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sabaileyreads's review
5.0
my bookclub selection for the month - really enjoyable and informative - can't wait to drive that Overseas Highway with all of this new info in my brain. What a monumental undertaking the railroad was!
chelsea_not_chels's review
3.0
2021 reading challenge category: A past prompt; my selection is "A book mentioned in another book." This book was mentioned as one of the sources for [b:The Last Train to Key West|52777855|The Last Train to Key West (The Cuba Saga, #3)|Chanel Cleeton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572545317l/52777855._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73672680].
I have done the drive down the Florida Keys to Key West on the Overseas Highway, so this book intrigued me for that reason. I knew there had been a railroad--the station is still there in Key West and they have a touristy "Conch Train" that you can do a tour on that obviously plays on that history--but I didn't know much about it. After reading Chanel Cleeton's fictitious portrayal of the railroad and its demise, I wanted to read the nonfiction account.
Standiford is definitely a good writer, and his account of the building of the railroad is very detailed. Unfortunately, I felt a bit let down about the coverage of the demise. There's a bit of drama about the hurricane in the first chapter, but most of that is really more about Ernest Hemingway worrying about his boat, and then the rest of the destruction of the railroad is shoehorned into one chapter at the end, which was a bit disappointing. It was an engineering marvel that was destroyed abruptly, and it just felt like there was more that could have been said about that!
I have done the drive down the Florida Keys to Key West on the Overseas Highway, so this book intrigued me for that reason. I knew there had been a railroad--the station is still there in Key West and they have a touristy "Conch Train" that you can do a tour on that obviously plays on that history--but I didn't know much about it. After reading Chanel Cleeton's fictitious portrayal of the railroad and its demise, I wanted to read the nonfiction account.
Standiford is definitely a good writer, and his account of the building of the railroad is very detailed. Unfortunately, I felt a bit let down about the coverage of the demise. There's a bit of drama about the hurricane in the first chapter, but most of that is really more about Ernest Hemingway worrying about his boat, and then the rest of the destruction of the railroad is shoehorned into one chapter at the end, which was a bit disappointing. It was an engineering marvel that was destroyed abruptly, and it just felt like there was more that could have been said about that!
docvj89_gmail_com's review against another edition
4.0
I was especially interested in this book because I used to live in Daytona Beach and visited the city of Flagler occasionally. Henry Flagler was a very interesting (and rich) man. Unfortunately, his dream of the uses of a railroad to the Florida Keys was never realized.
The most interesting part of this book was the illustration of hurricane prediction technology in those days. They didn't have satellite prediction or hurricane hunters. The other very interesting part was how many times they rebuilt parts of the railroad after hurricanes came through. Each time, the railroad got stronger. But the final hurricane was more than anything could withstand.
I was amazed how many people don't realize that there used to be a railroad to the Florida Keys. I sure didn't before I read the book.
I most enjoyed the people stories in the book. The opening stories of Ernest Hemingway going to tie up his boat and the railroad engineer deciding to back the train down the track (while going to try to rescue people) so he could drive forward returning to Miami was fascinating.
The descriptions of the land and landmarks along the way through the keys was enlightening but didn't capture my interest as much as the people stories.
The most interesting part of this book was the illustration of hurricane prediction technology in those days. They didn't have satellite prediction or hurricane hunters. The other very interesting part was how many times they rebuilt parts of the railroad after hurricanes came through. Each time, the railroad got stronger. But the final hurricane was more than anything could withstand.
I was amazed how many people don't realize that there used to be a railroad to the Florida Keys. I sure didn't before I read the book.
I most enjoyed the people stories in the book. The opening stories of Ernest Hemingway going to tie up his boat and the railroad engineer deciding to back the train down the track (while going to try to rescue people) so he could drive forward returning to Miami was fascinating.
