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Nothing Like It in the World The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869

Page 51

by Stephen E. Ambrose


  government inspectors and, 169-70, 211

  labor force and, 133, 137, 143, 294

  later years of, 381

  lobbying efforts of, 40, 95-96

  in management conflicts, 212, 226-27, 255, 329-30, 336, 342

  personnel decisions of, 170-71, 271

  publicity excursions attended by, 185-86, 190, 261, 274, 275, 340

  railroad investments of, 37n, 86, 91, 212, 226

  ransom demands on, 359-60

  reputation cultivated by, 270-71, 272

  route determinations and, 36, 128, 132, 144, 271-73, 279

  as speculator, 37n, 91, 93

  unpopularity of, 129-30, 255

  UP backers sought by, 86, 88

  weather delays not accepted by, 325

  Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road Company, 76-77, 122, 149, 233

  dynamite, 201

  Early, Jubal, 96

  Echo Canyon, 237, 277, 283, 285, 287, 288, 291-92, 296, 326

  Echo City, Utah, 316, 317, 327

  Echo Creek, 255, 279

  Echo Summit, 312, 313, 330

  Eddy, J. M., 216

  Edwards, Ogden, 129

  elections:

  of 1860, 23, 39-40, 69, 70

  of 1864, 123

  of 1868, 313, 324

  Elkhorn River, 34, 37, 134, 168, 208

  Elliott, George, 349

  Ellis, Jack, 177

  Emancipation Proclamation, 104

  embankments, 124, 154

  Epler, William, 201

  Erie Railroad, 56, 99, 336

  Evans, James A., 91, 128, 135, 142, 144, 188, 220, 261, 269, 273, 281

  Ewing, Thomas, Jr., 255

  farming, 169, 212, 229, 280

  Farnam, Henry, 32, 35-36, 37n, 38, 40

  Farr, Lorin, 290

  Farrar, Lynn, 119, 350

  Ferguson, Arthur:

  background of, 134

  buffalo country described by, 143

  on Hell-on-Wheels towns, 269

  Indian hostilities witnessed by, 143, 209, 214, 215, 222, 263, 264, 265, 266-67

  in North Platte bridge building, 262, 264

  on taming of West, 267

  as UP surveyor, 134-35, 141, 142, 208, 209, 213, 262-65

  weather problems encountered by, 208-9, 263-64

  on worker fatalities, 264-65

  fills, 154, 332-33

  fires, 208, 216-17, 303-4

  First Transcontinental Railroad, The (Galloway), 288

  fish joints, 236

  Fisk, James, 336, 339, 342

  flood conditions, 208, 228

  fly light, 182

  Fort Bridger, 237-38, 306

  Fortieth Parallel Survey, 145

  Fort Kearney, 141, 184, 187, 211

  Fort Sanders, 210, 221, 251, 261

  Franchot, Richard H., 193

  Freedmen’s Bureau, 152

  Freeman, Leigh, 259, 262

  Free-Soilers, 31

  freight cars, capacity of, 268

  Frémont, Jessie Benton, 49

  Frémont, John Charles, 49

  Frost, G. W, 256, 258

  Fulton, Robert, 32

  Gadsden, James, 59

  Gadsden Purchase, 59

  Galbraith, Robert Miller, 216-17

  Galloway, John Debo, 288

  gambling, 217, 218, 219-20, 228, 372

  gandy dancer, 182

  gaps, 124, 154-55

  Garfield, James, 374

  General Sherman, 139, 170

  Geological Survey, U.S., 145

  George, Henry, 323

  Gilbert, Frank, 277

  Gilliss, John R., 232, 233, 234, 236

  Golden Spike, 356, 357, 360, 364-65, 366, 367, 381

  Gordon, Sarah, 25

  Gould, Jay, 336, 378, 381

  Governor Stanford, 115, 117, 121, 362

  grading work, 118, 119-20, 136-39, 147, 155-57

  Graham, Joseph, 304, 309, 313

  grain production, 169, 229, 280

  Grant, Ulysses S., 86, 174, 184, 220, 360

  army enlistment levels and, 211

  in Civil War, 79, 88, 96, 97-98, 110, 112, 118, 123, 130-31, 344

  on Dodge as railroad engineer, 85, 272-73

  in election of 1868, 272, 275, 313, 324, 325

  on Indian hostilities, 130

  on military railroad construction, 85

  presidency of, 18, 150, 334-35

  railroads supported by, 85, 185, 211, 215, 271, 364, 367, 382

  UP-CP dispute and, 330, 334-35

  on UP financial problems, 336, 342-43, 375

  grapes, cultivation of, 246

  grasshoppers, 282, 283, 284, 293-94

  Gray, George, 158, 291

  Great Basin, 223, 225

  Great Desert, 309-10

  Great Plains:

