Cinders and Saltwater: The Story of Atlantic Canada's Railways

A.A. den Otter is a history professor at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland.

Despite the title’s promise of temporal comprehensiveness, this book
deals mostly with the pre-Confederation period. Its central theme is
that railways were a dominant force in Confederation. While not an
innovative position—as early as 1865, A.-A. Dorion claimed that the
Grand Trunk was at the bottom of the unification scheme—it has never
been stated as clearly, from an Atlantic Canadian perspective, as it is
here.

Set in its proper context, the railway interpretation has considerable
credibility. Railways were undeniably an important consideration in the
Confederation debates. Since Cinders and Saltwater is primarily
concerned with the pre-Confederation period, however, it could have done
more to examine the railway problem in relation to other issues. At the
same time, the book leaves unanswered the primary question: why did
railways assume such a crucial role in the Confederation of British
North America?

These points aside, this is an excellent, well-written synthesis of
older, disparate sources.