The descriptions of the land and landmarks along the way through the keys was enlightening but didn't capture my interest as much as the people stories.
jenwoosley's review
4.0
This was an interesting read. We seem to forget what a massive undertaking the construction of the overseas railroad was. I did, however, begin to doubt the validity of the book when the author described hurricane Andrew, specifically, that it felt to people in Coral Gables as little more than a bad overnight storm. While he is correct, the devastation was not as catastrophic as it was in places like Homestead and Cutler Ridge, it was far from just a strong storm. Unless, of course, I merely dreamed the night I spent on the University of Miami campus, directly across from the National Hurricane Center where they clocked winds at 150 before they lost their equipment on the roof. I suppose I must have imagined the non-stop swaying of the 3 story concrete block building that I was in. And I didn't see the car across the street that was now sitting on top of 2 other cars. I was born and raised in Florida and I had never experienced a simple storm such as that.
yooperann's review
3.0
I read this on the recommendation of a male friend, who is undoubtedly more interested in railroads and the golden age of capitalism than I am. But it's an amazing story I'd been totally unaware of, and the descriptions of hurricanes are more vivid than any photos I've ever seen.
coquina333's review
4.0
This was a good book, well written and very detailed in regards to the beginning of the Florida railroad and tourism. Did not know Henry Flagler had such impact.
brigid_emily's review against another edition
4.0
Such an interesting read. Made we want to visit the Keys again!
ericwelch's review against another edition
4.0
Frankly, I have no idea how I ran across this very interesting book. Henry Flagler, one of the last great industrialists and oil barons, built a railroad across the Florida Keys, a feat that had been considered impossible, in order to capitalize on the proximity of Cuba to the nascent Panama Canal. He had already virtually built the state of Florida by buying and developing land all along the east coast, then linking his hotel properties via rail. His Key West Railroad, an extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad, would connect Miami to Key West, about 153 miles, much of it over open water. A massive hurricane in 1935 undid it all. The Weather Bureau did not begin naming hurricanes until 1953, so in 1935 as Hemingway viewed the sketchy forecasts and storm warnings with alarm, he had no way of referring to the specific storm that was about to destroy Key West.
Unbeknownst to him, just to the north, the barometer had fallen to the lowest ever recorded. The islands of the Florida Keys are not very high above the water, making them especially vulnerable to storms and waves. Despite this knowledge, Henry Flagler had built the dream extension of his railroad in a magnificent feat of engineering. Nature was about to suggest that he shouldn't have bothered. Considering that Flagler in 1898 was sixtyeight years old and could have easily retired to a luxurious existence, it is even more remarkable that he would have risked his fortune on such a risky venture. The Spanish-American War, which cost Spain Cuba, provided the added incentive he needed. (It is interesting to speculate what might have happened had William Jennings Bryan been elected president instead of McKinley, who was a great friend to business. Bryan, I suspect, would not have been drawn into the skullduggery behind the sinking of the Maine.)
Having been thwarted in his desire to build a deep-water port in Miami, Flagler deemed Key West a logical alternative. The engineering difficulties were staggering. Special dredges on boats were designed to carve out a way for themselves as they used the material pulled from the swamps and marshes to create the roadbed. Mosquitoes swarmed all during the day, and portending the disaster that was to befall the railroad in 1935, a hurricane killed many workers in 1906 as the special dormitory barges were smashed. Several long bridges had to span many miles of ocean, and the seven-mile viaduct, considered a beautiful structure, became the symbol of the Florida East Coast Railroad. The Keys, originally an unbroken stretch of land that connected present-day Florida to Mexico are simply the vestigial remains of that land bridge subject to eons of erosion and storms — unless, of course, you are a young earth advocate in which case it was five minutes. That is a problem for builders because storms continue to push walls of water twenty to thirty feet high in front of them. These storm surges would course through the natural passageways that had been cut between the remaining land forms. Any blockage of these waterways would cause tremendous problems.
The railroad builders, who had filled in shorter distances between land areas, were creating unnatural dikes. They were swept away in the first hurricane to batter the railroad in 1909. Flagler and his engineers revised their plans and built more bridges that permitted water to flow underneath rather than impede its flow. They also discovered that the natural limestone marl made a much better substrate than imported rock and gravel, which was easily washed away. The line was completed slightly ahead of schedule despite several setbacks and shortly before Flagler's death. It had cost him most of his fortune to build, but never made money. Instead of encouraging growth on the Keys, there is evidence it might have done the opposite. Many residents chose to leave the islands and migrated to Miami on the railroad. Traffic from Cuba never amounted to much, and by 1930 the Census Bureau reported that Key West had actually lost more than seven thousand residents.
