Empire Builder.

Tacoma, Washington:: Anagram Press / Goat Back Press,, 2015.. Edition of 50. 7 x 9" closed, extends to 15 feet; 20 pages including pastedowns. Accordion structure. Digitally printed from watercolor illustrations on archival, 100% cotton paper. Handbound paper over boards. In paper slipcase. Signed by both artists and numbered. Empire Builder is a collaboration between artists Carol Inderieden and Chandler O'Leary; both contributed text and illustrations. The two artists lament the changes they have seen in the American West, changes driven by the thirst for oil and natural gas, changes spawned by fracking in North Dakota and ending in oil refineries of Washington. It is the story of tunnel vision and the attendant environmental consequences. The book "reads like a map - tracing both the route of the Empire Builder train and the path of industry and destruction, in one long, unbroken line." Colophon excerpts: "Seeing the Elephant was a figure of speech that came to embody the pioneer experience during the era of westward expansion. To see the elephant was to embark on a quest for riches and prosperity. It alluded to the danger and excitement associated with seeking one's fortune in an unknown land. The elephant is an illusion, an impossible promise like a desert mirage that disappears as one moves closer. ...  "If the American map were the Elephant writ large, it is the railroad that breathes life into the creature. Throughout the last century of rail development, the anatomical structure of a complex organism has evolved. Today spurs and trunk lines follow a vascular system that carries a lifeblood of raw materials across the nation in a never-ending stream of freight. While the Elephant's lungs fill with natural gas, its veins run gold with domestic oil and its heart beats ever faster in the Bakken Formation of western North Dakota.  "Even in today's age of dwindling resources and dire environmental warnings, Americans still see the land as a bottomless well to be tapped. In the Bakken, a new frontier has opened and is flooded once again with a new generation of fortune-seekers.  "The backbone of the modern Elephant is the railroad line from Chicago to Seattle - incidentally, the same line that carries the Empire Builder passenger train. This train is aptly named for the exploits of James J. Hill, the railroad lumber baron who grew rich transporting timber and other raw materials from the Pacific Northwest to the cities and industries of the Midwest. Today one can ride the Empire Builder from one end of Hill's domain to the other, and witness every element of the fracking process along the way. In the early 20th century, the Empire Builder encouraged travelers to 'See America First' and marvel at the wonders of the natural world speeding past their windows. Today's rail passengers watch the new Industrial Revolution rolling by. "This book is an attempt to articulate our dismay at the rapid transformation of a West we know and remember. We live and work at opposite ends of the Empire Builder railroad line: Carol in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, where the bluffs and hillsides are being strip mined for frac sand; and Chandler in the Puget Sound area of western Washington, where Bakken oil is refined and shipped to other ports by tanker vessel. We both have personal ties to the northern Plains, though recent events render the region unrecognizable when compared to our memories. Still, the railroad connects us to each other and the landscapes we love. For the pioneers of the new era, the rhythm of the railroad is the marching song of progress - but for us, it is a lament.