  buffalo herd on, 173

  economic opportunities of, 169

  Indians dispossessed of, 173, 225-26

  livestock grazing on, 267

  surveying parties on, 140-43

  white settlement of, 139, 172, 184

  Great Platte Valley Route, 36-37

  Great Salt Lake, 202, 293, 319, 330, 333, 353n

  Greeley, Horace, 39, 82, 159, 169, 221, 228, 252

  Green River, 225, 251, 261, 269, 271, 275

  Grimes, James, 190

  Grinnell, J. B., 39

  Griswold, Wesley, 154

  Growth of the American Republic, The (Morison and Commager), 376

  Gwin, William, 65

  Haley, Michael, 257

  Halleck, Henry W, 51

  Hamilton, Alexander, 87-88, 100

  Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, 30

  Harriman, E. A., 132n, 378

  Hart, Alfred A., 122, 337, 362, 365

  hay, 182

  Haymund, Creed, 245

  Heine, W, 250

  Hell-on-Wheels towns, 217-19, 221, 228, 259, 269, 275, 276, 337, 353, 372

  Henry, Joseph, 170

  Henry, Robert, 376

  Hewes, David, 360

  Hills, L L., 189, 215-16, 220

  Hodges, F C, 292

  hoggers, 182

  Holladay, Ben, 93, 159, 203

  Holman, William, 83n

  Homestead Act, 172

  Hood, William, 74

  Hooker, Joe, 109

  Hopkins, E. B., 106n

  Hopkins, Mark, 19, 237, 277, 289, 290, 298, 306, 380

  background of, 53

  on blasting progress, 236

  in business, 53, 54, 62, 73, 103

  codes utilized by, 292

  on construction and supply difficulties, 195-96, 235

  in CP financial management, 121, 122, 149, 196, 246, 306n-7n, 322, 335

  CP holdings of, 43, 105, 113

  Huntington’s partnership with, 53, 72, 197, 322

  on labor shortages, 153-54

  land development proposed by, 246

  on popular support of railroads, 149

  on progress of construction, 247, 300, 337

  at promotional events, 118

  as railroad executive, 74, 106, 114

  on snow problems, 303

  on UP rivalry, 247

  wagon road owned by, 76, 195

  horses, 180, 379-80

  House, Jacob H., 142, 171, 188

  Howard, O. O., 98

  Howden, James, 235-36

  Howe truss, 26, 211

  Hoxie, Herbert M.

  “Hub,” 39, 99, 170, 171-72, 256, 330, 363

  Hubbard, Thomas, 224

  Humboldt River, 46-47, 144, 202, 231, 302, 306

  Humboldt Wells, Nev., 238, 254, 255, 277, 289, 290, 291, 312, 326, 328, 331, 332, 371

  Huntington, Collis, 19, 236, 238, 240, 241, 244, 249, 364

  background of, 47-48

  in business, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 62, 71-72, 103

  Chinese labor approved by, 243

  codes utilized by, 292

  on costs, 246, 302

  CP financial management strate
gies of, 102-3, 121, 122, 246-47, 321

  CP investments made by, 73, 105, 149

  CP-UP rivalry instigated by, 155, 193, 194, 242, 255, 277, 283, 290, 291, 298, 300, 304, 306

  critics resented by, 305

  on difficulties of construction, 117, 245, 298, 300

  federal railroad legislation and, 77, 95, 193, 194, 196

  financial backing sought by, 103, 106, 147, 196, 197, 245, 298, 300, 330, 333-34, 382

  Hopkins as business partner of, 53, 72, 195, 196

  Judah’s conflicts with, 103, 104, 111-14

  later years of, 379

  lobbying efforts of, 321-22, 333-34, 376, 379

  on materials and equipment purchases, 102, 103, 108, 113, 123, 155, 196, 298, 300-301, 302, 309, 322

  on labor costs, 246

  on progress of construction, 297, 306, 309, 315-16, 352

  on quality vs. speed of construction, 297

  as railroad executive, 43, 74, 379, 80

  reputation of, 43, 270, 380

  on route determinations, 112, 312, 313, 316, 317, 327, 330-31, 339, 340, 341

  subsidy bonds obtained by, 333-34, 335

  wagon road owned by, 76

  on western sea route via Panama, 48-51

  Huntington, Elizabeth Stoddard, 48

  Huntington, Solon, 48, 49

  Hurd, M. E., 256, 258

  Hyde, Orson, 284

  Illinois, railroad construction in, 29

  Illinois Central Railroad Company (IC), 29-30, 32, 99

  Indian hostilities:

