Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930 First Edition

by Richard J. Orsi (Author)

14 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0520251649

ISBN-10: 0520251644

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The only major U.S. railroad to be operated by westerners and the only railroad built from west to east, the Southern Pacific acquired a unique history and character. It also acquired a reputation, especially in California, as a railroad that people loved to hate. This magisterial history tells the full story of the Southern Pacific for the first time, shattering myths about the company that have prevailed to this day. A landmark account, Sunset Limited explores the railroad's development and influence―especially as it affected land settlement, agriculture, water policy, and the environment―and offers a new perspective on the tremendous, often surprising, role the company played in shaping the American West.

Based on his unprecedented and extensive research into the company's historical archives, Richard Orsi finds that, contrary to conventional understanding, the Southern Pacific Company identified its corporate well-being with population growth and social and economic development in the railroad's hinterland. As he traces the complex and shifting intersections between corporate and public interest, Orsi documents the railroad's little-known promotion of land distribution, small-scale farming, scientific agriculture, and less wasteful environmental practices and policies―including water conservation and wilderness and recreational parklands preservation.

Meticulously researched, lucidly written, and judiciously balanced, Sunset Limited opens a new window onto the American West in a crucial phase of its development and will forever change our perceptions of one of the largest and most important western corporations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sunset Limited will undoubtedly assume a prominent and enduring place among the essential histories of . . . the American West.”

― American Studies Journal Published On: 2010-07-14

From the Inside Flap

"An extraordinary book by a master historian! Orsi demonstrates that the Southern Pacific was not simply a predatory corporation obsessed with maximizing its profits and political power; it had a strong sense of the public good and a devotion to building stable, prosperous communities. This superb book should be required reading for all historians of the West, business, and the environment."--Donald J. Pisani, author of Water and American Government

"This deep and extensive examination of the Southern Pacific's development activities in California will encourage readers to look beyond the overblown rhetoric of the railroad's many political enemies and see afresh its many positive economic accomplishments as it worked to build the Twentieth-Century West. Orsi's presentation is as luminous as it is impressive"--Carlos Schwantes, author of Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth Century West

"This brilliantly researched and beautifully written study of one of America's greatest railroads offers wonderful insights into both transportation and Western history. Orsi places the early history of the Southern Pacific Railroad in proper focus by skillfully untangling the long-standing Octopus myth. This work deserves to be called a landmark in the field."--H. Roger Grant, author of Follow the Flag: A History of the Wabash Railroad Company

"Sunset Limited illuminates not only the workings and ambitions of the Southern Pacific railroad but teaches us a great deal about the late nineteenth and early twentieth century American West as well. This is a wonderful scholarly study: remarkably thorough, ambitious, and gracefully rendered."--William Deverell, author of Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910

From the Back Cover

"An extraordinary book by a master historian! Orsi demonstrates that the Southern Pacific was not simply a predatory corporation obsessed with maximizing its profits and political power; it had a strong sense of the public good and a devotion to building stable, prosperous communities. This superb book should be required reading for all historians of the West, business, and the environment."―Donald J. Pisani, author of Water and American Government

“This deep and extensive examination of the Southern Pacific's development activities in California will encourage readers to look beyond the overblown rhetoric of the railroad's many political enemies and see afresh its many positive economic accomplishments as it worked to build the Twentieth-Century West. Orsi’s presentation is as luminous as it is impressive”―Carlos Schwantes, author of Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth Century West

“This brilliantly researched and beautifully written study of one of America's greatest railroads offers wonderful insights into both transportation and Western history. Orsi places the early history of the Southern Pacific Railroad in proper focus by skillfully untangling the long-standing Octopus myth. This work deserves to be called a landmark in the field.”―H. Roger Grant, author of Follow the Flag: A History of the Wabash Railroad Company

"Sunset Limited illuminates not only the workings and ambitions of the Southern Pacific railroad but teaches us a great deal about the late nineteenth and early twentieth century American West as well. This is a wonderful scholarly study: remarkably thorough, ambitious, and gracefully rendered."―William Deverell, author of Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910

About the Author

Richard Orsi is Professor Emeritus of History at California State University, Hayward, coauthor of The Elusive Eden: A New History of California (third edition, 2002), and editor of the California History Sesquicentennial Series.

