The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-14

for blasting powder.
In the summer of 1858 the track was
| laid on the Divide" in the presence
| Of a distinguished party, including Vice
President Colfax-
With this rapid march of the railroad
across mountain and pain, there grew
up, at each stopping place, or camp,
of the builders rough. crude inpover-
ished town. This settlement, stood for
| perhaps. forty days; then the canvas
tents, broad shacks, and turf-shelters
were pulled down and moved forward
10 a new site So, al every advance
Of the workers, the mushroom cite faded
and blossomed. Few OF the inhabitants
of these temporary cities were employed
in railroad work-they were as parasites.
the camp followers the leech-sucking
the blood Of the men who hauled ties
and spiked rails. Restaurant and saloon
keepers. gamblers, refugees from border
justice, loafers painted women-these
made the stopping places a veritable
hell on wheels" The picture of one
OF these, given by Mr.. Bowles, is worth
reproducing.
when we were on the line this con-
gregation Of scum and wickedness was
within the desert section, and was call
ed Benton. One or two thousand men
and dozen CT two Of women were en-
camped on the alkan plains in tents
and board shanties; not q tree, not q
shrub, not a blade Of grass was visible.
The dust, ankle deep as we walked
through it, and so fine and volatile that
the slightest breeze loaded the air with
it, irritating every sense and poisoning
half of them; a village of a few variety
stores and shops; by day disgusting, by
night dangerous; almost everybody dirty
and many filthy, and with the marks of
lowest vice; averaging a murder day;
gambling and drinking, hurdy-gurdy
dancing and the vilest sexual commerce.
the chief business and pastime Of the
hcurs-this was Benton. Like its prede-
cesors, it fairly festered in corruption
disorder and death. and would have rot
ted, even in this dry air, had it cutlasted
a brief six-day life. But in a few weeks
its tents were struck, it's shanties RACED,
ard with their dwellers moved on fifty
or a hundred miles further. to repeat
their life for another brief day. Where
these people came from originally, and
where they went when the road was
finished and their occupation was over,
were both puzzles too intricate for me.
Hell would appear to have been raked
to furnish them: and to it they must
have naturally returned after graduating
here, fitted for its highest seats and
most diabolical service"
II whole aoror,- 1fe.I,-,,o.,+ eoa-,,a1
almost miraculous to this New England
editor, the grimy sordid details CT its
execution appeared twice exaggerated,
Those early railroad contractors could
not hire church-going men to do the
work, for the church-going man viii not
go TO the desert TO labor. and the from
tiersman is frankly wicked Mr.. Bowles
saw the worst; perhaps he overstated
the case: at any rate. these men built the
road with a speed that cripples and di-
sease-touehed workers could never equal.
As the work of the pioneer railroad
builder fades farther into the past the
credit for the achievement more and
more centers on the men who planned
the roads and since only part Of the
record can be preserved. it is fair that
the big men should be called big. But
it seems pity to lose the minor records,
the stories Of sub-conrractors working
against time % bore a tunnel or bridge
4 shifting river of sand. These were
the men who had to turn the turbulent.
restless frontier laborer into steady
worker to finish their allotted sections
on time. These We're the men who had
70 =
against railroads on principle, and in
scme' way dismantle the farmers for
tre5s and grade the road through in
spite Of threats and fourished guns.
II was one of these men who. in build |
ing the Santa TIE railroad across Ari- |
zona, met the most curious problem he
ever faced. He was capable. resource ]
fun irishman, and he had secured the |
contract for grading a hundred miles /
across the Arizona wastes At one end
Of his section he set a sang OF Mexicans
70 work. and at the other a larger gang
Of friendly Yuma Indians And because
cf his resoureefulness and frontier ex-
perience he kept both forces at work /
st 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 progress. the time stin left to /
the grade according to contract. /
then rode across to the camp of Aiexicans /
and discharged every man. The Indians.
he calculated would complete the work
alone, and he would save five hundred
dollars in wages-the difference between
The Indian and Mexican danar9s
When The Mexicans had scattered -