| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.4

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.4 | The History Cooperative

Richard J. Orsi. Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850–1930. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 2005. Pp. xxii, 615. $29.95.
Richard J. Orsi's book is the story of the Southern Pacific Railroad's substantial efforts to promote agriculture, agricultural land ownership, water resources, renewable forestry, and conservation in the West, particularly in California. The title derives from the name of its famous passenger train, the Sunset Limited, which ran from San Francisco to New Orleans by way of Los Angeles, El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston.	1
Orsi suggests that most of our impressions of the Southern Pacific were shaped by Frank Norris's 1901 novel The Octopus, which portrayed it as a soulless evil bent on keeping the West in bondage. The Southern Pacific made plenty of public and private enemies in whose interest it was to perpetuate that image. But we always knew California became a desirable destination for settlers after the railroad was built, when it was supposedly at its pinnacle of dastardliness. We always knew California became an economic success because of the markets the railroad opened.	. . .

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