Black Valley Railroad by J. H. Bufford and Sons

Hanks, S. W. · ca 1863

This hand-colored allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking in a series of symbols. A train labeled "Alcohol" is stopped at "Drunkard's Curve Station." It has left a tranquil valley and is heading toward doom in a land of evil serpents (as in Eden), skeletons, a vampire bat, and what appears to be a dangerous route to destruction, with fictional station names like "Horrorland," "Maniacville", "Prisonton" and “Woeland." The train runs on grain alcohol with the piston working in a decanter. Numerous travelers who can no longer pay the fare are lying abandoned, sick or passed out along the side of the tracks, while others appear to be looking for ways to escape. Station names bear a cautionary tale of scriptural citations along the left and right borders and below the image is a considerable amount of interpretive text.