Elizabeth

“Not all train wrecks signaled an invasion by robbers, however, and because of the relatively slow speeds of the early years, bruises rather than fatalities were the likely results, unless the accident occurred on a high bridge or mountain shoulder. Poor tracks and hot boxes (overheating of axle bearings) caused many wrecks, and a surprising number of passengers suffered injuries from falling or jumping out of open car windows. One of the pioneer passengers of 1869 recorded how it felt to be in a train wreck in Echo Canyon: “On we bounded over the ties, the car wheels breaking many of them as though they were but pipe-stems. Every instant we expected to roll down the ravine. We ordered the ladies to cling to the sides of the seats and keep their feet clear of the floor. It seemed as”
― Dee Brown, Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads

“None of those present who recorded the events of the day agreed on the number of people gathered there. Estimates ranged from five hundred to three thousand, but judging from the photographs, the total probably was between six and seven hundred, including the understrength companies of the Twenty-first Infantry, about twenty reporters and photographers, and twenty-one women, most of whom were wives of railroad officials and Army officers. “It was not a large crowd,” Sidney Dillon recalled. “In brass bands, fireworks, procession and oratory, the demonstration when ground was broken at Omaha, less than five years before, was much more imposing.” But it should be remembered that in May 1869, Promontory Point was remote and difficult to reach. Virtually all of America was there in spirit that day, awaiting eagerly the telegraphic flashes that would signal the symbolic union of the continent by iron rails.”
― Dee Brown, Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads

“Still another westbound traveler during that first year told of being shaken out of his seat when a Central Pacific train ran into a herd of cattle between Wadsworth and Clark’s Station, Nevada. The collision threw the locomotive off the track, but a telegrapher aboard climbed the nearest pole, tapped the line, and summoned a relief engine. During the eight-hour delay the hungry but resourceful passengers butchered the dead cattle, built a fire, and cooked steaks. Such encounters with cattle were among the most common causes of train wrecks in the West, and railroad men and ranchers were in constant friction for more than half a century over the rights of cattle to trespass upon railroad property.”
― Dee Brown, Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads

“In the heat of July, the U.P. was platting another town, which somebody ironically decided to name for Senator Thomas Hart Benton. The late senator had spent years advocating a transcontinental railroad along the 38th parallel, and now here was his town almost astride the predestined 42d parallel. Nearby, General Sherman’s Army was building Fort Fred Steele, and Dr. Durant’s promoters used its presence to create an air of permanence about the city of Benton and to boost the price of lots. Although the streets were filled with burning alkali dust, and water had to be hauled three miles in wagons from the North Platte River for a dollar per barrel, the lots were eagerly and quickly bought up. Two months later, Benton was a ghost town, with nothing left there but a sidetrack for the use and convenience of the fort.”
― Dee Brown, Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads