{"product_id":"jim-thorpe-in-the-20th-john-h-drury-jr-9780738538600","title":"Jim Thorpe in the 20th Century","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMauch Chunk (Bear Mountain) was a boomtown gone bust by the mid 1900s, and came up with a unique way to change its fortunes via Olympian Jim Thorpe.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJim Thorpe in the 20th Century examines the causes and effects of a community's decision to relinquish its Native American name Mauch Chunk (Bear Mountain) to become the town of Jim Thorpe. In the 19th century, Mauch Chunk rode a wave of prosperity, as coal shipping and tourism turned ordinary men into millionaires. In the 20th century, the mainstays of the town's economy began to tumble like dominoes: mule-drawn coal boats could not compete with the iron horse, ending Mauch Chunk's days as a canal town by 1922; the touristattracting Switchback Gravity Railroad, unable to afford parts, closed in 1932; the coal mines and working railroads collapsed, as industry, home heating, and trucking turned to petroleum. Down-and-out by the mid-1900s, Mauch Chunk was looking for a means of saving itself when the widow of 1912 Olympian Jim Thorpe proposed a stranger-than-fiction solution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John H. Drury Jr, Joan Gilbert\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0738538604\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780738538600\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Arcadia Publishing (SC)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/19\/2005\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 128\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.84lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.28h x 6.58w x 0.35d","brand":"John H. Drury Jr","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46826023420159,"sku":"9780738538600","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_fc738a2c-aeef-40c3-8931-d31e233c700e.jpg?v=1746074334","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/jim-thorpe-in-the-20th-john-h-drury-jr-9780738538600","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}