  Chinese workers’ fears of, 310

  extermination policies as response to, 223, 266-67

  military management of, 130-31, 141, 174, 183, 184, 211, 215, 265

  newspaper coverage on, 214

  peace councils on, 225-26, 266

  raiding party thievery in, 209, 214

  sabotage activities and, 222-23, 227, 266

  UP construction and, 132, 135, 136, 141, 172-73, 174, 183, 209, 211, 214-16, 220, 221, 263, 264-67

  Indians:

  competitions arranged with, 209-10

  friendly alliances with, 172, 186, 265-66

  as railroad laborers, 133

  territorial dispossession of, 173, 225-26

  tribal conflicts among, 265-66

  UP route through lands of, 20

  Interstate 80, 127, 136n, 220, 326

  Iowa, railroad routes in, 32-34, 126

  Irish laborers, 18, 21, 118-20, 296, 327, 349, 378

  iron supplies, 147

  Ives, Butler, 201, 202, 291, 292, 312, 340

  Jackson, Andrew, 42

  Jackson, Thomas J. “Stonewall,” 80

  James W. Davis and Co., 360

  Jefferson, Thomas, 43, 100, 292

  Jensen, Oliver, 64

  Jenson, Andrew, 284

  Johnson, Andrew, 163, 164, 170, 174, 184, 194, 225, 238, 255, 330, 334

  Joyce, Patrick, 349

  J.S. & D.T. Casement, 171

  Judah, Anna Ferona Pierce, 19, 61, 64, 101

  artwork of, 65, 68, 75, 77

  background of, 55

  on Big Four management conflicts, 108-9, 114, 124

  on CP financial backing, 70, 71, 72

  on promotion of transcontinental railroad, 58, 59, 65, 66, 67, 68

  on railroad completion ceremony, 368

  on Strong, 69-70

  Theodore Judah’s death and, 115, 116

  on Theodore Judah’s engineering skill, 55-56

  Judah, Charles, 56

  Judah, Theodore, 19, 55-82, 101-17, 368

  as architect of CP, 43

  background of, 55

  Big Four conflicts with, 103-6, 108-9, 110-14, 115-16, 117, 124

  construction schedule projected by, 102

  corporate position of, 74, 114

  CP holdings of, 105, 112, 113, 114

  death of, 115-17

  engineering skills of, 55-56, 61-62, 116-17

  financial investors cultivated by, 66, 70-73

  government lobbying of, 59-61, 64-68, 75-76, 77-81, 308

  marriage of,see Judah, Anna Ferona Pierce

  railroad promotions by, 59-61, 104

  Sacramento Valley Railroad designed by, 56, 57-58, 62, 111

  salary of, 112, 114

  Sierra Nevada route surveyed by, 67, 68-70, 72, 73, 74-75, 81, 101, 104, 109-10, 111, 127, 146, 308

  on Summit Tunnel, 244

  transcontinental railroad planned by, 56, 58-59, 63, 382

  trestles proposed by, 154

  Judd, Norman, 31, 38, 39, 40

  Julesburg, Colo., 168, 184

  vice in, 218, 219-20, 228

  Jupiter, 361, 362, 363, 366-67

  Kasson, John, 39, 40

  Kearney City, Nebr., 176, 184

  Kennedy, Michael, 349

  Killeen, Edward, 349

  King, Clarence, 145-46

  Klein, Maury, 92, 95, 186-87, 213, 326, 380

  Koopmanschap (labor contractor), 152, 161

  Lander, Frederick, 32, 34-35, 36

  Lane, Joseph, 65

  Laramie, Wyo., 221, 251, 262, 271

  Lathrop, J., 256, 257

  Lee, Robert E., 87, 96, 97, 110, 114, 123, 158, 292, 356

  Lee Chew, 152-53

  Leete, B. F., 71

  Lemon, David, 266

  Leonardo da Vinci, 26

  Lewis, J. C., 308-9

  Lewis, Meriwether, 19, 38, 42, 59, 100, 127, 143, 292, 356

  Lexington, 51-52

  Liberty Loans, 165

  Lincoln, Abraham, 37, 76

  background of, 26-27

  Civil War progress and, 41, 77, 83, 97, 98, 123, 130, 272

  congressional term of, 28

  death of, 133

  in election campaigns, 23, 27, 39-40, 67, 69, 70, 123

  law career of, 29-30

  as public speaker, 41, 89, 98, 99

  Pullman car built for, 185, 226, 274

  route choices considered by, 24, 31, 38-39, 87, 89, 91, 95, 98, 128, 270

  Sierra Nevada limits determined by, 108, 149

  on slavery, 36, 104, 250

  standard gauge chosen by, 95, 180, 347

  as supporter of railroads, 18, 19, 27-29, 39, 40, 41, 79, 80, 85, 87-88, 90, 94, 95, 98, 250, 270-71, 382

  on UP construction, 86-88, 132

  Lincoln, Robert Todd, 185

  lobbying, 40, 59-61, 64-68, 75-76, 77-81, 95-96, 193-94, 196, 308, 321-22, 333-34, 376, 379

