June 16, 1874 | Contract
In this June 16, 1874 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, Hungarian Andreas Mosser purchases land in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Mosser's application is especially remarkable, as he lists his time in the United States as "14 days" and his time in Nebraska as "8 days". The railroad clearly played an instrumental role in Mosser's new life in America, both by selling him his own land and likely by transporting him across the country to take possession of it, all within the span of only two weeks.
August 30, 1875 | Contract
In this August 30, 1875 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, 80 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska sell for $6.00 per acre. Vaclav Krenek, who arrived from Prague, Bohemia seven months before he filled out this application, notes on his application that he owns no other land in Nebraska. Railroad land sales provided immigrants the chance to become property owners soon after their arrival.
May 5, 1876 | Contract
In this application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, August Wilke purchases 40 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska for $5.50 per acre. A German immigrant who had lived in the United States for 16 years, Wilke already owned a homestead in the section adjacent to the one purchased here. Railroad land sales offered immigrants who had established themselves earlier the chance to increase their holdings.
June 26, 1876 | Contract
In this June 26, 1876 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, a Bohemian purchases 80 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska, only eight days after arriving in the United States and four days after arriving in Nebraska. In a little over a week, this immigrant used the railroad as a means of transport across the country and as a vehicle of acquiring property.
February 10, 1877 | Contract
In this February 10, 1877 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, 80 acres of land in Lancaster County, Nebraska are sold for $7.00 per acre. This immigrant took advantage of railroad lands to increase his property holdings, as he already owned land in Nebraska.
August 8, 1877 | Contract
In this August 8, 1877 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, Joseph Fischer purchases 160 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska for $7.00 per acre. An immigrant from Bohemia, Fischer took advantage of the railroad's 10-year credit plan to finance his new purchase. Railroad credit plans enabled immigrants and others who lacked ready cash to buy land.
May 28, 1858 | Illustration
This image from the May 28, 1858 edition of Harper's Weekly depicts an accident on a railroad bridge near Utica, New York.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
Note the imagery that is slightly reminscient of Archibald Willard's famous painting The Spirit of '76.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
By July 23d, there were 700 troops stationed at Camden Station and Gatling guns and other field pieces were in place to repel rioters from the station and the railyards.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This image comes from a series of illustrations "Scenes In The Armory Of The Seventh Regiment, N.G.S.N.Y." depicting the soldiers' stay in their armory in preparation for violence on the streets of New York.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This August 4, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts the assault on a soldier of the Sixth National Guard Regiment in Baltimore, emphasizing the disparity in force and posture between the "mob" and the lone soldier.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
The worst agitation in Ohio occured at Newark, an important Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
Federal troops were employed to supress violence, or dimish threats of violence, and protect strategic targets.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This August 4, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts the strikers and the crowd attacking soldiers at the Baltimore Armory, and emphasizes the defensive posture of the military and the aggression of the crowd.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
As the Great Strike of 1877 developed, strikers on the Erie Railroad in New York stopped trains along their stretch of the route.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This August 4, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts striking and armed railroad workers pulling firemen and engineers from a train in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to protest the pay cuts and the double-heading of trains.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This August 4, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts the streets of Baltimore after troops opened fire on strikers during the 1877 Strike.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This image comes from a pair of illustrations: "New York City. - The Influence, In The Metropolis, Of The Railroad Strikes - The State National Guard Preparing To Move To The Seat Of Action."
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
This August 4, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts citizens carrying the dead from the streets of Baltimore. The image dramatizes the strike violence Americans were reading about in newspapers and periodicals.
August 4, 1877 | Illustration
A striking cover from the August 4, 1877 Railroad Riot Extra from Leslie's Illustrated emphasizes the tone of newspaper coverage of the Railroad Strike.