The American Railroad Network Book Review
The Effectiveness of Maps Before & After the Civil War
May 26, 2009
This book grew out of the concern to correct the “seriously misleading picture of the degree of physical integration of American railroads”. Why would anyone care or even how would the authors be sure of what the correct maps would look like? They would have to put a lot of research into the project and it is obvious that they did.
Getting the Information Right
The authors, George Taylor and Irene Neu, started out by focusing on the transportation problem of the mid to late nineteenth century. The United States expanded rapidly prior to the Civil War. In 1860, the United States was secondary in industry. The authors state that “American output of both products (pig iron and steel making) exceeded that of any country.” The writers went on to say that in 1860 that manufactured goods in the United States were less in value than the goods in Great Britain, France, and Germany. By 1890, the United surpassed the leading countries.
The reason for the increase in the value of goods was due to the “technological improvements of the rails, roadbed, motive power, and rolling stock, which came in rapid succession”.
Importance of Railroad Maps
The writers were also clear on the purpose of railroad maps and that they were improved on from decade to decade. The maps are found in various historical books and can be helpful to historians and researchers. However, Taylor and Neu explained that although the maps can be helpful, they are not always accurate.
The authors explained how maps tell stories and are a “simplified picture” of towns that are no longer here. They also explained that earlier maps showed the location of rail lines that were in operation and what lines they were connected to.
The goal of earlier mapmakers was to make maps as simple as possible, which caused important information to be lost.
Inconsistency in Mapmaking
The fact that there were no standardized way to track the location of the railroads caused inconsistencies. During the Civil War the trend to integrate the railroads were taking off, mostly due to the trading in the west. After the Civil War the rail, patterns were still considered disjointed in the United States and Canada.
From 1861 to 1890, the railroad line grew 160,000 miles. During the Civil War there were only 30,626 miles of rail line across the country. The growth of the rail line is obvious after reviewing railroad maps from 1890 and comparing them to maps from 1860.
The writers were thorough in their research and in the final pages of the book, list reference notes for each chapter.
Source:
Taylor, G.R. & Neu, I.D. The American Railroad Network. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.
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