CIVIL WAR HISTORY City, and began a new life against tremendous odds. Initially helped by former Peace Democrats, Pryor laboriously made an eminent legal career. He gained cases including the Henry Ward Beecher adultery trial, theHaymarket defendents' appeal to theSupremeCourt, and early antitrust litigation. In the process, he became friends with such erstwhile enemies as Ben Butler, Daniel Sickles, and Winfield Scott Hancock. Meantime, Pryor functioned as a visible symbol of sectional reconciliation . He belittled the Confederacy, advocated black suffrage, and stressed reunion. To cap Pryor's amazing comeback, considering his background, Democratic Governor David Bennett Hill appointed him a judge on the state Court of Common Pleas, soon to be merged into the New York Supreme Court. On the bench, Pryor strove for the central theme that had dominated his life, defense of personal liberties. Despite the dramatic possibilities in Pryor's life, the book must be evaluated as well-intentioned but inadequate. Since the author does not compensate for the lack of Pryor's manuscript material and relies heavily on secondary works, particularly Mrs. Pryor's published memoirs, a reader senses him only second-hand. Equally questionable, the book suffers from over-long, tangential quotations which are often fillers. As a result, analysis is sacrificed and meanings imposed which the evidence does not support. Perhaps the book's major contribution lies in the reminder of Pryor's importance. On that basis, one hopes for a more scholarly study. University of AkronJerome Mushkat Iron Road to the West: American Railroads in the 1850's. By John F. Stover (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. Pp. 266. 14.95.) This short volume primarily describes the growth and character of the American railroad network from the 1840's to 1860. It contains a wealth of statistical data which enables thereader to grasp the extent of railroad operations. It uniquely provides a series ofvery short sketches regarding the establishment, character, and growth of the major railroad corporations which were in existence from 1828 to 1860. These summaries are categorized by state, region, and section in order to describe the growth and the nature of railroading within a geographical setting. The author maintains that American railroads gained considerable maturity during the 1850's and the Civil War which enabled them to experience a "golden age" during the industrial revolution of the late nineteenth century. Woven throughout the fabric of this volume is the story of the growth of the iron rails from a "scattering of short lines" along the East coast to "an iron network serving all of die states east of the Mississippi." Other interesting features relate the changes which took place in the BOOK REVIEWS189 development of engines and cars, in the construction ofrail-beds, and in the challenge of the rails to water-ways and other landways. The relation of the federal government to the railroads, the efforts of inventors, the role of industrialists, and the programs of government and railroad officials which were factors in rail growth are also described. The author concludes that, "no decade was more important in the history of American railroads than the antebellum 1850's." This new iron network "helped the national economy achieve a new orientation and posture" whereby "a new east-west trade . . . replaced the earlier north-south trade of the steamboats." Although several other factors influenced the Civil War alliance between West and North, this new railroad net between "the Mississippi and Pennsylvania was a major factor." Whether or not other decades were more important than the 1850's in the history of American railroads is an assertion which historians may find fruitful for further examination. Also the role of the railroad as a causal factor in cementing relations between the Old Northwest and the North needs a more detailed examination. Perhaps those economic realities of the emergence of a new agricultural-industrial-commerical society which produced an east-west railroad network were also those which produced the unity which existed between these sections. However, as a result of Dr. Stover's work no one can doubt the extent or the nature of the phenomenal railroad growth which occurred. The story of this growth as detailed by the author is presented...