From The River To The Sea: The Untold Story Of The Railroad War That Made The West

  • Author: John Sedgwick
  • Narrator: John Bedford Lloyd
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Duration: 10:39:49
preview
Try it Now Firm without compromise. Cancel whenever you want.

Synopsis

A sweeping and lively history of one of the most dramatic stories never told—of the greatest railroad war of all time, fought by the daring leaders of the Santa Fe and the Rio Grande to seize, control, and create the American West.

It is difficult to imagine now, but for all of its cloudy peaks and gorgeous coastline, the American West might have been barren tundra as far as most Americans knew well into the 19th century. While gauzy advertising promotions of the West as a paradise on earth intrigued citizens in the East and Midwest, many believed the journey too hazardous to be worthwhile—until 1869, when the first transcontinental railroad changed the face of transportation.

Railroad companies soon became the rulers of western expansion, choosing routes, creating brand-new railroad towns, and building up remote settlements like Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Diego, and El Paso into proper cities. But thinning federal grants left the routes incomplete, an opportunity that two brash new railroad men, armed with private investments and determination to build an empire across the Southwest clear to the Pacific, soon seized, leading to the greatest railroad war in American history.

In From the River to the Sea, bestselling author John Sedgwick recounts, in vivid and thrilling detail, the decade-long fight between General William J. Palmer, the Civil War hero leading the “little family” of his Rio Grande, coming down from Denver, hoping to showcase the majesty of the Rockies, and William Barstow Strong, the hard-nosed manager of the corporate-minded Santa Fe, venturing west from Kansas. What begins as an accidental rivalry when the two lines cross in Colorado soon evolves into an all-out battle as each man tries to outdo the other—claiming exclusive routes through mountains, narrow passes, and the richest silver mines in the world; enlisting private armies to protect their land and lawyers to find loopholes; dispatching spies to gain information; and even using the power of the press and incurring the wrath of the God-like Robber Baron Jay Gould—to emerge victorious. By the end of the century, one man will fade into anonymity and disgrace. The other will achieve unparalleled success—and in the process, transform a sleepy backwater of thirty thousand called “Los Angeles” into a booming metropolis that will forever change the United States.

Filled with colorful characters and high drama, told at the speed of a locomotive, From the River to the Sea is an unforgettable piece of American history—and one of the last great untold tales of the Wild West.

Chapters

  • 001 FromTheRiverToTheSea Open

    Duration: 34s
  • 002 FromTheRiverToTheSea Dedication

  • 003 FromTheRiverToTheSea Epigraph

    Duration: 18s
  • 004 FromTheRiverToTheSea Prologue ATaleOfTwoCities

    Duration: 06min
  • 005 FromTheRiverToTheSea Introduction AVeryPersonalWar

    Duration: 32min
  • 006 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter1 OnTheTrainToElMoro

    Duration: 14min
  • 007 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter2 TheWildWest

    Duration: 40min
  • 008 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter3 BewareThePrarieLilies

    Duration: 22min
  • 009 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter4 TheGrid

    Duration: 14min
  • 010 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter5 WhereToGo

    Duration: 30min
  • 011 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 ChapterSeekingUncleDick

    Duration: 10min
  • 012 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter7 SantaFeInc

    Duration: 25min
  • 013 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter8 EnterTheQueen

    Duration: 47min
  • 014 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part1 Chapter9 TheBattleIsJoined

    Duration: 27min
  • 015 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part2 Chapter10 PreciousMetals

    Duration: 18min
  • 016 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part2 Chapter11 AGameOfBluff

    Duration: 13min
  • 017 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part2 Chapter12 Haw

    Duration: 17min
  • 018 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part2 Chapter13 TheDead-line

    Duration: 23min
  • 019 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part2 Chapter14 ThisMeansWar

    Duration: 21min
  • 020 FromTheRiverToTheSea Part2 Chapter15 BadMen

    Duration: 24min
page 1 from 2