The Filth of Progress: Immigrants, Americans, and the Building of Canals and Railroads in the West

Dr. Ryan Dearinger, Associate Professor & Chair, Department of History, Eastern Oregon University

Ryan Dearinger tells the story of the immigrants and Americans—the Irish, Chinese, Mormons, and native-born citizens—whose labor created the West’s infrastructure and turned the nation’s dream of a continental empire into a reality. Salvaging stories often omitted from the triumphant narrative of progress by focusing on the suffering and survival of the workers who were treated as outsiders, this book reveals that canals and railroads were not static monuments to progress but moving spaces of conflict and contestation.

Sponsored by the Sherman and Mabel Smith Pettyjohn Memorial Lectureship and the College of Arts and Sciences Berry Family Faculty Excellence Fellows.