  Lockwood, E. O, 209

  locomotives, 307

  casualties caused by, 268-69, 325-26

  cost of, 117, 147, 301

  fires sparked from, 303

  Indians’ competition with, 210

  smoke produced by, 24

  speed of, 268

  steam power of, 32, 42, 221

  technological improvements of, 25, 28, 57, 268

  weight of, 57, 115, 117

  Lodgepole Creek, 131, 212, 251, 271, 344

  Lone Tree Station, passenger service initiated to, 187, 188

  Loomis, Augustus Ward, 162

  Louisiana Purchase, 18, 292, 356

  Loup Fork Bridge, 175, 187, 190

  Loup River, 138-39, 168, 174

  McCallum, Daniel C, 99-100

  McClellan, George B., 77, 79, 80, 103, 158, 292

  McCormick, Cyrus H., 140

  McCulloch, Hugh, 313, 333, 334

  McDougall, James A., 77, 78

  McDowell, Irvin, 77

  McLaughlin, Charles, 113

  McNamara, Fred, 349

  McWade (railroad worker), 328-29

  Madden, D. W, 123

  Mallory, Benjamin, 363

  M&M (Mississippi and Missouri Railroad), 32-33, 34, 37, 39

  Marsh, Charles, 74

  Maxwell, James, 140-41, 293-94

  Merriman, Halsey, 93

  Mexican War, 51, 52, 356, 364

  Meyer, Hugo, 377

  Mills, Darius O., 379

  Mills, Morris, 268, 269

  m
ining:

  Chinese immigrants in, 150

  railroad workers’ defections to, 107, 119, 121, 148, 154

  Minkler, Henry H., 198

  Mississippi and Missouri Railroad (M&M), 32-33, 34, 37, 39

  Mississippi River, bridge over, 30

  Missouri, in Civil War, 98, 130

  Missouri Bill (railroad worker), 199, 200

  Missouri River, 33-34, 37, 168, 381

  freezing of, 173, 207

  railroad bridge over, 30, 188, 260, 373

  supplies transported across, 20, 133, 173, 175, 181, 373

  Mobile and Ohio Railroad, 85

  Mohawk & Hudson, The, 27

  Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, 25

  Montague, Samuel Skerry:

  background of, 110

  Chinese workers admired by, 152, 164

  at completion ceremony, 367

  construction reports made by, 124, 203

  as CP engineer, 116, 117, 118, 206, 291, 306

  on quality vs. pace of progress, 312

  route improvements incorporated by, 124, 162-63

  tunnel labor shifts organized by, 160

  worker defections regretted by, 119

  Montana, gold mining in, 129

  Monument Point, Utah, 255, 290-91, 313, 316, 345

  Morison, Samuel Eliot, 376

  Mormons:

  leadership of, 278, 279, 280

  polygamy practiced by, 281

  population levels of, 280

  as railroad laborers, 189, 242, 261, 281-91, 294-95, 316, 327n, 329

  westward route of, 33, 36, 279

  Mormon War, 63

  Morrill, Justin, 79

  Morrill Land Grant Act, 79n

  Morris, Isaac, 252

  Morris, Thomas B., 338

  Morse, John, 113

  Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (King), 145-46

  Murphy, R. A., 363

  Napoleon I, Emperor of France, 115, 170

  Nebraska:

  farming in, 169, 212

  railroad routes in, 167-92, 168, 212

  silver mining in, 148

  statehood of, 172

  UP land grants in, 211-12

  weather extremes of, 207

  Nevada:

  CP line across, 297-317, 299, 343

  Great Desert of, 309-10

  statehood of, 18, 123

  Nevada Central Railroad, 114

  Newcastle, trestle bridge at, 154

  New York Central Railroad, 99, 158

  Niagara Gorge Railroad, 55-56, 69

  Nichols, H. K., 141

  nitroglycerin, 200-201, 235-36, 288, 328

  Nobel, Alfred, 200, 201

  North Platte River, 168, 223

  railroad bridges over, 183, 187, 262

  Nounan, Joseph, 285, 295

  Nye, James, 339

  Ogden, William B., 84

  Ogden, Utah, 254, 255, 277, 286, 290-91, 296, 319, 327, 335

  as UP-CP meeting, 339-40, 341, 371-72

  “O’Halloran’s Luck” (Benét), 217-18

  Omaha, Nebr.:

  growth of, 167-69

  oxbow route south of, 132

  supply routes to, 133, 276-77, 373

  as UP terminus, 87, 89-90, 91, 168, 184, 186

 

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