The arrival of railroads in the Gulf Southwest marked a turning point in America’s last frontier. Although the railroads were not the primary cause of westward expansion, they furnished the ways and means for hardy and courageous people, some from distant lands, to build and develop a vast new segment of a growing America.
Then Came the Railroads: The Century from Steam to Diesel in the Southwest tells the story of these railroads and the people who built and followed them. American Indians, the land, and even the elements were hostile to the railroad builders, who laid thousands of miles of shining rails from Kansas and Missouri to the Gulf and from the Mississippi to the Rockies.
Frontier settlers also faced hostile conditions, and they did not always see eye to eye with the railroads. But when faced with overwhelming odds, they joined forces and worked together to make the Southwest what it is today.
The road was not easy. The railroads were torn by internal strife, and settlers met seemingly insurmountable obstacles: droughts, floods, and economic depression. Railroads and settlers depended on each other for existence, and with that realization came the answer to coexistence—friendly cooperation.
