Plot Summary:Michael presents his second American rail route using the Appleton's guide, this time along a great axis of the pioneers follow-up west of the Appalachians, across the great barrier stream Mississippi. For long, the main city westward apart from Chicago was its central port Saint Louis, the Western metropolis supplying cowboy country. It prospered, growing into a real great city, flouting old and new monuments, including the 1874 engineering pioneer bridge named after US architect Eads and iconic arch which has a train inside instead of a lift.
Michael Portillo crosses the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America, armed with Appleton's General Guide to the United States, published in 1879.