Book Review of Bound by Steel & Stone

The December 2021 issue of Western Writers of America’s Roundup Magazine contains a book review I wrote about Bound by Steel & Stone: The Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Frontier of Enterprise in Colorado, 1890-1960, by J. Bradford Bowers. The author teaches history at Pueblo Community College in Pueblo, Colorado.

For those of you who not subscribe to Roundup Magazine I reprint my book review here:

“The Colorado-Kansas Railway’s founders conceived the grandiose scheme of running trains and electricity lines from Pueblo, Colorado, eastward down the Arkansas River and into western Kansas. Instead, the shortline ran 23 miles northwest to local quarries in the foothills of the Rockies and survived by hauling sandstone construction blocks and firebrick clay to its interface in Pueblo with the Santa Fe and other mainline railroads. The little outfit struggled along with one secondhand coal-fired locomotive, one passenger car, and 15 assorted freight cars. The Colorado-Kansas stayed in business as long as it did due to the management skills of Irma MacDaniel. She began as secretary for the lawyer who represented the railroad at its founding and ended as the president of the line overseeing its dissolution. Bower’s comprehensive research, well written and supported by pertinent maps and illustrations, makes Bound by Steel & Stone an important addition to the history of America’s railroads.”

Bound by Steel & Stone is a Timberline Book published by the University Press of Colorado in hardcover for $45.00 and is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores.

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