The worst hurricane in United States history, on Labor Day 1935, washed everything away. Winds in excess of 200 mph were measured. Given that the winds in only 3 percent of tornadoes exceed 206 mph you can get an idea of the devastation caused on a series of islands that were barely above sea level. ("A minimal 75-mile-per-hour storm has the capability of propelling a shard of two-by-four lumber through a four-inch concrete block wall." Bear in mind that when wind speed doubles, its force quadruples. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 produced only 155 mph winds.) Weather forecasting was still in its infancy, but the railroad, given its earlier experience with hurricanes, had implemented several measures to help provide some warning. Nevertheless, loss of life was extensive and an emergency relief train sent to take people off the keys was blown away. The well-built bridges survived, indeed they were partly used to build the highway that now links the Keys to the mainland, but the railroad was bankrupt by then, and the rights-of-way were sold to the state for not even one-twentieth of the $30 million Flagler had spent on building the Keys Extension. His chain of world-class resorts still remains as a monument to the man who virtually created Florida.
Unbeknownst to him, just to the north, the barometer had fallen to the lowest ever recorded. The islands of the Florida Keys are not very high above the water, making them especially vulnerable to storms and waves. Despite this knowledge, Henry Flagler had built the dream extension of his railroad in a magnificent feat of engineering. Nature was about to suggest that he shouldn't have bothered. Considering that Flagler in 1898 was sixtyeight years old and could have easily retired to a luxurious existence, it is even more remarkable that he would have risked his fortune on such a risky venture. The Spanish-American War, which cost Spain Cuba, provided the added incentive he needed. (It is interesting to speculate what might have happened had William Jennings Bryan been elected president instead of McKinley, who was a great friend to business. Bryan, I suspect, would not have been drawn into the skullduggery behind the sinking of the Maine.)
Having been thwarted in his desire to build a deep-water port in Miami, Flagler deemed Key West a logical alternative. The engineering difficulties were staggering. Special dredges on boats were designed to carve out a way for themselves as they used the material pulled from the swamps and marshes to create the roadbed. Mosquitoes swarmed all during the day, and portending the disaster that was to befall the railroad in 1935, a hurricane killed many workers in 1906 as the special dormitory barges were smashed. Several long bridges had to span many miles of ocean, and the seven-mile viaduct, considered a beautiful structure, became the symbol of the Florida East Coast Railroad. The Keys, originally an unbroken stretch of land that connected present-day Florida to Mexico are simply the vestigial remains of that land bridge subject to eons of erosion and storms — unless, of course, you are a young earth advocate in which case it was five minutes. That is a problem for builders because storms continue to push walls of water twenty to thirty feet high in front of them. These storm surges would course through the natural passageways that had been cut between the remaining land forms. Any blockage of these waterways would cause tremendous problems.
The railroad builders, who had filled in shorter distances between land areas, were creating unnatural dikes. They were swept away in the first hurricane to batter the railroad in 1909. Flagler and his engineers revised their plans and built more bridges that permitted water to flow underneath rather than impede its flow. They also discovered that the natural limestone marl made a much better substrate than imported rock and gravel, which was easily washed away. The line was completed slightly ahead of schedule despite several setbacks and shortly before Flagler's death. It had cost him most of his fortune to build, but never made money. Instead of encouraging growth on the Keys, there is evidence it might have done the opposite. Many residents chose to leave the islands and migrated to Miami on the railroad. Traffic from Cuba never amounted to much, and by 1930 the Census Bureau reported that Key West had actually lost more than seven thousand residents.
The worst hurricane in United States history, on Labor Day 1935, washed everything away. Winds in excess of 200 mph were measured. Given that the winds in only 3 percent of tornadoes exceed 206 mph you can get an idea of the devastation caused on a series of islands that were barely above sea level. ("A minimal 75-mile-per-hour storm has the capability of propelling a shard of two-by-four lumber through a four-inch concrete block wall." Bear in mind that when wind speed doubles, its force quadruples. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 produced only 155 mph winds.) Weather forecasting was still in its infancy, but the railroad, given its earlier experience with hurricanes, had implemented several measures to help provide some warning. Nevertheless, loss of life was extensive and an emergency relief train sent to take people off the keys was blown away. The well-built bridges survived, indeed they were partly used to build the highway that now links the Keys to the mainland, but the railroad was bankrupt by then, and the rights-of-way were sold to the state for not even one-twentieth of the $30 million Flagler had spent on building the Keys Extension. His chain of world-class resorts still remains as a monument to the man who virtually created Florida.
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