i’m doing a report on theo here and was wondering if he has had any incounters with the building of railroads. i thought i herd once that he has but not sure. so thought some of you guys would no thanks for any responces in advanced!
In addition to TGindy’s excellent info, TR was instrumental in the construction of the Panama Canal, which had a heck of a railroad!! The mules still pull the ships through the locks, but it would be interesting to know where the rest of the railroad used to build the canal went.[;)]
He intervened with the Department of the Interior over a tussle between the Federal government and the Moffat Road over a right-of-way through Gore Canyon. You can find the details in Bob Griswold’s “Denver, Northwestern and Pacific.”
In book title “The Life and Legend of E.H.Harriman” by Maury Klein. Theodore and Harriman got into a big row about his ownership of Southern Pacific, with Dept of Justice bust it up.
TR spent some time in South Dakota before he got into politics. He may have had some experiences there that are not common knowledge, and would look good in a report. Look up a good biography of TR in your local library (public or maybe a college’s). TR is best known as a ‘trustbuster’ and helped push the Northern Securities case (1905) which involved the first attempt to create what we know as the Burlington Northern RR. TR was not just ‘anti-anything big’, he believed that the wealthy and influential class (business owners and managers - at the time more majority-stockholders were their own CEO) had an obligation to not take advantage of their position to block off other peoples’ hopes and dreams to succeed someday too.
When the Colorado River went wild and started flooding into the Salton Sink, now the Salton Sea T. R. told E. H. Harriman to go ahead and rebuild the dam that held back the Colorado and that the U S Government would reimburse the railroad. The railroad did this at its own expense. After years of wrangling the railroad got something like 10 cents back on the dollar.
Harriman was also very instrumental in helping aid San Francisco after the great earthquake of 1906 hit that city.
i’m a little confused on the trust busting part. is it possible for some one to put it as simple but as in depth as possible? lol that would be great thanks!!! :]
One or more of the locomotives from the Panama Canal construction went to the Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad, a 7-mile long road in the piney woods of east Texas connecting a sawmill company town to the SP. I rode behind one of the MC&SA steamers on a regularly-scheduled revenue mixed-train run in 1965. The entire loco roster of that little railroad was written up in Journal of Texas Shortline Railroads and Transportation.
This loco was probably in the MC&SA/ W.T. Carter & Brother Lumber Co. loco graveyard in 1969 when I visited it. I took pix but do not currently have them on my railimages where I can easily call them up…
And this loco was on the Eureka Spring and North Arkansas tourist railroad in the early 1990s.
Teddy also initiated the National Park Service and virtually initiated the conservation movement, in addition to negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese war, which won him a Nobel peace Prize, i believe. He was, perhaps, our greatest president for all the things listed on this thread. You can’t peg him as a liberal, though he busted some very abusive monopolies. Can’t label him a conservative, though he rebuilt the US navy and projected US power on a global level for the first time. Wish we had the likes of him today.
Some of the Panama Canal engines and rolling stock went to Alaska to help with construction of rail lines there. I think Teddy Roosevent was president when this authorization was passed by Congress.
An episode of Trains and Locomotives on RFD-TV about the Royal Gorge route in Colorado shows Teddy and his entourage standing in front of a steam engine at the site of the Hanging Bridge, but I don’t recall any mention of his having anything to do with the construction of that line.
The Sherman Act and the Elkins Act was very important legislation to reign in business that got too big for their britches, and targets in particular were big oil and railroads.
Bill Gates & Micro$oft got off very lightly a few years ago with an apx. 85% market share of desktops under their operating systems, and; that percentage is most likely a higher business domination than most of the businesses that were trust busting targets in the early 1900s such as Standard Oil.
P.S.: Railroad observation cars were just fine though to use for Presidential whistle-stop tours though. Do a search for a T.R. picture on one of his whistle stops.
I believe you may have mis-read your info. TR was climbing Mt. Marcy in the Adirondacks when a runner found him to notify him of McKinley’s being shot. He then rushed to the North Creek station, where the D&H had it’s fastest train at the time , steamed up and ready to rush him to Buffalo. That’s where and when he found out that he was President.
I hope I didn’t offend, but I grew up in that area, and since we Up-staters are always being upstaged by the City folk. To include having city folks come up and buy mountain property, just to treat the locals like foriegners, I try to always set the record straight. If you ever get the chance, ride the Upper Hudson River
I believe you may have mis-read your info. TR was climbing Mt. Marcy in the Adirondacks when a runner found him to notify him of McKinley’s being shot. He then rushed to the North Creek station, where the D&H had it’s fastest train at the time , steamed up and ready to rush him to Buffalo. That’s where and when he found out that he was President.
I hope I didn’t offend, but I grew up in that area, and since we Up-staters are always being upstaged by the City folk. To include having city folks come up and buy mountain property, just to treat the locals like foriegners, I try to always set the record straight. If you ever get the chance, ride the Upper Hudson River
BigHead, Be sure of your sources,as you can see there’s conflicting info coming from these posts. You may get extra credit if you quote your sources then do research to verify or discredit these sources. Its good your’e doing your report for school on railroad related stuff. That way you can work your hobby into what might be a boring subject and at the same time increase your knowledge. You might be amazed at the amount of U.S. history is based on railroad politics. Sometime take a look at the crooks who built the 1st Transcontinental RR.
Thanks “NYCfan” for catching the train station which I misread. The great thing about this forum is how everyone chips in to present the larger picture of the original thread’s question.