In Search of the Golden West: The Tourist in Western America

by Earl Pomeroy

Book Overview

The first transcontinental railroads brought fashionable easterners to the American West. In the 1880s and 1890s they traveled in sumptuous "palace cars" and stayed at luxury hotels. Westerners with an eye on promotion turned to what they took to be their own traditions. After 1900 a wilder West became popular; the Indian was rediscovered, and the cowboy returned to the saddle, if only during fiestas and rodeos. Increasing numbers of tourists headed...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803228201
• ISBN13: 9780803228207
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Going places

Written in 1957, this is a fairly routine account of tourism in the West, which began in the 1880s (the creation of Yellowstone Park was a big boom for the industry). In a large country it was difficult to do much touring when there was no means to do so except in a horse and buggy. The expansion of the railrods, therefore, contributed greatly to getting people to visit different places not necessarily on the beaten path. Pomeroy discusses railroad travel, resort hotels, dude ranches, California, the sportsmen (hunters and fishermen), health seekers, and other factors. The book attempts to cover a bit too much ground and comes across as somewhat superficial at times because of that. A decent introduction to the topic, however.