Frances Flora Bond Palmer

Train tracks slice across a flat, grassy landscape with log cabins to our left and a river and mountains to our right in this horizontal lithograph. The scene is printed with vivid colors and is packed with tiny details. A train engine puffing black smoke pulls five cars from the bottom right corner away into the distance, angling to our left before disappearing on the horizon, which comes about three quarters of the way up the composition. Writing across the tops of the first three cars reads, “Through line New York San Francisco” in all caps. The open windows on the fourth car are crowded with riders. Tucked into the lower left corner, eleven log-built structures are mostly clustered closely together. Children play and run around the open door of the building closest to us, which is labeled “Public School.” Other people in long skirts or suits, some in hats, stand waving near the tracks. Four men in long-sleeved shirts or jackets and long pants, all with hats, chop down trees or hold shovels in a wooded area in the lower left corner.