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Rare newspaper printed on board a transcontinental train...
Rare newspaper printed on board a transcontinental train...
Item # 684702
May 26, 1870
TRANS-CONTINENTAL, Omaha, Nebraska, May 26, 1870 This is a very fascinating newspaper, borne in the ingenious mind of a publisher who decided to take a small printing press on board the first transcontinental railroad excursion and publish 6 issues westbound and 6 issues eastbound. Printed on a Gordon press in the baggage car, it is considered the very first newspaper composed, printed, & published on a train.
This is issue #2, published--as noted in the masthead in Omaha, Nebraska. Each issue recorded the process of the journey with the sights and events along the way. Each issue carries the dateline of a different city: Niagara Falls, Omaha, Cheyenne, Wyoming; Ogden, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; Summit Sierra Nevadas, San Francisco, Promontory Point, Utah; Laramie, Wyoming, Grand Island Nebraska, Burlington, Iowa; and Boston.
The front page has a curious item from before time zones, noting: "Those of our party who keep their watches running on Boston time will find them 3 hours and 28 minutes too fast on reaching San Francisco, as in going west we change our apparent time one minute for every 15 miles of longitude traversed."
Pages 2 & 3 contain travelogue-like reports on the day's journey plus various tidbits of goings-on within the 8 Pullman car.
Great masthead, 7 by 9 3/4 inches, very nice condition. A very rare opportunity for a fascinating & rare newspaper.
Included with this issue is a reprint set of all 12 issues published. See our item 615312 for details.
Category: Post-Civil War
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