By Sherwood<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

Rail transport during the nineteenth century is generally understood on the macroscopic scale. In contrast, my web application closely analyzes a microcosm of the industry. The individual narratives of railway companies and routes in east Tennessee and north Georgia are crucial to achieve the level of detail that will hopefully distinguish my project from other historians’ work on the subject. Investigating these narratives involves untangling and isolating them from the macroscopic perspective, but unfortunately, details regarding the ownership, construction and operation of railroads are difficult to find. Why? One reason may be that railway owners apparently took little interest in documenting their business operations. The records of those who did have probably perished since. Furthermore, the railway network that emerged during this period actually consisted of hundreds of smaller lines, so keeping track of them would challenge even the most talented archivist. These narratives are mostly forgotten, but not altogether lost.<\/p>\n

Contemporary travel writing offers much in the absence of official documentation. In particular, Hill & Swayze’s Confederate States Rail-Road & Steam-Boat Guide <\/em>provides valuable information about the railroads of east Tennessee and north Georgia. Boasting \u201ctimetables, fares, connections and distances on all the railroads of he confederate states,\u201d Hill & Swayze’s <\/em>has proved necessary for charting routes with accuracy. [1]<\/a> It introduces the possibility of treating each station as its own waypoint, rather than connecting the origin and destination directly. Additionally, a \u201ccomplete guide to the principal hotels\u201d contained within Hill & Swayze’s<\/em> hints at the existence of a considerably sized travel industry within the region.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Historian and author Thomas D. Clark contextualizes Hill & Swayze’s <\/em>in his multivolume book, Travels in the Old South<\/em>. Having collected the journals of travelers who visited the American south during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Clark describes the evolution of the genre. First, he argues that the Age of Exploration invigorated travel writing. British missionaries and government officials authored the vast majority of travel guides during the colonial era. With rare exception, they visited only one or two colonies, likely due to insufficient transportation infrastructure. Most concerned themselves with the \u201csoil, climate, \u2026fauna and other resources\u201d of the New World, but waterways, the predecessors of railroads, drew particular interest as the most efficient means of transporting people and goods.[3]<\/a> Clark then describes how over the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, tourism became increasingly popular. Either drawn by the \u201cprospect of land investment\u201d and social experimentation abroad or driven by economic and social pressure at home, foreigners flocked to the American south.[4]<\/a> Hill & Swayze’s <\/em>reveals a network of transportation and lodging that resulted from this influx. The directory of hotels contained within Hill & Swayze’s <\/em>likely served to disguise advertisements, demonstrating that businesses predicated on travel were profitable enough to permeate both the advertising and printing industries. Finally, Travels in the Old South <\/em>explains that more advanced technology, including the steam engine, enabled travelers to go much further than their predecessors. A typical tour spanned from the eastern seaboard to the Ohio River valley and beyond. Hill & Swayze’s <\/em>demonstrates the extent to which infrastructure in the American south had improved by the nineteenth century, compared with that of the previous two hundred years. For example, the precisely calculated departure times and sheer number of stations listed on railroad timetables indicate the efficiency and ubiquity, respectively, of trains. While sailing required skilled crewmembers, a sturdy ship and amenable weather, traveling by rail was a fast, dependable and relatively inexpensive means of mass transit.<\/p>\n

An unlikely culprit may be primarily responsible for burying the individual narratives of specific railway companies and routes: historians themselves. They are guilty of having traditionally understood the process of railway expansion through an oversimplified archetype, arguing that the free market drove expansion\u2014 entrepreneurs contributed private capital, formed railroad companies and laid tracks that suited popular demand. Furthermore, historians have observed the social, economic and cultural ramifications of this transportation revolution almost exclusively on the national level. While these generalizations accurately describe most nineteenth-century railroads, contemporary travel writing, like Hill & Swayze’s<\/em>, better captures the complexity and variability of the industry.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> J. C. Swayze, Hill & Swayze’s Confederate States Rail-Road & Steam-Boat Guide <\/em>(Griffin, GA: Hill & Swayze, 1863), 1.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> J. C. Swayze, 2.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Thomas D. Clark, Travels in the Old South: A Bibliography<\/em>, vol. 2 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956), 33.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Thomas D. Clark. 33.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swayze, J. C. Hill & Swayze’s Confederate States Rail-Road & Steam-Boat Guide<\/em>. Griffin: Hill & Swayze, 1863.<\/p>\n

Clark, Thomas D. Travels in the Old South: A Bibliography<\/em>, vol. 2. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.<\/p>\n

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