The United States became an economic power by the mid-1800s in large part due to its impressive, expansive network of railroads that began criss-crossing the country.

The title of Steam, Smoke, And Power is derived from the following: Steam: Represents the source of the power used by the locomotives; Smoke: Signifies the strength of the locomotives and trains; and Power: Represents the influence the railroads were gaining over the way passengers and freight moved from point A to point B, but also how the railroads were influencing the goverments and the financial institutions in the U.S.

As a result, Steam, Smoke, And Power is about how the railroads rose in the United States – including the First Transcontinental Railroad, considered by some to be one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the 1800s – and how they brought distant parts of the United States together while becoming the catalyst for the rise of the United States to world-power status.

Steam, Smoke, And Power is also a story of the men behind the railroads. The American railroad network was created and promoted by the robber barons men including Vanderbilt, Harriman, Hill, and others, though it was actually built through the efforts of thousands of nameless laborers, managers, and other employees.

The railroads also had to build through mountainous and hilly areas, which meant that for the first time, new techniques had to be developed to blast through mountains to build the tunnels. Steam, Smoke, And Power describes the torturous work, sometimes 24-hours a day, of building these dark tunnels through mountains or high bridges over rivers or valleys.

What is it that continues to fascinate us — even captivate us — about railroads and trains? Steam, Smoke, And Power tries to answer that as it examines the rise of the railroads in the United States.