IRON GIANT

Okay, just kidding.  This post is not about the movie Iron Giant.  It is about the reading for Monday, "Iron Horse"  by Maury Klein.   However, my blog title does relate to the article, for the railroad industry was indeed the Iron Giant of its era.  As Klein states, "To 19th Century Americans, the locomotive was a wondrous machine, one which fired the loftiest visions of their private and national destinies"(18).   What this means to me is that the railroads were something much more than simple devices for transportation.  They represented something much greater, much more GIGANTIC than their physical form.  In this sense, the reading reminded me of our discussions first semester about American Indians.   Americans took the railroads, as they had taken the image of the American Indians, and viewed them not as they physically were, but rather as a representation of national hopes, ideals, fears, and destiny.   As abstract as Klein's claim sounds on the surface, I was struck by how true I found his assessment to be.  I remember reading books and autobiographies about the civil war era and hearing the narrators describe their fascination with the railroad, the excitement and hope for travel it generated, as well as the difficulties it posed for those who worked under the difficult work conditions on the lines.   Klein addresses both of these sentiments I had encountered before, and gives historical data to back up the claim that a sort of Railroad Fever was sweeping the nation, helping to transform America from an agricultural nation to one of industry, stiff business competition, unionized workers, and an interest in constant progression in technology.   I think that this energy which the railroads supplied 19th century Americans can be seen today in the competition to create energy-efficient transportation.   While we haven't quite reached the "perfection"  or even the realization of this goal, I can see energy-friendly transport being the next "railroad" of America, sweeping and changing not only the American landscape, but the American culture.