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Trans-Caspian Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Caspian Railroad, transportation line linking the countries of Central Asia to one another and with the nations to the west. Built in the late 19th cent., the line begins at Turkmenbashi (Krasno...

Trans-Siberian Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Siberian Railroad, rail line, linking European Russia with the Pacific coast. Its construction began in 1891, on the initiative of Count S. Y. Witte, and was completed in 1905. The completion of...

Union Pacific Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Paci...

Santa Fe Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Santa Fe Railroad, former U.S. railroad, chartered in 1863 as the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe RR; opened to traffic in 1864. Construction continued, and in 1880 it reached Santa Fe, N.Mex.; the fol...

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), first U.S. public railroad, chartered in 1827 by a group of Baltimore businessmen to regain trans-Allegheny traffic lost to the newly opened Erie Canal. Constr...

Gay, Sidney Howard

(Encyclopedia)Gay, Sidney Howard, 1814–88, American abolitionist and publisher, b. Hingham, Mass. Following several failed business ventures, he was drawn to the work of the abolitionists and moved to New York Ci...

Still, William

(Encyclopedia)Still, William, 1821–1902, American abolitionist, b. Burlington co., N.J. After he moved to Philadelphia (1844), he began working for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society (1847) and became head of ...

Chatham, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Chatham, city, S Ont., Canada, E of Detroit, Mich., on the Thames River. It is an industrial center in a rich mixed farming and fruit-raising region. It...

Garrett, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Garrett, Thomas, 1789–1871, American abolitionist, b. Upper Darby, Pa. A Quaker, he joined the Pennsylvania Abolition Society in 1818. At Wilmington, Del., where he became a hardware merchant and to...

Napoleon, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Napoleon, Louis, 1800–1881, African American abolitionist. He lived in a community of free blacks in Staten Island, N.Y., working as a porter and furniture polisher while secretly operating as an â€...