Reviews 233 otherwise, ends with “the fright of unseen plains.” Pascal’s original image isn’t served well by “fright,” even if the word’s a fair version of the French. I’m not frightened by Infinity; I’m terrorized. But this is not the real poet. His language usually works and works well. One need only consider some of the shorter poems, where the whole poem holds together, such as “Motion” (Bones) or “Only the Hunter is Shapeless” (House). This last is a wonderful celebration of the natural world: the usual hunting poem is Hemingwayesque, praising stoic hunter, praising life by praising death; but not so this poem, which gives us images of birds on the water, images of life, life that is order against chaos, i.e., against death. And the poem closes brilliantly: “Tomorrow, the shapeless hunter.” This is witty, intelligent, moving. One wishes, then, that Mr. Milton would make more use of his wit; he writes excellently when he does. The poem “Lawrence, Resting Near Taos” (Bones) has a wry major image—the poet sits on Lawrence’s grave, “Improperly perhaps,/To share his view.” And once more he has a delightful final line: “As I sat on Lawrence there.” In “El Turista en el Pueblo” (Bones), Milton builds an image of the Indians and then sets the “I” against that image (and the “I” is “us” as well as the poet, but more aware than “us”) : “Blanketless/1 stand exposed, alone, outside,/to think: Fine old traditions/don’t come cheap these days:/And go.” And these lines from “Chicago West: Notes from the Train” (House): “She told me that her children were good travelers/Then she spent the evening beating them/1 should have asked the children how their mother traveled.” That’s bitter and exact, but funny, language. One should add that there seems to be an increasing abstractness in the poet’s language, if we use these two books as our evidence. This is not a failure, but abstractness does make for more difficulty. As illustration, one can look at lines from “Western Requiem” (Bones) which he reworked for “View” (House): “A black bird/Leaves a dark trail across the pale blue sky,/An illusion and at once our only reality” becomes “a black bird/leaves a dark trail/high/in the illusory sky”. The second version is tighter, more suggestive, but the image is less clear, less localized, and so less immediately moving. Too, the second of these books seems less concerned with metrics—and once more there are losses and gains. But in the end how can one resist a poet who writes lines such as these from “The Poet’s Work"(House)-. “We name a name/And say the abstract word/ . . . /And God in the orchard/Sits on his favorite tree.” L. L. Lee, Western Washington State College Westward to Promontory: Building the Union Pacific across the Plains and Mountains. By Barry B. Combs. (Palo Alto: American West Publishing Com pany, 1969. 80 pages, illus., $10.75.) 234 Western American Literature High Road to Promontory: Building the Central Pacific across the High Sierra. By George Kraus. (Palo Alto: American West Publishing Co., 1969. 318 pages, illus., $9.50.) The centennial of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad on May tenth of this year inspired several commemorative books. The use in the 1869 completion ceremony of a “last” spike of California gold so captured American imagination that through retelling the spike and the ceremony that implemented it have assumed a shroud of myth. Fortunately most of the new writings have separated long-reported folklore from the actual facts of construc tion and the completion ceremony. Westerd to Promontory is not a direct attempt to dispel myth or contro versy regarding the Union Pacific Railroad. Nevertheless, through photographic evidence and carefully worded captions and text, author Combs successfully avoids continuing most of the traditional falsehoods. The book is based on a newly-relocated collection of photographs by A. J. Russell, official Union Pacific photographer during the 1860’s. Since historical photographs are frequently third or fourth generation copies of initially poor images, it is refreshing to see illustrations that preserve...