After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the rest of the country was up for grabs, and the race was on. The prize: a better, shorter, less snowy route through the corridors of the American Southwest, linking Los Angeles to Chicago. In Rival Rails, Borneman lays out in compelling detail the sectional rivalries, contested routes, political posturing, and ambitious business dealings that unfolded as an increasing number of lines pushed their way across the country.
Introduction: Railroad Battleground
Major Events in Building the Southwestern Transcontinental System
Chapter 3. An Interruption of War
Chapter 4. Transcontinental by Any Name
Chapter 5. The Santa Fe Joins the Fray
Chapter 6. Straight West from Denver
Chapter 7. “Why Is It We Have So Many Bitter Enemies?”
Chapter 10. Battle Royal for the Gorge
Chapter 11. Handshake at Deming
Chapter 13. Transcontinental at Last
Chapter 14. Battling for California
Chapter 16. To the Halls of Montezuma
Chapter 17. California for a Dollar
Chapter 18. Making the Markets
Chapter 19. Canyon Dreams and Schemes
Chapter 20. The Boom Goes Bust
Chapter 21. Still West from Denver
Chapter 23. Dueling Streamliners
Afterword: American Railroads in the Twenty-first Century