Reddit reviews Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
We found 3 Reddit comments about Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Broadway Books
Let me recommend a great book about the hubris it took to think that the keys could be connected by bridges. Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean.
Probably right. There's a great book on Flagler's Folly that features this gnarly tidbit about the 1935 storm, and it's a testament to a) the power of those wind gusts and b) how bad ass some of those South Florida settlers were.
> One victim was found the day after the [1935 Labor Day Hurricane], impaled by a piece of two-by-four that had passed completely through him, just beneath his ribs and somehow missing his kidneys. The man was still living and appeared calm as a doctor prepared to remove the length of timber. The doctor offered the man a shot of morphine to dull the pain of the procedure, but the man refused, opining that the operation was sure to kill him. That being the case, the man reasoned, he would rather have two beers instead. He was given the beers, which he drank, and then said to the doctor, “Now pull.” The doctor pulled the timber out. And the man died.
One of my favorites: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Train-Paradise-Spectacular-Railroad/dp/1400049474?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Includes stuff about the keys as well. Miami pretty much wouldn't exist as it does today without them.
When you read this you realize how much of modern Miami was shaped by a group of business people and engineers from more than 100 years ago.