Bound by Steel and Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960
Bound by Steel and Stone analyzes the Colorado-Kansas Railway through the economic enterprise in the American West in the decades after the supposed 1890 closing of the frontier. In it, J. Bradford Bowers weaves a tale of reinvention against the backdrop of the newly settled West, showing how the railway survived in one form or another for nearly fifty years, overcoming competition from other railroads, a limited revenue base, and even more limited capital financing.
 
Offering the Colorado-Kansas Railway as an example of how shortline railroads helped to integrate the rural landscape with the larger urban and economic world, Bowers reveals the constant adaptations driven by changing economic forces and conditions. He puts the railway in context of the wider environmental and political landscapes, the growing quarrying and mining business, the expansion of agriculture and irrigation, Progressive-era political reforms, and land development. In the new frontier of enterprise in the early twentieth-century American West, the railroad highlights the successes and failures of the men inspired to pursue these new opportunities as well as the story of one woman who held these fragile industries together well into the second half of the twentieth century.
 
Bound by Steel and Stone is an insightful addition to the history of industrialization and economic development in Colorado and the American West.
 
1139090202
Bound by Steel and Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960
Bound by Steel and Stone analyzes the Colorado-Kansas Railway through the economic enterprise in the American West in the decades after the supposed 1890 closing of the frontier. In it, J. Bradford Bowers weaves a tale of reinvention against the backdrop of the newly settled West, showing how the railway survived in one form or another for nearly fifty years, overcoming competition from other railroads, a limited revenue base, and even more limited capital financing.
 
Offering the Colorado-Kansas Railway as an example of how shortline railroads helped to integrate the rural landscape with the larger urban and economic world, Bowers reveals the constant adaptations driven by changing economic forces and conditions. He puts the railway in context of the wider environmental and political landscapes, the growing quarrying and mining business, the expansion of agriculture and irrigation, Progressive-era political reforms, and land development. In the new frontier of enterprise in the early twentieth-century American West, the railroad highlights the successes and failures of the men inspired to pursue these new opportunities as well as the story of one woman who held these fragile industries together well into the second half of the twentieth century.
 
Bound by Steel and Stone is an insightful addition to the history of industrialization and economic development in Colorado and the American West.
 
32.95 In Stock
Bound by Steel and Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960

Bound by Steel and Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960

by J. Bradford Bowers
Bound by Steel and Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960

Bound by Steel and Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960

by J. Bradford Bowers

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Overview

Bound by Steel and Stone analyzes the Colorado-Kansas Railway through the economic enterprise in the American West in the decades after the supposed 1890 closing of the frontier. In it, J. Bradford Bowers weaves a tale of reinvention against the backdrop of the newly settled West, showing how the railway survived in one form or another for nearly fifty years, overcoming competition from other railroads, a limited revenue base, and even more limited capital financing.
 
Offering the Colorado-Kansas Railway as an example of how shortline railroads helped to integrate the rural landscape with the larger urban and economic world, Bowers reveals the constant adaptations driven by changing economic forces and conditions. He puts the railway in context of the wider environmental and political landscapes, the growing quarrying and mining business, the expansion of agriculture and irrigation, Progressive-era political reforms, and land development. In the new frontier of enterprise in the early twentieth-century American West, the railroad highlights the successes and failures of the men inspired to pursue these new opportunities as well as the story of one woman who held these fragile industries together well into the second half of the twentieth century.
 
Bound by Steel and Stone is an insightful addition to the history of industrialization and economic development in Colorado and the American West.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781646423491
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Publication date: 06/13/2022
Series: Timberline Books
Pages: 306
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

J. Bradford Bowers teaches history at Pueblo Community College. Bound by Steel and Stone is his first book.
 

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Foreword Stephen Leonard xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 3

Part I The Wild West Frontier of Enterprise

1 Progressive Era Reform and "The Pueblo Road" 19

2 Construction and the Fight for the Franchise Begin 28

3 Boss Fight 39

4 Troubles Continue 51

5 The Colorado-Kansas Railway 60

Part II Economic Development in the Great American Desert

6 Connecting Tracks: Pueblo, Stone City, and the Railroad 73

7 Tales of the Teller Cousins 83

8 Dam Troubles 90

9 Geo. H. Paul, Boy Wonder 99

10 "Land of Sunshine, Health, and Opportunity" 106

Part III People of Stone and Clay

11 Geology, Geography, and the Town 123

12 The People of Stone City 137

13 Quarrying and Clay Mining: Business as Usual 144

Part IV Silk Stockings and Steel Bails

14 My Friend Irma 163

15 The Depression Years 171

16 The Colorado Railroad, Inc. 181

17 End of the Line 191

18 The Frontier Stabilized: Success from Failure 201

Appendix A Colorado-Kansas Railway Historical Roster 209

Appendix B Colorado-Kansas Railway Engineering Notes from the ICC 1919 Valuation 213

Notes 217

Bibliography 263

Index 275

About the Author 285

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