ALSO BY STEPHEN E AMBROSE Comrades: Brothers, Fathers, Heroes, Sons, Pals The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II Americans at War Citizen Soldiers: The U.S Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945 Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest Nixon: Ruin and Recovery, 1973-1990 Eisenhower: Soldier and President Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician, 1962-1972 Nixon: The Education of a Politician, 1913-1962 Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944 Eisenhower: The President Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890-1952 The Supreme Commander: The War Years of General Dwight D Eisenhower Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945 Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy, 1938-1992 Ike’s Spies: Eisenhower and the Espionage Establishment Halleck: Lincoln’s Chief of Staff Upton and the Army SIMON & SCHUSTER Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com Copyright © 2000 by Ambrose-Tubbs, Inc Maps copyright © 2000 by Anita Karl and Jim Kemp All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc Designed by Karolina Harris Manufactured in the United States of America 10 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ambrose, Stephen E Nothing like it in the world: the men who built the transcontinental railroad, 1863-1869 / Stephen E Ambrose p cm Includes bibliographical references and index Railroads—United States—History—19th century Central Pacific Railroad Company— History Union Pacific Railroad Company—History Railroad construction workers—United States—History—19th century I Title TF23 A48 2000 385′.0973—dc2l 00-041005 ISBN 0-684-84609-8 eISBN: 978-0-743-21083-6 All photos are courtesy of the Union Pacific Museum Collection A leatherbound signed first edition of this book has been published by Easton Press Acknowledgments SOME years ago, when I handed the manuscript of my latest book in to my editor at Simon & Schuster, Alice Mayhew, she said she wanted me to the building of the first transcontinental railroad for my next book Even though I had been trained as a nineteenth-century American historian, I hesitated First of all, I had been taught to regard the railroad builders as the models for Daddy Warbucks The investors and builders had made obscene profits which they used to dominate state and national politics to a degree unprecedented before or since John Robinson’s book The Octopus: A History of Construction, Conspiracies, Extortion, about the way the Big Four ruined California, expressed what I thought and felt What made the record of the big shots so much worse was that it was the people’s money they stole, in the form of government bonds and land In my view, opposition to the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific (later the Southern Pacific) had led to the Populist Party and then the Progressive Party, political organizations that I regarded as the saviors of America I wanted nothing to with those railroad thieves I told Alice to give me six months to read the major items in the literature, so I could see if there was a reason for a new or another book on the subject So I read In the process I changed my mind about many aspects of building the railroads and the men who got rich from investing in them And I was delighted by the works in the basic literature Most of them I quote from, and they can be found in the bibliography I need to make a specific mention of Maury Klein, whose magnificent two-volume history of the Union Pacific is a superb work for the general reader and the specialist or the writer It is an absorbing story, beautifully told Klein is a model for scholarship, for writing, and for thinking his subject through before making a statement George Kraus, High Road to Promontory: Building the Central Pacific Across the High Sierra, is the basic source on the subject There are many fine researchers and writers who have published books on the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads The two who have my gratitude and respect ahead of all others are Maury Klein and George Kraus After the reading, I decided that there was a lot of good literature already in existence on the railroads and that I could use it for stories, incidents, sources, and quotes, but none of the books were done in the way I was looking for If I really wanted to know at least a part of the answer to Alice’s question, How did they build that railroad?—rather than How did they profit from it? or How did they use their power for political goals?—I was going to have to write my own book to find out So I did I have first of all to acknowledge that this book is Alice’s idea She didn’t the writing, to be sure, or try to guide my research or to suggest ideas for me to investigate or incorporate She didn’t hurry me, even though I had a bad fall in the middle of doing this book that put me out of action for a few months She read chapters as I sent them in, and gave me encouragement, which was a great help, since I write for her If she likes what comes out of my writing, I’m pleased If she doesn’t, I try again But above all, she let me figure out the answer to her question My research assistants are all part of my family First my wife, Moira, who always participated, making suggestions, offering ideas, listening and commenting, being there Then my research assistant and son, Hugh Alexander Ambrose Hugh is a trained historian, with his Master’s degree in American history from the University of Montana He did the basic research at the Library of Congress for me, and at the Bancroft Library on the University of California campus, and at