This movie is the story of my ancestor's life, in part

rfd10

I saw this movie, Rock Island Trail, on cable about a year ago as I was looking for something to watch. As I got involved in the plot, I realized it was partly based on the life of my Grandfather's Grandfather, Henry Farnam of New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Farnam was a railroad builder and president of the Rock Island Line in the 1850s. He built the first bridge across the Mississippi at Rock Island and the bridge in the movie looked just like it. The steamship industry did run a boat into the bridge and burned it down. They then sued and Mr. Farnam hired Abraham Lincoln to defend the railroad. The railroad won the right to build the bridge as it was not a hazard to navigation. All this was in the movie. The western, shoot-'em-up and romantic parts were fictional. I would like to see this movie again and see how much was fact and how much fiction. Mr. Farnam's papers are at the library at Yale University. He was a big donor to Yale and the city of New Haven.

score /10

rfd10 21 August 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0040899/