The Switzerland of America: Lehigh Valley Railroad

Lehigh Coal and Navigation CompanyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8

Word count: 2K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The "Switzerland of America": Lehigh Valley RailroadAuthor: Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company,Language: English, Class: HE: Social sciences: Transportation and communications, Release Date: Aug 3, 2015

Editor's review

This book is an early railway promotional document left by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Its title calls the Lehigh Valley "the Switzerland of America," juxtaposing natural scenery with railway transport, making it a primary source for understanding how nineteenth-century American railways shaped local images. Its value lies not in a systematic technical history of railways but in showing how a company of the time described a railway and its surrounding landscape to the public; the language and layout bear distinct marks of the era. It is short and suitable as supplementary reading for research on American transport history, local history, and the history of printed advertising, and can also be browsed by readers interested in railway culture and industrial heritage. It should be read as a historical source rather than a modern travel guide; note the distinction between promotional tone and factual statement, and understand its spatial narrative in conjunction with maps or the geography along the line. The electronic edition is provided by Project Gutenberg, making it easy to search and cite, and suitable for fragmented reading and thematic excerpting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying American railway and transport history who need early corporate promotional sources
Readers concerned with industrial heritage and the construction of local images, for whom it can serve as case material
Language learners interested in nineteenth-century English printed texts and advertising style
General readers who enjoy short historical documents and want a quick understanding of the Lehigh Valley background

Not a good fit for

Engineering readers expecting systematic railway technical parameters or operational data
Travelers needing modern travel guides and real-time transport information
General biography readers hoping for a complete narrative history or personal stories

Reading tips

First look up the geography of the Lehigh Valley and the railway route, then read the main text to avoid confusion in the spatial narrative.
Excerpt promotional descriptions and verifiable historical facts in separate columns to practice critical reading of historical sources.
Read alongside contemporary railway travel guides or company annual reports to observe stylistic differences.
The English original is short; reading a few pages a day and noting unfamiliar words and period expressions works well.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a complete history of the railway?

No. It is closer to corporate promotional literature, focusing on presenting the scenery of the Lehigh Valley and the railway's image rather than systematically tracing railway construction, operation, and technological change. For a general historical framework, read it alongside academic railway histories.

What does "the Switzerland of America" in the title refer to?

This was a promotional name used at the time for the scenery of the Lehigh Valley, borrowing the imagery of Swiss mountain landscapes to attract travelers and investors. It should be understood as a packaging of local image rather than a strict geographical or cultural comparison.

Can someone with average English read it?

The text is nineteenth-century English with period sentence structures and vocabulary, but it is not long. Readers with intermediate English can finish it with a dictionary; it is advisable to read introductory passages first to grasp the main idea, then work through the details paragraph by paragraph.

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About the author

Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company Author · American

Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company is an American enterprise about which public information is limited. It is known only as a coal and canal company in Pennsylvania that in the 19th century operated the Lehigh coal fields and built canals, combining coal mining with water transport. One work by this corporate author is held in the collection, The Switzerland of America: Lehigh Valley Railroad. Judging from its title, the book concerns the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was most likely intended to introduce travelers to the scenery and travel information along the route, written in the practical and promotional style of early railroad publicity publications. As a collectively attributed author, its works reflect the company's own business perspective and historical context rather than personal literary writing. Given the limited sources, details of its compilation and publication remain to be verified.