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The Story of the Santa Fe (1920)
Professor Glenn D. Bradley, 1884-1930, earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Michigan.
This book is a complete history of the Santa Fe Company from the time of its inception to the year 1887. The Santa Fe System ranks with the foremost of the transcontinental railroads, which lines have made possible the occupation and the retention of the entire great West. For without the efficient and rapid transportation which these splendid railways have provided, it is hardly conceivable that this Union of States as we know it could exist. Situated at a great distance from the older and more populous regions in the Missouri and Mississippi Valleys, that vast area beyond the Rocky Mountains, as well as the Pacific Coast, would almost inevitably have drifted away from the Union due to the mere force of sectionalism were it not for the tremendous cohesion which our Western railways have exerted.
The Santa Fe Railroad added an industrial empire to the United States. It has been mainly responsible for the colonizing, development and permanent occupancy of the greater portion of that vast region within the present limits of Kansas, Southern Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and much of California.
The book is replete with incidents of the frontier life of the early seventies in Kansas and Colorado. It includes the history of the Grand Canyon war; the efforts made by the Santa Fe towards colonization of land in the West; the difficulty in crossing the Rocky Mountains, and the numerous complications resulting from the efforts of the Santa Fe to obtain an outlet to the Pacific Coast. The vigorous expansion of the Santa Fe is also described.
The first chapters are devoted to a brief history of New Mexico prior to 1850. including a description of the origin of the Santa Fe Trail and its subsequent importance as a trade route between the Southwest and the Mississippi Valley.
Following the route of the famous old Santa Fe trail, this railroad has pushed steadily onward until today it is one of the world's greatest railroad systems. And the Santa Fe is great because of the imagination and prophetic foresight of a very few leaders. In fact the phenomenal success of this corporation is directly due to four men: Cyrus K. Holliday, the projector and founder of the enterprise; William B. Strong, an indomitable and far-sighted leader; Albert A. Robinson, one of the greatest civil engineers and railroad builders of the age, and Edward P. Ripley, who ably rounded out the ambitions of his predecessors, who welded the Santa Fe properties into a powerful and compact system, and who was one of the leading railway executives of the country.
CONTENTS I. The Old Santa Fe Trail II. Cyrus K. Holliday: The Man With A Big Idea III. The Beginnings Of A Great Railroad IV. The Railroad Frontier V. Colonizing The Prairies VI. Into The Rocky Mountains VII. The Opening Struggle For The Grand Canon VIII. The Grand Canon War Concluded IX. An Outlet To The Pacific X. Vigorous Expansion XI. A Dream Fulfilled XII. Source Materials
Other works of the author include: "Winning the Southwest" ''Pioneer Sketches," "Famous Landmarks Along the Trail" and "Early Days in Dodge City" "Builders of the Santa Fe," "Winning the Southwest" "The Story of the Pony Express"
This book originally published in 1920 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.