Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-07

California side in 1854: on the eastern end
In 1856. and the early part OF the year 1869
witnessed It's entire completion. Consider
ing that its length ls over 1900 miles: tina
much Of IL lay through an almost unknown
and ~unexplored country; that Il crosses
two great continental ranges OF mountains
and almost innumerable sub-ranEes; that
even the feeble centers Of population along
the line were 500 miles apart; that. for dis
tances of from 200 70 500 miles there was
no timber for ties, and for distances Of
from fifty to 200 miles there was no water
for even drinking uses, and no grass 10
feed animals; that all the iron for one
half the road had to be shipped around
Cape Horn or across the Isthmus OF Pan
ANA. and for the other to be freighted
across the country from Pennsylvania
thinking Of all these elements Of delay,
difficulty and cost, surely neither argu-
ment nor rhetoric is necessary to place
this work in its true proportions and it's
true relations before the world, and in the
pages Of history"
To support his admiration Of the Pacific
railroad builders, Mr.. Bowles cited the cost
OF that section that climbs 1000 feet I'D the
Sierras in 100 miles, and 100 more added for
detours and twistings. One hundred thou
sand dollars a mile, he declared, was the
average cost, with some miles running to
an expenditure Of $500, 900. A million dol
lars in gold was spent in that section for
blasting powder.
In the summer Of 1858 the track was laid
on the Divide" In the presence OF a dis
tinguished party, including Vice President
Colfax.
AS the work of the pioneer railroad
builder fades further into the past. the
credit for the achievement more and more
centers on the men who planned the roads,
and, since only a part of the record can be
preserved, II is fair that the big men should
be called big. But 1t seems a pity to lose
the minor records, the stories OF sub
contractors working against time to bore a
tunnel or bridge a shifting river Of sand.
These were the men who had to turn the
turbulent, restless frontier laborer into a
steady worker to finish their allotted Sec
tions on time. These were the men who
had to meet the pioneer farmer, prejudiced
against railroads on principle, and in some
way dismantle the farmers fortress and
grade the road through in spite Of threats
and hourished guns.
One COntractOr's Experience.
1t was one of these men who, in building
~ RAAea To aAllOdu CIO ANlLOHds mel
the most curious problem he ever faced. He
was a capable, resourceful Irishman and he
had secured the contract for grading a hum
dred miles across the Arizona wastes. At
one end OF his section he set a gang OF
Mexcans to work and at the other a larger
gang Of friendly Yuma Indians. And be-
cause OF his resourcefulness and frontier ex-
~perience he kept both forces at work at
wages a white man would scorn.
AS the work progressed and the two gangs
approached within ten miles of each other,
the contractor figured out his rate Of prog
ress, the time still left to complete the
grade according to contract, then rode
across to the camp of Mexicans and dis
charged every man. The Indians. 10 cal
culated, could complete the work alone, and
be would save $500 in wages-the difference
between the Indian and the Mexican de-
mands.
When the Mexicans had scattered to the
winds, beyond the possibility of re-employ-
ment, the Great Spirit appeared to the chief
If the Yumas and forbade the Indians to
get pick or shovel into the ground where
their ancestors had engaged in a fierce,
Iloody battle and where many Of their bones
were buried. The Great Spirit said that
those old warriors were guarding that
9hCEcu BTOuDu, mOuntcu Ou bWlllta luNlbtDlO
gteeds and armed with deadly ghost arrows,
and II the railroad grading advanced one
foot into their preserve the whole tribe
would be stricken.
The s~ub-contractor heard this from the
chief Of the Yumas; he took it to mean a
demand for higher pay; he offered to raise
che wages to the Mexican standard, to save
trouble; he even reached the white man
rate, but the Indian would not listen, only
naying that much money could not save his
men from the wrath of outraged spirits.
DAY after day the contractor labored with
the Indian and always the same answer
came: "Propitiate the angry spirits and
we will go on"
An Irishman and necessity made very good
parents Of invention and on the sixth day
Of the delay Brady came out Of his tent
arrayed in all the paint, feathers and hnery
ne could attach to himself, and holding in
his hand a charm which he told the chief
would protect his men from spirit arrows
and enable them to go on to the end Of
their labor, as the Great Spirit had origi-
nally ordained. Marshaling the Indians
in a compact body, Brady led them out onto
the ancient battlefield, uncorking as he
went a bottle Of ammonia, and q~uieting for
ever the uneasy and hostile spirits. He
finished his section Of road on time and
naved his $500 in wages.
So, wit and resource were as necessary
among the railroad builders as they are
among empire builders. Blunders were
heavily punished and daring was richly
To this generation. used to a
aettled order, penny wise and methodical,
the tales told by the old men Of work done
and difficulties surmounted appear like