{"product_id":"2940013692053","title":"THE RAILROAD BUILDERS, A CHRONICLE OF THE WELDING OF THE STATES","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I.    A CENTURY OF RAILROAD BUILDING\u003cbr\u003e     II.   THE COMMODORE AND THE NEW YORK CENTRAL\u003cbr\u003e     III.  THE GREAT PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM\u003cbr\u003e     IV.   THE ERIE RAILROAD\u003cbr\u003e     V.    CROSSING THE APPALACHIAN RANGE\u003cbr\u003e     VI.   LINKING THE OCEANS\u003cbr\u003e     VII.  PENETRATING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\u003cbr\u003e     VIII. BUILDING ALONG THE SANTA FE TRAIL\u003cbr\u003e     IX.   THE GROWTH OF THE HILL LINES\u003cbr\u003e     X.    THE RAILROAD SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH\u003cbr\u003e     XI.   THE LIFE WORK OF EDWARD H. HARRIMAN\u003cbr\u003e     XII.  THE AMERICAN RAILROAD PROBLEM\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     BIBLIOGRAPHY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE RAILROAD BUILDERS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I. A CENTURY OF RAILROAD BUILDING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe United States as we know it today is largely the result of\u003cbr\u003emechanical inventions, and in particular of agricultural machinery and\u003cbr\u003ethe railroad. One transformed millions of acres of uncultivated land\u003cbr\u003einto fertile farms, while the other furnished the transportation which\u003cbr\u003ecarried the crops to distant markets. Before these inventions appeared,\u003cbr\u003eit is true, Americans had crossed the Alleghanies, reached the\u003cbr\u003eMississippi Valley, and had even penetrated to the Pacific coast; thus\u003cbr\u003ein a thousand years or so the United States might conceivably have\u003cbr\u003ebecome a far-reaching, straggling, loosely jointed Roman Empire,\u003cbr\u003edepending entirely upon its oceans, internal watercourses, and imperial\u003cbr\u003ehighways for such economic and political integrity as it might achieve.\u003cbr\u003eBut the great miracle of the nineteenth century--the building of a new\u003cbr\u003enation, reaching more than three thousand miles from sea to sea, giving\u003cbr\u003esustenance to more than one hundred million free people, and diffusing\u003cbr\u003eamong them the necessities and comforts of civilization to a greater\u003cbr\u003eextent than the world had ever known before is explained by the\u003cbr\u003edevelopment of harvesting machinery and of the railroad.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083149000944,"sku":"2940013692053","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013692053_p0.jpg?v=1763584048","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013692053","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}