The June 2021 issue of Western Writers of America’s Roundup Magazine contains a book review I wrote about Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad by Chris Enss. Ms. Enss is the current president of Western Writers of America. She has been writing about women in the Old West for more than 28 years. She has made the New York Times bestseller list three times. She is the recipient of numerous writing awards including WWA’s Spur Award and the Will Rogers Medallion Award.
For those of you who not subscribe to Roundup Magazine I reprint my book review here:
“Iron Women provides a valuable addition to the history of the building of America’s railroads. Thoroughly researched and wonderfully illustrated, this book describes many unrecognized contributions by women to successes achieved across the iron horse empires. Not surprisingly, women who worked for the railroads had to overcome the traditional prejudices that plagued their struggles to prove their worth in most professions outside the home. From innovations made in telegraphy and engineering, to accomplishments in hospitality and entertainment, the efforts put forth by the featured females is that of frustration overcome by perseverance. This volume also contains interesting biographical vignettes of women who served as railroad presidents, travel journalists, artists, architects, and more. Chris Enss couples her smooth writing style with historical quotations to make an enjoyable read. I learned fascinating new things about the railroads and the women who worked on them.”
There is a minor error in the first line of the book’s Introduction which is repeated on the back cover blurb. The rails laid at Promontory Summit (not Point, as written) were iron (not steel, as written). Several years after the driving of the golden spike, the Union Pacific replaced the original iron rails with steel rails to provide necessary support for heavier locomotives. The Promontory Summit loop around the north end of the Great Salt Lake was abandoned after the turn of the twentieth century when the UP built a causeway straight across the lake. During World War I, the steel rails on the discontinued 44-mile loop were salvaged as part of a nation-wide scrap metal drive to support the war effort. Since this minor error does not detract from Chris’s excellent book, I did not mention it in the review. It is something only a railroad aficionado would notice.
Iron Women is published by TwoDot Books in paperback for $19.95 and is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores.
A subscription to Roundup Magazine may be obtained for $40 per year, payable by personal check or money order made out to Western Writers of America. The payment with your address information should be sent to: Candy Moulton, Executive Director Western Writers of America, 271 CR 219 Encampment, WY 82325.
A certificate documenting the award will be presented by Johnny D. Boggs, Editor, Roundup Magazine, during the 2020 Western Writers of America Convention in Rapid City, South Dakota, scheduled for June 17-20, 2020. Hopefully, the present problems created by the Corona virus will not disrupt this planned, annual event.
I wrote about the Roundup article in a blog posted to this website on April 10, 2019. In that blog there is a link that allows you to read the article online. Go to the sidebar of this website and select April 2019 from the drop-down list that appears under Archives.
Quite by chance, while surfing the television channels last evening, I caught the start of the movie One-Eyed Jacks. I had never seen this 1961 film starring and directed by Marlon Brando until last night, but I feel a personal connection with the film. The movie received mixed reviews even though it was nominated for an Oscar for best cinematography. When the movie was released, I was stationed with the Army in France. The Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service brought movies to Europe for the service men and women, but I do not recall this being one. Charles Neider was the author of the novel, The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones, on which the movie script, One-Eyed Jacks, was based. Neider is named in the movie’s credits as one of the screenwriters.
I met Charlie in January 1977 when he was in Antarctica on a grant from the National Science Foundation to write a book about the frozen continent. That book, Beyond Cape Horn—Travels in the Antarctic, was published by Sierra Club Books in 1980. Charlie mentions me in the book when he describes our travels together from McMurdo Station to Palmer Station on board the USCGC Burton Island. I parted company with Charles when I departed Palmer Station onboard the RV Hero for my first journey across the Drake Passage. We never met again.
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