Conquering Gotham

Conquering Gotham: Jen McCurley
I found a video I would like to share before the discussion tomorrow morning. This is the modern day "sandhogs." This show is aired on the History Channel, there are some great clips that go along with the reading.

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=sandhogs&bcpid=1745088732&bclid=1796130797&bctid=1799114443

Because there are so many subjects to discuss in "Conquering Gotham," I will focus specifically on two. I first want to talk about the conditions of the underground. The video portrays the problems that sandhogs face today in 2009, imagine over 100 years ago. The new Pennsylvania Railroad project did benefit many Americans, especially new immigrants in need of jobs. The project employed several thousand Americans from start to finish. The conditions were best explained when Arthur Reeve a journalist went down into the tunnels to access the work, conditions, process, and engineering of the growing tunnels. Reeve describes the the stuffy conditions of working with compressed air, he shares the relief he felt when escaping the tunnel referring to it as the dungeon. He talks about entering back into "God's air," which was far from fresh air. Every day the men faced issues anywhere from losing a finger to losing a life. With such harsh conditions it is easy to question who would do a job like this and why. With so many immigrants coming into America it is easy to assume these are the men that took these jobs and for the simple reason to support their family. "Yes, it paid reasonably well, bit it was...a hellish place to pass one's days." I think the hardest part of being a sandhog was not being able to see the progress. I imagine it would be hard enough with set back within the tunnel, but in the early twentieth century, setback occurred constantly inner tunnel as well as political set backs.
The second part I want to focus on is Alexander Cassatt's role in the PRR. There is a broad history to the politics behind the railroad systems in America. Alexander Cassatt was the seventh president of the PRR and remained the president for the beginning half of it's history. Cassatt throughout the building and releasing of the PRR is one of the few leaders that seems to be without or with little corruption. Cassatt is considered one of the best presidents of the PRR and it is likely because of his belief that "the increasing power of the rapidly uniting systems of transportation must inevitably be counterbalanced by government control of traffic tariffs." I think this statement in itself not only describes the leader Cassatt proved to be but also the knowledge he possessed about the business. This statement becomes very evident in 1906 with the Hepburn Act finally passes and the Interstate Commerce Commission has regulation over the railroad systems.