Judging by the numerous books that cover what happened on May 10,1869, you might think that the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah, signified the only transcontinental railroad that mat-tered. But as author Walter Borneman shows in this compact and effective new book, plenty of fascinating action occurred after the Golden Spike. Distilling and interpreting a number of previous volumes on single railroads, Borneman shows how the two decades after 1869 might have been the most exciting in the annals of Western railroading. It's a tale of outsized personalities going to war - almost literally - to gain advantage as scores of new companies looked for better routes from the Midwest to California.
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