1868: Bound to Go Through

Summer, 1868
UP crews enter the rugged terrain of Echo Canyon.

Echo Canyon, Utah

After miles of plains, the Union Pacific got a taste of the Central Pacific's struggles as they reached Echo Canyon, Utah. Their longest tunnel, at the head of the canyon, cut through weak clay rock and had to be lined with supporting timbers. Another tunnel was excavated through black limestone and quartzite. Workers used nitroglycerin to blast all the tunnels. The Union Pacific also struggled with deep ravines, often bridging them with temporary trestles.

A Mormon Work Force

"Hurrah, hurrah, the railroad's begun.
Three cheers for the contractor, his name Brigham Young.
Hurrah, hurrah, we are faithful and true
And if we stick to it, it's bound to go through."
-- Mormon campfire song

As the Union Pacific approached the challenging mountains and canyons of eastern Utah, UP executive Thomas Durant turned to the head of the Mormon church, Brigham Young, for help. Young had welcomed the railroad through Utah and had financed initial scouting of the region years before. Durant made him an offer he couldn't refuse: Young was allowed to set the price for the labor. Mormon workers did not drink and gamble, and were dedicated laborers. They ended each day of work with prayer and song.

The Grasshopper Plague

"...Country was full of grasshoppers and every thing devoured by them and not a morsel of bread to be had... Consequently to work for the railroad."
-- Mormon worker Lewis Barney

Springtime brought a plague of grasshoppers to Utah, destroying crops and leaving many farmers desperate for work. At the same time, the UP was determined to push the meeting point as far West as possible, and sought more workers to speed progress. Thousands of Mormon men reported to work for the railroad, responding to advertisements in two Salt Lake City papers.

Trouble in Bear River City

"Enough dead bodies were gathered up in the street to fill quite a graveyard on the hillside..."
-- railroad worker Robert L. Fulton

Frontier justice -- and bloody reprisals -- prevailed in Hell on Wheels towns like Bear River City, Wyoming, near the Utah border. After vigilantes hanged a murderer, the hanged man's friends, railroad graders from a nearby camp, incited a vengeful mob. Numbering in the hundreds, the lawless bunch torched town buildings and started a deadly shoot-out with citizens trapped in a storeroom. U.S. troops from Fort Bridger imposed martial law until the track-layers had passed, and Bear River City soon became another railroad ghost town.