Stevenson (1850-94) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer who was a literary celebrity in his own lifetime and now ranks as the 26th most translated author in the world. This collection of travel essays first published in 1892 and reprinted from an edition of 1915 is the middle section of his three-part travel memoir which began with The Amateur Emigrant and ended with The Silverado Squatters. The title essay is a description of Stevenson's railway journey across the USA from New York to California in an immigrant train.