The first transcontinental railroad Central Pacific Union Pacific by John Debo Galloway C. E. New York: Simmons-Boardman, [1950]. 22.8x15.3 cm (octavo), pp. [i-iv] v-vii [viii] ix-x [1-2] 3-319 [320-322: blank], illustrations, endpaper maps, original gray cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, top edge stained terra cotta. First edition. John Debo Galloway (1869-1943), "was one of the leading civil engineers of the Pacific Coast. Historical research was one of his hobbies, and this interest led him to write a history of the Central and Union Pacific Railroads. Although he had full access to the archives of the Southern Pacific Company in San Francisco and the Union Pacific's Railroad Museum at Omaha, much of the first draft of this book was written in the field. In addition, Mr. Galloway carried on an extensive correspondence with relatives of the original railroad builders and drew upon his private collection of original photographs of the Old West for illustrations. John Galloway was born near San Jose, California, in 1869 ... As a boy he lived in Virginia City, Nevada, during the boom days of the Comstock. In 1889 he graduated from Rose Polytechnic Institute in Indiana. His first engineering experience was on railroad construction in the Pacific Northwest. From 1900 to 1906 he designed structural elements of some of San Francisco's principal buildings, including the St. Francis Hotel. An early advocate of earthquake resistant design, his buildings stood when the San Francisco earthquake came. The San Mateo Bridge and the Moccasin Creek Hydroelectric plant on the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct were projects with which Mr. Galloway was connected. He was a member of the first commission on the location of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and he was also the consulting engineer for the 328-foot Salt Springs rock-fill dam on the Mokelumne River. One of his colleagues said in summarizing his professional career: 'He had a part in practically every major engineering project in Northern California during a period of forty years'" (publisher's jacket copy). Some scattered marginalia in pencil. A very good copy in good worn and internally taped dust jacket. (#166112).
First printing so stated on copyright page.