Page 1 - 2003 DT 12 Issues
P. 1
What’s Inside!
Featured Articles
The “Iron Horse” Rides West..............1
Lewis & Clark Bicentennial................7
Special
In Memoriam......................................2
Boot Tracks.........................................3
Departments
January 2003 News & Notes....................................2
Programs & Hikes.............................4
Desk Schedule...................................6
Bulletin Board...................................8
The Iron Horse ○ ○ ○ who built the Great Wall of China. By by rail. We all yelled like to bust,
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said one spectator.
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Rides West ○ ○ ○ 1867, the UP had reached Abilene. ○ ○ ○ And what about Nevadahow did
Now the Texans had a rail link for the
great cattle drives to follow, creating the Iron Horse affect this harsh wilder-
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by Chuck Kleber ○ ○
one of the most colorful and highly ness that made pioneers in covered
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romanticized eras of the West. With- wagons dread the crossing? The im-
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rom the Mississippi River to the ○ ○ ○ ○ pact of the railroads was nothing short
Far West, you traveled by boat, ○ ○ ○ ○ of enormous. Some might say they
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Fcovered wagon, horseback, ○ “WANTED FOR RAIL- ○ made Nevada. Las Vegas was that
stagecoach . . .or you simply walked. ○ ○ ○ ○ water hole found by Antonio Armijo
It was that way for most of the 1800s. ○ ○ ○ ROAD WORK . . . ○ ○ ○ in 1829 while leading a party along the
Then came the railroad. It changed the ○ ○ ○ ○ Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. It
West, and most certainly, Nevada, in ○ ○ Teamsters, $40 per ○ ○ was an oasis of artesian spring water.
dramatic fashion. ○ ○ month and board; ○ ○ Explorers like John C. Fremont and
On July 1, 1862, President Lincoln ○ ○ Rock men, $3.50 per ○ ○ Mormon settlers came along later, but
not only pondered the retreat of his Army ○ ○ day of nine hours; ○ ○ it wasnt until 1904 that Las Vegas got
of the Potomac, he signed an act of ○ ○ ○ ○ a real boost, when the San Pedro, Los
monumental significance. It created the ○ ○ white laborers, $2.00 ○ ○ Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad laid
Union Pacific Railroad. It also created ○ ○ per day . . . .” ○ ○ tracks into the valley. The inaugural
great fortunes, down the road, for many ○ ○ ○ ○ run was on January 20, 1905. The com-
entrepreneurs. The railroads acquired ○ ○ ○ ○ pany bought land, water rights, built
enormous tracts of land and, depending ○ ○ railroad-servicing facilities and auc-
on where the rails were laid and towns out the Iron Horse, there would have tioned 700 lots. The railroad yards
constructed to link with the railroad, the been no Chisholm Trail with its cow- were along dusty Fremont Street,
value of that land would soar. ○ boys, saloons, dance-hall girls, ○ where the Plaza Hotel now stands. In-
While the Union Pacific drove gambling and gunfights. ○ ○ deed, this rail hub is still used, and it
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west, away in California, the Central ○ ○ Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho and ○ ○ is the only railroad station in the world
Pacific headed eastward. The rivalry other Plains Indians did their best to ○ ○ located inside a hotel-casino.
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between the two became epic. It was a stop this iron monster that drove away ○ ○ Working on the railroad was tough,
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far tougher task for the CP as they game and despoiled the land, but it ○ ○ and the pay was no great shakes either.
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faced great mountain barriers from the could only delay the inevitable. Prom- ○ ○ ○ To complete the link from Caliente,
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start. Driving west from Omaha, the ontory Point, Utah, May 10, 1869: the ○ ○ Nevada to Los Angeles, the contrac-
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UP had flat plains ahead. A shortage UPs No. 119 and the CPs Jupiter ○ ○ tors advertised for men in a Searchlight
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of labor was particularly felt by the CP. met. A golden spike was ceremoni- ○ ○ newspaper. WANTED FOR RAIL-
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Reluctantly, they turned to Chinese ○ ○ ously driven into the last rail and the ○ ○
laborers on a trial basis after being word flashed out to the entire nation. ○
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reminded that these were the people The Atlantic and Pacific were linked Iron Horse, continued on p. 6
