3.  Sacramento Union January 1865  Nevada, Placer, Plumas, and Sacramento counties had 29,844 males age 20-40.  “Nothing was scarcer in California than labor in 1865.”  Central Pacific’s solution: Chinese  The end of the Civil War created a readily available work force in the east.  John Joseph McGlinchey  Omaha’s population doubled in 1865 to 15,00 due to the influx of U.P. laborers. 1 2 3 6 4 5

4. 6 7 8

5. Union Pacific in Nebraska 910

6.  Temporary wooden trestles would be constructed to progress the tracks ahead, and later replaced by masonry.  “There was no boat within reach of us or any ford... The only practical way was for someone to swim across… I let myself down into the water, which on touching bottom, proved to be several feet over my head in depth. This proved to me that I sure enough had some swimming to do.”  Charles Sharman at North Platte Crossing 11 12 13

7. “Hell on Wheels” 15 14

8.  Attacks by Sioux and Cheyenne were commonplace during construction.  Gen. Grenville Dodge  Charles Sharman 16 17

9. 18 19

10.  Job Duties  Grading, Tunneling  Diet  Meats, fish, grains, vegetables, fruits and tea.  Environment  Sierra Nevada Mountains, High Desert of Nevada and Utah  Life  Tents/Cabins, Clean, Healthy, Conflict Free Irish  Job Duties  Grading, Track Laying (UP & CP), Tunneling, Bridge Building  Diet  Meat, bread, beans, potatoes, water.  Environment  Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Wasatch Range, High Desert of Utah.  Life  Dormitory cars, unsanitary, attacks by Natives, bounty hunters, gun fights.