Publisher : University of California Press; First edition (February 6, 2007)
Language: : English
Paperback : 637 pages
ISBN-10 : 0520251644
ISBN-13 : 978-0520251649
Item Weight : 2.1 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #923,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #527 in History of Railroads
- #4,521 in United States History (Books)
- #25,260 in U.S. State & Local History

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Kindle Customer

Not your standard Railroad History book

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2015

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This is not your standard Railroad History book full of back stabbing back room deals and Robber Barons stealing pennies from the poor. It tries to be a more balanced (maybe overly balanced) account of the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad during it's heyday from the 1860's through approx. 1930. What this book does do is go into great detail on how the Southern Pacific (or SP) managed it's land and resources and how that management had a very large effect on the land and resources (such as farming / water / timber / ranching ) all over the far west/southwest on property owned by the SP, the general public, and even the federal government and the governments of the states that the SP operated in (CA/NV/UT/OR/AZ/MN/TX/LA). And while there are a few photos and maps in the book, this book is much more about how railroad policies were created and put into action, instead of going over the histories of named passenger trains and and the rise and fall the railroad industry. So if you are looking for a book full of passenger train photos, maps, car diagrams, and route maps, this is not the book for you, however if you want to look behind the curtain and see how a railroad operates, and have a historian who will do the hard work of going through archives that in many cases has been seldom if ever used and give a heretofore unknown look at info, and to give a more honest look as a railroad that has been the bane of progressives since the 1870's

4 people found this helpful

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S. Pactor

All Hail the S & P!

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2005

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This actually could have been a three star review, but I have to give credit to the thuroughness of the scholarship, the excellent photographs and the superb 200+ end notes, which are a mini-book in themselves.

Orsi's book is "revisionist" if it is proper to call a thesis that glorifies a massive American corporation "revisionist". I suppose that it qualifies if one is taking the scholarship of major American and French universities from the sixties onward as the standard.

Simply put, Orsi's goal is to set the record straight about the Southern Pacific. No "Octopus" in his eyes, the Southern Pacific was an important innovator in the area of agriculture, conservation and scientific forestry. Indeed, without the Southern Pacific, California and the west as we know it would not have been possible.

Aside from rewriting bits of history from the railroad's perspective, Orsi's main scholarly contribution is his access to the Southern Pacific's own corporate records. Certainly this is an approach that gives a more complicated picture of the corporations motives and morals then the simplistic "Octopus" portrait of Frank Norris.

Orsi also has access to better statistics then scholars operating in the past had (i.e. the railroad's internal statistics), so that allows him to fairly castigate those who have painted an unrealistic portrait of, say, the size of the Southern Pacific's land grants.

Although I am sympathetic to his attempt to rehabilitate the image of the Southern Pacific, I found some of the assertions regarding the tremendous difficulties the S & P had in carrying out its good intentions hard to take. If one was to rely on Orsi's book as one's only source, you might believe that the Southern Pacific was a money losing venture, operated out of sheer philanthropy of the "Big Four".

I'm serious about that comment: There is no mention about the tremendous personal fortunes of Stanford, Huntington and Co., let alone any discussion of the profit of the railroad as a whole. On the other hand, Orsi goes out of his way to demonstrate expenditures the railroad made in support of the common good.

Of course, I can hear the authorial response: Everyone already knows about the money that was made, I'm trying to fill in the stuff that everyone doesn't know.

Still, one example: The S & P operated the Pacific Land Company, which operated at the behest of the Big Four by subdividing land for sale. Orsi says that there wasn't any record of how much money that Land Company made and says it's impossible to even determine how the land and profit was accounted for within the S & P. Is that so? I find it curious, as I found the curious the almost complete lack of (positive) financial data.

On the whole, I thought Orsi does a great job. However, I would have liked more balance, even if he is writing this book to even the score.

29 people found this helpful

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Peter T. Wolf

Orsi Gets it Right

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2005

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As an historian said about this book; "It should be required reading for those interested in the West, the environment and business". Indeed it should. Because more than just blowing away all the dis-information that the Southern Pacific suffered from for decades (and contributed to its collapse), this book provides excellent case studies of how industry, government, NGO's, and the Press cooperated on solving complex and politically charged problems. In fact it was amazing to me to see how well and patiently these disparate groups worked with each other. Much more so than today. There is a lesson here.

8 people found this helpful

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william dillinger

PR for southern pacific

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2019

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This book is nothing more than a long advertisement for the SP. Also fails to cover events after about 1920.

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Daniel R Biefeld

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2016

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Great read

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Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2016

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Thanks.

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Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2014

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Of things the public dont know.

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Too Cheap to Pay for Cable

Very Interesting, But Biased Toward SP

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2013

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This is a very well written and well researched book, but the author constantly tries to rebut longstanding critics of the Southern Pacific. The author focuses much of the book on the SP land and water policies. He spends less time on the rail line construction or development of the company. The author chose to end his history in the 1930s. A very interesting book if you want to know more about the SP helped develop the West.

3 people found this helpful

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Pages with related products. See and discover other items: california central coast, southern pacific railroad, us history 1930

Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930 First Edition

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