The Iron Trail

By Rex Beach

Book Overview

After Five Years Of Unsuccessful Prospecting, He Turned To Writing. His Second Novel The Spoilers (1906) Was Based On A True Story Of Corrupt Government Officials Stealing Gold Mines From Prospectors, Which He Witnessed While He Was Prospecting In Nome, Alaska. The Spoilers Became One Of The Best Selling Novels Of 1906. His Adventure Novels, Influenced By Jack London, Were Immensely Popular Throughout The Early 1900S. Beach Was Lionized As The "Victor Hugo Of The North," But Others Found His Novels Formulaic And Predictable. Critics Described Them As Cut From The "He-Man School" Of Literature. Historian Stephen Haycox Has Said That Many Of Beach'S Works Are "Mercifully Forgotten Today." One Novel, The Silver Horde (1909), Is Set In Kalvik, A Fictionalized Community In Bristol Bay, Alaska, And Tells The Story Of A Down On His Luck Gold Miner Who Discovers A Greater Wealth In Alaska'S Run Of Salmon (Silver Horde) And Decides To Open A Cannery. To Accomplish This He Must Overcome The Relentless Opposition Of The "Salmon Trust," A Fictionalized Alaska Packers' Association, Which Undercuts His Financing, Sabotages His Equipment, Incites A Longshoremen'S Riot And Bribes His Fishermen To Quit. The Story Line Includes A Love Interest As The Protagonist Is Forced To Choose Between His Fianc e, A Spoiled Banker'S Daughter, And An Earnest Roadhouse Operator, A Woman Of "Questionable Virtue." Real-Life Cannery Superintendent Crescent Porter Hale Has Been Credited With Being The Inspiration For The Silver Horde, But It Is Unlikely Beach And Hale Ever Met. After Success In Literature, Many Of His Works Were Adapted Into Successful Films; The Spoilers Became A Stage Play, Then Was Remade Into Movies Five Times From 1914 To 1955, With Gary Cooper And John Wayne Each Playing "Roy Glennister" In 1930 And 1942, Respectively. The Silver Horde Was Twice Made Into A Movie, As A Silent Film In 1920 Starring Myrtle Stedman, Curtis Cooksey And Betty Blythe And Directed By Frank Lloyd; And A Talkie Version The Silver Horde (1930) That Starred Jean Arthur, Joel Mccrea, And Evelyn Brent And Was Directed By George Archainbaud. Beach Occasionally Produced His Films And Also Wrote A Number Of Plays To Varying Success.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9361448536
• ISBN13: 9789361448539
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Neelkanth Prakashan
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Historically based saga about the first Alaska Railroad

The race to build the first railroad in Alaska at the turn of the twentieth century and reach the vast untapped mineral wealth of the interior was a daring, high risk adventure played out between rugged visionaries and some unscrupulous promoters. The hardships, perseverance and the actual engineering achievement of the people who finally succeded in building the railroad in this forbidding territory have long been ignored. If you have ever viewed the swift unpredictable rivers, huge mountains and glacier activity along the Southeastern coast of Alaska, or traveled the remaining original railroad bed to McCarthy and Kennicott the very thought of attempting a railroad line extending over 200 miles from the coast to the interior through this terrain is just plain incredible. The "Iron Trail" is written in a turn of the century style which is perhaps a bit flowery but entertaining just the same. Most of real people and places have been renamed for the book but are identified in the forward. Throughout reading this book I couldn't help thinking what a marvelous movie setting and adventure story is behind this truly spectacular engineering achievement.