STURBRIDGE -- This is a tale of two local authors and two book titles. In each title, the colon is the dividing mark for the intriguing words which follow and which reflect thorough and extensive research of two fascinating subjects.

     Larry Lowenthal of Brimfield and Michael H. Piatt of Holland will sign copies of their books from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 23 at Griffin Books and Beans, 440 Main St. (Route 20).

      Mr. Lowenthal, author of "Titanic Railroad: The Southern New England," had written several books on railroad history before he moved to Brimfield. He was intrigued by what appeared to be railroad construction located about a mile from his new home. Local residents referred to it as the "Old Grand Trunk Railroad."

Old abutments of the Grand Trunk Railroad line each side of Route 181 in Palmer. (T&G FILE PHOTO)

      "I saw a chance to do a local project that wouldn't require a lot of travel," he said. As he began researching what he thought would be a small pictorial history showing the endeavor to build a railroad from Palmer to Providence in the early 1900s, he found himself traveling extensively - even going as far as Canada to do research in the Canadian archives.

      In 1985, Mr. Lowenthal attended a program at the Southbridge Library called "Titanic Railroad," where local pharmacist and amateur historian Albert LaPain discussed the Southern New England Railroad. The event drew such a large crowd that there was standing room only. This made Mr. Lowenthal decide there was enough interest to write a book on the subject that had been percolating in his mind for a while. He obtained Mr. LaPain's permission to use the title "Titanic Railroad."

      It was a long process. Thirteen years passed from the time he started writing until the book's publication in 1998. Mr. Lowenthal said the actual writing didn't take that long, but working out the details and finding the right publisher made this a lengthy project.

      The Southern New England was a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk, which was a Canadian railroad. However, although the Grand Trunk was located in Canada, financial backing came from England, Mr. Lowenthal said. Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk, often had to travel to England to meet with the British board of directors. He was returning from such a meeting on April 14, 1912 when the ship he had booked passage on hit an iceberg and sank. The ship, of course, was the Titanic, and Mr. Hays died along with more than 1,500 other passengers. His body was later recovered and buried in Montreal.

      Mr. Lowenthal said that this is not the railroad's only parallel with the Titanic. The cost for constructing the Southern New England Railroad was the same as the cost for building the Titanic: $7 million.

      "This was at a time when you could buy a good house for $2,000 or $3,000," Mr. Lowenthal said. He added that at least the Titanic had made one voyage.

      Mr. Lowenthal captures all this and more in his book, which tells not only the story of the Southern New England Railroad but "reflects the larger political and economic issues of its time."

     "Bodie: `The Mines Are Looking Well...'" is the first book by Mr. Piatt. The book is a comprehensive history of a ghost town in California's Eastern Sierra region.

     When asked how he chose the title for his book, Mr. Piatt said was a direct result of his research.

     "The words `the mines are looking well' frequently appeared in late nineteenth-century newspapers and mining journals to reassure investors who had speculated in risky, often corrupt, western gold and silver mining stocks," he said. "Infused with investment capital, companies spent lavishly as they dug for mineral riches. Their abandon cast an air of confidence that made the future deceptively bright for burgeoning mining towns scattered throughout the American West. One such town was Bodie, Calif."

     The town, located off State Highway 395, flourished for nearly 100 years. In 1859 W. S. Bodey discovered gold near what is now called Bodie Bluff. By 1880, the town housed nearly 10,000 residents. By that time, the town "bustled with families, robbers, miners, store owners, gunfighters and prostitutes of all kinds," according to a Web site devoted to the history of the town. At one time there was reported to be 65 saloons in town.

     Mr. Piatt, a California native who now lives in Holland, actually worked in Bodie, which has been preserved in a state of "arrested decay" (a phrase coined by the State of California when it took over the town in 1962 to make it a State Historic Park.)

     For two summers while he was in college, Mr. Piatt served as a sort of Junior Ranger in the state park. After his cleaning chores were done, he said, he would answer questions about Bodie. There wasn't much actual written history available, so he would relate legends that were based on tall tales by old-timers.

     Mr. Piatt said that two key truths hold true for Bodie.

      "The town wouldn't have existed if it weren't for the gold and silver mines," he said. He added that the phrase "ghost town" is something of an oxymoron, since Bodie and other mining towns existed "because people lived in them for long periods of time."

     From 1982 to 1994, Mr. Piatt worked at Old Sturbridge Village, demonstrating the craft of fashioning tools and hardware in the manner of early American blacksmiths. It was at OSV that Mr. Piatt came to appreciate accurate historic research.

      During the process of writing a magazine article, Mr. Piatt discovered mining journals at the University of Massachusetts library. These journals contained "literally a gold mine of information," he said, which was the basis for starting a book.

     Where previous authors relied on the reminiscences and legends and what could be gleaned from surviving newspapers, Mr. Piatt realized he could use the journals to reconstruct the history of Bodie. Events that took place in the mines were recorded in these weekly journals and were a source of information for investors. Investing in the mines was a huge gamble, sort of like playing the lottery today. If you got lucky you might strike it rich, but the odds were astronomical, Mr. Piatt said.

     These journals were a reliable source of information about the history of the Bodie mines. The journals, along with newspapers from Bodie and nearby towns, government reports, and publications by technical societies were all part of the extensive research process that Mr. Piatt engaged in - research that took about eight years. Interviews with the late Robert T. "Bobby" Bell (1914-2003), a prospector and miner who worked in Bodie, were also used as a source of information.

      The end result, more than a decade after it was begun, is a book that provides a comprehensive historical account of Bodie. The town lasted as an industrial mine until 1913. Mr. Piatt says that local characters ("old codgers") continued to mine until about 1950.

      The 288-page book, which is laid out chronologically, includes 130 historic photographs, most never-before published.

      For details on the book signings at Griffins Books and Beans, call (508) 347-1746.