Trains of the Old West


Book Description

The Central Pacific -- Trains across the Plains -- Railroading in Colorado -- Empires of the North -- Snow wars -- Wrecks and robberies.




The Wagon Train


Book Description

Filled with hopes and dreams, the first immigrants to the west loaded up their wagons and headed out to the frontier in search of a new life. Children will learn about the difficult journey by wagon train and how settlers arrived at their final destination.




The Old West's Infamous Train Robbers and Their Historic Heists


Book Description

What sort of person undertakes to rob a multi-ton train surging down a set of rails at high speed? For the Old West’s most famous outlaws, including Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Dalton Gang, and Black Jack Ketchum, it was as much about the thrill of the crime as the riches to be won, thumbing their noses at the authorities, and getting away with their crimes more often than not. These men, and at least one woman, were dare devils, rule breakers, adventurers, and rebels. In addition to their train robberies, they led colorful, dramatic, and dangerous lives. The Old West's Infamous Train Robbers and Their Historic Heists profiles sixteen noted train robbers (or train robbing gangs) along with the details of each their forty-seven hold-ups. The mechanics of each of their train robberies—planning, execution, and escape—are dissected and discussed. Pertinent background information relating to each outlaw/gang is included as well as what became of them following their train-robbery days.




Great Train Robberies of the Old West


Book Description

During the 1800s trains carried the nation's wealth throughout the east, but no one thought to rob a speeding train until 1866. In 1870 the first western train was robbed in Nevada and within hours a second train was robbed. Railroads made every alteration to their cars and changed every procedure they could imagine to thwart the robbers, but to no avail. Robbing trains became epidemic over the next five decades, even when the legislatures made train robbery a capital crime. A few of the hundreds of train robberies stand out as thrilling and dangerous affairs, and the greatest of these (15-20) are included in this book.




Nothing Like It In the World


Book Description

The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.




Cowboys of the Old West Coloring Book


Book Description

37 detailed illustrations, informative captions.




National Geographic the Old West


Book Description

"From Lewis and Clark's epic 1803 expedition to the showmanship of Buffalo Bill, the story of the American West is epic in scope, full of amazing tales of tragedy and triumph ... Illustrated with ... photographs and ... maps, [this book] is [a] ... history of a time and place that forever lives in legend"--




Big Book of the Old West to Color


Book Description

Cowboys, desperados, prospectors, and pioneers abound in this big book of coloring fun. Packed with captivating details, it features 118 full-page illustrations of dramatic historical events and real-life characters.




Orphan Trains


Book Description

"From 1850 to 1930 America witnessed a unique emigration and resettlement of at least 200,000 children and several thousand adults, primarily from the East Coast to the West. This 'placing out,' an attempt to find homes for the urban poor, was best known by the 'orphan trains' that carried the children. Holt carefully analyzes the system, initially instituted by the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853, tracking its imitators as well as the reasons for its creation and demise. She captures the children's perspective with the judicious use of oral histories, institutional records, and newspaper accounts. This well-written volume sheds new light on the multifaceted experience of children's immigration, changing concepts of welfare, and Western expansion. It is good, scholarly social history."—Library Journal




Cut and Assemble a Western Frontier Town


Book Description

Recreate the stirring days of the Old West with this authentically detailed replica of a 19th-century western town. The architectural details (false fronts, overhanging balconies, wooden ornamentation, etc.) are all charactersistic of western wood-frame buildings circa 1860-1880. A few of the models are in fact accurate copies of specific documented structures.