Name/Title
Last train to paradiseEntry/Object ID
2015.1.488Description
x, 272 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Last Train to Paradise is acclaimed novelist Les Standiford’s true account of the construction and demise of the Key West Railroad—one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell swoop by the strongest storm ever to hit U.S. shores.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [262]-264) and index.
In 1904, the brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler, partner to John D. Rockefeller and the true mastermind behind Standard Oil, concocted the dream of a railway connecting the island of Key West to the Florida mainland, crossing a staggering 153 miles of open ocean—an engineering challenge beyond even that of the Panama Canal.
The financiers considered the project and said, Unthinkable. The engineers pondered the problems and from all came one verdict, Impossible. . . .” But build it they did, and the railroad stood as a magnificent achievement for twenty-two years. Once dismissed as “Flagler’s Folly,” it was heralded as “the Eighth Wonder of the World”—until a will even greater than Flagler’s rose up in opposition. In 1935, a hurricane of exceptional force, which would be dubbed “the Storm of the Century,” swept through the tiny islands, killing some 700 residents and workmen and washing away all but one sixty-foot section of track, on which a 320,000-pound railroad engine stood and “gripped its rails as if the gravity of Jupiter were pressing upon it.” Standiford brings the full force and fury of this storm to terrifying life. (publisher description)
In spinning his saga of the railroad’s construction, Standiford immerses us in the treacherous world of the thousands of workers who beat their way through infested swamps, lived in fragile tent cities on barges anchored in the midst of daunting stretches of ocean, and suffered from a remarkable succession of three ominous hurricanes that killed many and washed away vast stretches of track. Steadfast through every setback, Flagler inspired a loyalty in his workers so strong that even after a hurricane dislodged one of the railroad’s massive pilings, casting doubt over the viability of the entire project, his engineers refused to be beaten. The question was no longer “Could it be done?” but “Can we make it to Key West on time?” to allow Flagler to ride the rails of his dream.
Last Train to Paradise celebrates this crowning achievement of Gilded Age ambition, a sweeping tale of the powerful forces of human ingenuity colliding with the even greater forces of nature’s wrath.
Library of Congress subject headings for this publication: Railroads Florida History, Flagler, Henry Morrison, 1830-1913, Florida East Coast Railway History
Contents: Author's Note ix -- Map of the Key West Extension xi -- 1. End of the Line 1. -- 2. The Road to Paradise 17 -- 3. Citizen Flagler 35 -- 4. Paradise Found 45 -- 5. Empire Building 53 -- 6. The City That Flagler Built 63 -- 7. The Stage Is Set 69 -- 8. The Eighth Wonder of the World 77 -- 9. Charting the Territories 85 -- 10. Jumping-Off Point 93 -- 11. A Surprise, the First of Many 113 -- 12. Nature's Fury 117 -- 13. Duly Noted 129 -- 14. On Toward Key West 137 -- 15. The Signature Bridge 143 -- 6. Seven Miles of Hell 153 -- 17. Learning Curve 169 -- 18. Railroad Builder Overboard 179 -- 19. Deep Bay 191 20. Wonder to Behold 201 -- 21. Failed 207 -- 22. Rolling On 215 -- 3. Storm of Storms 225
-- 24. A Fine, Improper Place 255 -- Acknowledgments 260 -- Selected Bibliography 262 --Index 265.Collection
LibraryLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
BookNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
Flagler, Henry Morrison, 1830-1913., Florida East Coast Railway -- History., Railroads -- Florida -- History.Publication Details
Author
Stanford, LesEdition
1st ed.Publisher
Crown PublishersPlace Published
* Untyped Place Published
New YorkCall No.
TF 24 .F6 S73 2002ISBN
0609607480LCCN
2001047565