Man versus Wild: the Starrucca Viaduct

text from the Catskill Archive, originally from—"Between the Ocean and the Lakes--The Story of the ERIE"—by Edward Harold Mott--1899:

"The Starrucca Viaduct was at the time it was built the greatest work of railroad bridge masonry in the United States, and is to-day a conspicuous example of that branch of engineering science, even among the stupendous feats of modern bridge construction. The viaduct is 1,200 feet long, 110 feet high, and has eighteen arches with spans of fifty feet each. It was wisely constructed for a double track, and was made thirty feet wide on top. The cost of the structure was $320,000, the most expensive railroad bridge in the world at that time."

Illustration circa 1848.

George Inness--the Complete Works

The works of George Inness are found online at http://www.georgeinness.org/ . Scans of 199 of his paintings can be found there. Inness made his home for many years in Montclair, New Jersey, and many of his paintings can still be seen there at the Montclair Art Museum.

Pompton Junction

Railroad stock cars

the Stillwell Oyster Car, 1897

Once again Wikipedia shows why it is a helpful "first stop" on the road to doing research. The entry for railroad stock cars is again very helpful, and illustrated, too!

Did you know that there were specialized oyster cars? Me neither.

Never too early . . . .

the Montana state fish car, circa 1910

So on my way back to Cornell on Sunday, we hit really bad traffic on 81 in Scranton. It took us about 20 minutes to go less than 1/2 mile, so we got off the highway and took route 11. We were driving down route 11 enjoying the scenery when suddenly we encountered one of the Lackawanna Rail Road viaducts (further down 11, we passed under another viaduct). In person, the viaduct was an absolutely amazing sight. The structure is absolutely huge and looks to be in almost perfect condition. The structure is truly second nature. Although man made, it seems to almost enhance the landscape, making that river valley in that town different from other river valleys in other towns. Here are some pictures.

Railroads and the national parks

Tourists Waiting for Old Faithful

Here is a link to an online MA thesis done by Joshua Scott Johns at the University of Virginia: "All Aboard: The Role of the Railroads in Protecting, Promoting, and Selling Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks."

This web exhibit is quite good, illustrated, and touches on many of the themes raised in class this morning. Great topic!

The Inn at Old Faithful

Inness's Lackawanna Valley

The Lackawanna Valley, ca. 1855
George Inness

We mentioned the painting by George Inness of The Lackawanna Valley in class last week. The painting has been much-discussed by art critics who study landscape art. A particularly thorough study is Nicolai Cikovsky's 1970 article, "George Inness and the Hudson River School: The Lackawanna Valley," which appeared in American Art Journal.

In the article Cikovsky repeats Inness's story of finding the original in a Mexican pawn shop in 1891 (p. 48), and much of the latter third of the article is devoted to interpreting the painting itself. This is a nice example of how a single painting could provide the occasion for a solid term paper in this course.

Anyway, the Cikovsky article is well-worth reading if you have the time or interest. The full citation is:

Cikovsky, Nicolai Jr. "George Inness and the Hudson River School: "The Lackawanna Valley"." American Art Journal 2, no. 2, Autumn (1970): 36-57.