The Invalid's Story Historical Context

This Study Guide consists of approximately 42 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Invalid's Story.

The Invalid's Story Historical Context

This Study Guide consists of approximately 42 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Invalid's Story.
This section contains 590 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Invalid's Story Study Guide

In the 1860s, a number of railroad developments came into being. In 1869, four years after the Civil War ended, the Union Pacific railroad line was connected to the Central Pacific line and the world's longest railroad—1,776 miles of steel track—was completed. The transcontinental railroad line, which was subsidized by government funds from the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, had taken years to finish. The project involved an extensive amount of tearing down forests, tunneling through earth, and constructing bridges to complete, but once it was done, it changed the face of transportation.

Eight years later, in 1877 when Twain wrote "The Invalid's Story," railroads in the United States were in their Golden Age and trains were the dominant mode of transportation for both people and goods. Originally, this included only nonperishable items. In the early 1870s, however, Gustavus Franklin Swift, founder of the meat-packing firm, Swift...

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This section contains 590 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Invalid's Story Study Guide
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The Invalid's Story from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.