The Delaware & Hudson Canal and the Gravity Railroad tells the story of an American industrial masterpiece. From the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania at Carbondale to the Hudson River in New York near Kingston, the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company and the Gravity Railroad transformed long tracks of wilderness into thriving economic areas. Conceived as an inexpensive way to transport anthracite coal, the canal began hauling loads in 1828 to the Hudson River, where barges to New York City took over. A leader in the technologies of the time, the canal company used the first telegraph system in America, and when Delaware & Hudson engineer Horatio Allen ran the locomotive Stourbridge Lion in Honesdale, he became the first to run a commercial steam locomotive on tracks in the Western Hemisphere. The Delaware & Hudson Canal was privately funded, and when stock was offered for sale in 1825, it soon became the first American company capitalized at $1 million. The Delaware & Hudson Canal and the Gravity Railroad uses fascinating vintage photographs to tell an amazing piece of American history. It shows the mules, the canal boats, the locomotives, and the men who ran this technological wonder, boasting one hundred eight locks over one hundred eight miles, plus four suspension aqueducts built by John A. Roebling of Brooklyn Bridge fame. The Gravity Railroad is shown as well, hauling coal from Carbondale to Honesdale over the Moosic Mountains, a rise of more than one thousand feet.

All but forgotten except as a part of nostalgic lore, American canals during the first half of the nineteenth century provided a transportation network that was vital to the development of the new nation. They lowered transportation costs, carried a vast grain trade from western farms to eastern ports, delivered Pennsylvania coal to New York, and carried thousands of passengers at what seemed effortless speed. Along their courses sprang up new towns and cities and with them new economic growth. Canals for a Nation brings together in one volume a survey of all the major American canals. Here are accounts of innovative engineering, of near heroic figures who devoted their lives to canals, and of canal projects that triumphed over all the uncertainties of the political process.

Engineering transformed the world completely between the 17th and 21st centuries. Remarkable Engineers tells the stories of 51 of the key pioneers in this transformation, from the designers and builders of the world's railways, bridges and aeroplanes, to the founders of the modern electronics and communications revolutions. The focus throughout is on their varied life stories, and engineering and scientific detail is kept to a minimum. Engineer profiles are organized chronologically, inviting readers with an interest in engineering to follow the path by which these remarkable engineers utterly changed our lives.

John Roebling was one of the nineteenth century's most brilliant engineers, ingenious inventors, successful manufacturers, and fascinating personalities. Raised in a German backwater amid the war-torn chaos of the Napoleonic Wars, he immigrated to the US in 1831, where he became wealthy and acclaimed, eventually receiving a carte-blanche contract to build one of the nineteenth century's most stupendous and daring works of engineering: a gigantic suspension bridge to span the East River between New York and Brooklyn. In between, he thought, wrote, and worked tirelessly. He dug canals and surveyed railroads; he planned communities and founded new industries. Horace Greeley called him "a model immigrant"; generations later, F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on a script for the movie version of his life. Like his finest creations, Roebling was held together by the delicate balance of countervailing forces. On the surface, his life was exemplary and his accomplishments legion. As an immigrant and employer, he was respected throughout the world. As an engineer, his works profoundly altered the physical landscape of America. He was a voracious reader, a fervent abolitionist, and an engaged social commentator. His understanding of the natural world, however, bordered on the occult and his opinions about medicine are best described as medieval. For a man of science and great self-certainty, he was also remarkably quick to seize on a whole host of fads and foolish trends. Yet Roebling held these strands together. Throughout his life, he believed in the moral application of science and technology, that bridges--along with other great works of connection, the Atlantic Cable, the Transcontinental Railroad--could help bring people together, erase divisions, and heal wounds. Like Walt Whitman, Roebling was deeply committed to the creation of a more perfect union, forged from the raw materials of the continent. John Roebling was a complex, deeply divided yet undoubtedly influential figure, and this biography illuminates not only his works but also the world of nineteenth-century America. Roebling's engineering feats are well known, but the man himself is not; for alongside the drama of large scale construction lies an equally rich drama of intellectual and social development and crisis, one that mirrored and reflected the great forces, trials, and failures of nineteenth century America.

Rediscover the simple pleasures of a day trip with Day Trips Hudson Valley. This guide is packed with hundreds of exciting things for locals and vacationers to do, see, and discover within a two-hour drive to and from many top New York destinations. With full trip-planning information, Day Trips Hudson Valley helps makes the most of a brief getaway.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? . . . The Shadow knows!" And who knew The Shadow better than his creator, Walter B. Gibson. Relatively few people have heard of Gibson, but many more are familiar with The Shadow having heard the program on the Blue Coal Radio Program in the 1930s and read the Street & Smith Shadow novels. Walter B. Gibson's life and career come out from behind The Shadow in this biography. It covers his youth in Philadelphia, his development as a writer and magician, his wives, including the third, (Litzka, who was a harpist and magician in her own right), his time living in Maine and upstate New York, and his later years and death. In addition to being credited with creating The Shadow (he used the pseudonym Maxwell Grant), Gibson wrote 187 books, contributed 668 articles to periodicals, created 283 stories for The Shadow Magazine, wrote 48 separate syndicated feature columns, reported the adventures of The Shadow and Blackstone the magician in 394 comic books and newspaper strips, and helped develop 147 radio scripts and many other works under numerous pseudonyms. Gibson has invented many widely used magic tricks and traveled with and befriended Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, Harry Blackstone, Sr., and Joseph Dunninger.

Spiced with wit, anecdotes, and recipes, this part travel guide and fishing reference ranges through the 14,000 square miles of the Delaware River watershed, with offshore visits for saltwater fishing along the New Jersey coast. Writing under the premise that fishing is a family fun activity, the authors give directions, comment on each place, and evaluate tackle shops, restaurants, taverns, historical and scenic attractions, and more.