Huntington Library, at the Archives at the Library of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, and on the World Wide Web He mastered the literature, and he was my first reader on all the chapters His many suggestions have been absorbed in the text Without him there would be no book My son Barry Ambrose, my daughter-in-law Celeste, my older daughter, Stephenie, my niece Edie Ambrose (a Ph.D in American history from Tulane), and another daughter-in-law, Anne Ambrose, all participated in the newspaper and magazine research Edie read early chapters and gave me solid suggestions on everything from word choices to interpretations I had decided at the beginning that this book was like doing Lewis and Clark, but unlike D-Day or my books on Cold War politics Different in this way: there was no one around who had been there and could say, I saw this with my own eyes I couldn’t any interviewing Next best thing, I thought, were the newspaper reporters I knew that many big-city papers sent their own correspondents out west to report on how the railroad was being built Reporters are always looking for what is new, what is fresh, asking questions, trying to anticipate questions So Celeste, Barry, Edie, Anne, and Stephenie started reading 130-year-old newspapers on dusty microfilm readers They found a lot of information and stories that I used throughout the book They are diligent, imaginative, creative in going through the newspapers, and, like all researchers, they learn a lot in the process I hasten to add that they get paid for their time and effort, but I must confess that I am defeated in any attempt to thank them enough I need to thank the librarians at the University of Montana, the Missoula City Library, the Helena Public Library, Bonnie Hardwick at the Bancroft Library at the University of California in Berkeley, Susi Krasnoo, Dan Lewis, and the staff at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, Jeffrey Spencer at the historic General Dodge House in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Lee Mortensen of the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, the staff of the California State Railroad Museum Library in Sacramento, Richard Sharp at the Library of Congress, Bill Slaughter at the Archives, Church of Latter Day Saints Library, the Hancock County Library in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, and the staffs of many county historical or city historical museums that Hugh and I visited in 1997-98 Ana DeBevoise, on Alice Mayhew’s staff, has been a continual source of support, good thinking, and cheerfulness The people at Simon & Schuster, from Carolyn Reidy and David Rosenthal on down, have done their usual and as always quite superb and professional job, which I have come to expect but which always makes me feel so lucky Thanks to all of them A heartfelt thanks to the men and women who run the railroad museums in Sacramento (one of the best) and Ogden (also among the best) and Omaha (ditto) Hugh and I spent days examining the exhibits, learning, asking questions Many railroad buffs were kind enough to send along information Among them, Nathan Mazer, Bruce Cooper, and Ray Haycox, Jr A special thanks to Brad Joseph, who built two wonderful models for me, one of the Golden Spike scene at Promontory, Utah, and the other of the drive of the Central Pacific over the Sierra Nevada mountains Others who helped in various ways are Helen Wayland of the Colfax Historical Society and Joel Skornika of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art, Madison, Wisconsin Hugh and I are grateful to Chairman Richard Davidson, Ike Evans, Dennis Duffy, Carl Bradley, Brenda Mainwaring and Dave Bowler of the Union Pacific, and Philip Anschutz of the Anschutz Corporation, for making it possible for us to ride the rails I wanted to see the track and grade from up front on a train on the original line Thanks to Davidson and the UP people, as well as my dear friend Ken Rendell, we rode in the engine on a Union Pacific diesel locomotive from Sacramento to Sparks, Nevada (right next to Reno) Together Ken, Hugh, and I were in the cab (with engineers Larry Mireles and Mike Metzger), going around California’s Cape Horn, climbing and descending the Sierra Nevada, having experiences of sight, sound, and touch that will never be forgotten At one point Mr Mike Furtney of the railroad company, who was with us, said to me, “You know, Steve, there are thousands of men in this country who would pay us anything we might choose to ask to be up here on this ride.” I said I knew that, although at the time I was not aware of just how many train enthusiasts there are in the country Mike said, “You take the controls for a while.” I said I wouldn’t dare He said the engineer would be right behind me, and insisted So I got to drive a train up the Sierra Nevada, tooting on the whistle before every crossing Somehow they didn’t allow me to stay at the controls for the trip down the mountain On the return trip, led by Dave Bowler, we got off and walked through the tunnel at the summit—No 6, as it was called in 1867 We picked up some spikes and a fishplate For anyone who has been there and is aware of how men armed only with drills, sledgehammers, and black powder drove a tunnel through that mountain, it is a source of awe and astonishment Mr Davidson gave me and Moira permission to ride in a special train going from Omaha to Sacramento for a steam-engine display The locomotive would be No 844, with the legendary Stephen Lee as engineer The fireman was Lynn Nystrom This was the last steam engine bought by the UP—in 1943—and it was used until the late 1950s, then