Daniel Faas 160 pages softcover
In one of the great political and economic movements of the
nineteenth century, a fraternal organization of Midwest farmers
permanently changed the trajectory of American railroads. When rising
shipping rates threatened their ability to get their crops to market,
these small farmers banded together to form the National Grange of the
Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Deftly handling the levers of power in
their clash with robber barons, the organization's pattern of regulation
all but controlled the development of national rail policies for over a
century.
Historian Daniel Faas details the history of the Grange Movement and
its role shaping the Midwest and the modern American rail system.