In 1864 when construction of the transcontinental railroad was begun the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads were a "whole country" apart. Although the Union Pacific faltered at first, taking three years to cross Nebraska, the incentives of land grants and government bonds for completed mileage proved a powerful incentive for more speed.In Wyoming they faced the bone chilling early months and sweltering summer, then the construction challenge of the climb up "Sherman Hill", bridging Dale Creek, crossing the Great Divide Desert and the never ending search for water. The surveyors and construction crews were repeatedly challenged by attacking Indians, and the new towns were overrun by outlaws, whiskey mills, and "ladies-of-the-night". But with unrelenting drive they crossed entire Wyoming, nearly 500 miles, in only 14 months.In this book the readers will fight off the Indians attacking the survey parties near Pine Bluffs, visit the hectic town of Cheyenne as they build up supplies for the coming months, gasp as the bridge builders erect a swaying bridge across Dale Creek, arrive in Laramie to photograph the triple "neck-tie" party that rid the town of the most egregious lawbreakers, struggle across the life-draining desert and two continental divides, and escape from the mob in Bear River City to arrive at Evanston to find the railroad already in Wasatch.During the Union Pacific's first years young photographer Arundel C. Hull followed the rails taking some of the very earliest photographs of the wild town and their inhabitants.