neglected, then restored to become the pride of the railroad today We rode from Omaha to Sparks in such splendor as we had never imagined Ken Rendell was with us for the first half of the trip, Richard Lamm for the second Bob Kreiger was the engineer for the second cab, also steam, called No 3985 For the most part we rode in the cab, pulling into sidings for the night It was extraordinary I counted more than thirty-seven handles and knobs on the cab’s panel in front of me, none with an explanation of how they worked or why they were there But throughout the trip Steve Lee would adjust them without looking at them The engine is sacred for many reasons It is in the cab of a locomotive that a mere man can control all that power, it is from there and there only that a man riding on a train can see ahead It is the eyes, ears, brains, motor power, and central nervous system for the long string of cars it is pulling along To be in the locomotive of a steam-driven train, riding from Omaha to Reno, was for me, Moira, Ken, and Dick a memorable experience First of all, Steve Lee and Lynn Nystrom are big guys, 250 or more pounds each, who put every ounce of themselves into their job, which they love more than nearly anyone I’ve ever met They are impressive because of their size, their skill, and their personalities Nearly all the towns we went through in Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada are railroad towns, and so far as we could tell every adult living there knew Steve, Bob, and Lynn The engineers would whistle, the spectators would wave What impressed me the most, however, was the size of the crowds The local newspaper or the radio station had a small item the day before the UP’s 844 came through, announcing the trip From what we could tell, every resident was beside the tracks, or up on a ridge we passed under, or out on a bluff that offered a view Thousands of spectators Tens of thousands Among them were all ages and people from both sexes, every one of them with a camera I’ve led a life that makes me accustomed to people pointing cameras at me because of the man I’m with, whether a movie star or director or a top politician I’ve never known anything like this The size of the crowds, their curiosity, their involvement in the scene were stunning Much of the time we were paralleling Interstate 80 When that happened, we caused a traffic jam People went just as fast as the train—at sixty-one miles per hour—and gaped At one point the automobiles were lined up seven full miles behind us At rest stops, we would see semi-truck drivers on top of their vans, taking pictures with their little cameras I asked Steve Lee if he had ever stopped to take a picture of a semitruck He said no He added that the semi-truck drivers never stopped to take a picture of a diesel locomotive It was then I learned how America has lost her heart to steam-driven locomotives One day on the trip we left the 844 for an afternoon in Cheyenne to go by automobile to the Ames Monument and then on to the site of the Dale Creek Bridge We walked through the cuts that led to the bridge, where we gathered up some spikes and other items The gorge itself is more than formidable I can’t imagine any twenty-first-century engineer deciding to put a bridge across it I’m sure there are some who might, but I don’t know them The most memorable feature of the trip was the presence of Don Snoddy, the historian of the Union Pacific, and Lynn Farrar, who held the same post for decades at the Southern Pacific They ate meals with us, were with us in the observation car, sat with us at various sidings, and talked They are wonderful sources They know damn near everything about the railroads As one example, riding north of Laramie, they began pointing out grading that had been abandoned Every town on the line had a story to go with it Don and Lynn pointed out what happened here, there, all over They talked about how this was built, and that, or what this or that slang word meant And anything else It was a thrill for us to be with them for a week Then they read the script and saved me from many, many errors Don was also the driving force behind the trip from Omaha to Ogden My thanks to the Union Pacific for making it possible for me and Moira to take the trip that will always sparkle above all others for us Dedication For Alice Mayhew Contents Introduction ONE PICKING THE ROUTE 1830-1860 TWO GETTING TO CALIFORNIA 1848-1859 THREE THE BIRTH OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 1860-1862 FOUR THE BIRTH OF THE UNION PACIFIC 1862-1864 FIVE JUDAH AND THE ELEPHANT 1862-1864 SIX LAYING OUT THE UNION PACIFIC LINE 1864-1865 SEVEN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC ATTACKS THE SIERRA NEVADA 1865 EIGHT THE UNION PACIFIC ACROSS NEBRASKA 1866 NINE THE CENTRAL PACIFIC ASSAULTS THE SIERRA 1866 TEN THE UNION PACIFIC TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 1867 ELEVEN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC PENETRATES THE SUMMIT 1867 TWELVE THE UNION PACIFIC ACROSS WYOMING 1868 THIRTEEN BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE MORMONS MAKE THE GRADE 1868 FOURTEEN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC GOES THROUGH NEVADA 1868 FIFTEEN THE RAILROADS RACE INTO UTAH JANUARY 1—APRIL 10, 1869 SIXTEEN TO THE SUMMIT APRIL 11-MAY 7, 1869 SEVENTEEN DONE MAY 8-10, 1869 Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index MAPS From Chicago to Omaha Nebraska Wyoming Mormon graders at work in Echo Canyon At the top, they are bringing down rocks for a fill and to make certain no rocks tumbled down to interfere with the scrapers working on the roadbed In the bottom photograph, they are digging out a cut Photos taken in 1868 Mormons dig out the East Tunnel—the second of four It was 772 feet long and consumed 1,064 kegs of black powder As it was being dug, the UP built a flimsy eight-mile temporary track over a ridge Photo taken 1869 A UP train crosses the Weber River, having just gone through Tunnel Photo taken 1869 One of the Casements’ construction trains near Bear River City, Wyoming Bear River City was one of the worst Hell on Wheels towns The dock of the steamships and the Pacific Rail Road Depot at the Sacramento River Wharf, where the CP began Here rails, spikes, cars, and locomotives, shipped around South America from New York and other eastern ports, were unloaded and started toward the end of track At Sailor’s Spur, a cut is being made in the background and the debris being hauled by onehorse carts to the fill in the area in the foreground This took enormous patience, since everything was being done by muscle power Photo taken summer 1866 Chinese laborers at work from both ends of the Heath’s Ravine Bank in the Sierra Nevada—one cartload of rock and dirt at a time The trees have been cleared away on both sides of the fill; at the top center are trunks piled up to be cut at a sawmill for ties Photo taken summer 1867 Chinese laborers at work on the Prospect Hill cut in the Sierra Nevada A CP train going through Bloomer Cut, just beyond Newcastle, California It was 63 feet deep and 800 feet long Every foot of the way had to be blasted with gunpowder, and the CP used five hundred kegs of powder a day to it It was completed in the spring of 1865 and still stands today, although the line now runs through two tunnels to the north Fort Point Cut in the mountains It was 70 feet deep and 600 feet long The Chinese hauled away the debris layer after layer A freight train rounding Cape Horn, California Cape Horn is just short (west) of Dutch Flat It was three miles long The Chinese laborers did the work of blasting out and making the roadbed The slope was at an angle of seventy-five degrees and the American River was 1,200 to 2,200 feet below the line of the railroad One magazine commented, “Good engineers considered the undertaking preposterous.” Work began in the summer of 1865 and was completed in the spring of 1866 Top left: Taken in the summer of 1867, this photo shows a Chinese tea carrier outside one of the thirteen tunnels the CP drilled through the Sierra Nevada Left: Another worker is hauling debris out of the east portal of the Summit Tunnel (length: 1,659 feet), which was drilled through both ends and from the inside out in both directions Above: The tunnel before completion The CP began drilling in the fall of 1865, and the Chinese worked twentyfour hours a day The first train went through on November 30, 1867 And then the snows came The winter of 1866-67 was one of the worst ever The CP tried everything to get through the snow j but even these gigantic plows on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada couldn’t buck their way through Eventually the CP built miles and miles of snowsheds; at left is a photograph taken by Albert Hart of the frame for one of them This was one of the early, experimental ones, between Cisco and Summit, built in 1867 Donner Lake as seen from the summit The west portals of Tunnels and can be seen The track hugs the mountains and the south side of the lake Photo taken summer 1867 In 1868 the CP track got through the Sierra Nevada and down to the Truckee River This is a Howe truss bridge across the river at Eagle Gap Superintendent of Construction James Harvey Strobridge’s car at the end of the track He was the only man on either railroad to bring his wife and all the other comforts of home Photo taken probably in summer 1868 in Nevada By 1868 the CP was laying out track in the Nevada desert That meant the men, horses, and engines had to have water Here Locomotive 49, the El Dorado, fills its containers at Humboldt Lake to take water to the end of the track The first construction train to go through Palisade Canyon in eastern Nevada., along the Humboldt River Below: An Indian looks down at the CP from the top of the canyon Photos taken in late 1868 The race ended in the spring of 1869 Leland Stanford and his party at Devils Gate Bridge, east ofOgden, Utah, on Weber River, May 8, 1869 They were just looking around, waiting for the UP to reach Promontory Summit for the driving of the last spike, and for Durant to be released from the workers who had held up his train at Piedmont Noon, April 28, 1869, Camp Victory, Utah The CP’s track layers have just completed putting down and spiking in six miles of track They would four more that afternoon, setting a record that still stands Done! East and West shake hands in a famous photograph by A J Russell The CP’s engine Jupiter is on the left (it is using wood for fuel; thus the smokestack is round and covered by a screen to catch sparks) The UP’s Engine No 119 is on the right (it used coal for fuel and thus had a straight smokestack) The Great Event poster ... automobile to the Ames Monument and then on to the site of the Dale Creek Bridge We walked through the cuts that led to the bridge, where we gathered up some spikes and other items The gorge itself... known anything like this The size of the crowds, their curiosity, their involvement in the scene were stunning Much of the time we were paralleling Interstate 80 When that happened, we caused a traffic... legendary Stephen Lee as engineer The fireman was Lynn Nystrom This was the last steam engine bought by the UP in 1943—and it was used until the late 1950s, then neglected, then restored to become the