EAST MEETS WEST by Jerry Carlile The last rail is laid. The last spike is driven. The Pacific railroad is finished. From Promontory, a windy summit in northern Utah, one cold May day in 1869, these words sped across the country's telegraph strands. The waiting nation rejoiced to hear them. For nineteen long years, the transcontinental railroad had been in the making. In 1850, it had been only a dream of farsighted Americans for the next twelve years it remained almost a dream, though government surveyors tramped the west searching for possible routes. But in 1862, the Civil War blazed into reality. A railroad became a military necessity to bind the Pacific Coast to the Union. President Lincoln quickly authorized construction, and work was begun the following year. Union Pacific worked from Omaha westward, and Central Pacific from California toward the east. However, the money-seeking bankers and politicians were in no hurry. Years wasted while they schemed to obtain the government cash subsidies, $16,000 a mile on the plains and $32,000 to $48,000 a mile in the mountains. It was not until 1868 that the two companies had graded as far as Utah. Central Pacific's tracks were laid across the desert country west of Great Salt Lake, while Union Pacific graded down Echo and Weber canyons, thence around the north end of the lake. Thus far, the railroad crews had done the work, but the job of clawing the grades through the canyons was done by Mormon settlers on sub-contracts from Union Pacific. Nonetheless, Mormon communities felt the impact of the Gentile invasion. The year of 1868 brought to Echo, Utah, the wildest period in its otherwise calm history. Tent saloons, gambling houses, and brothels mushroomed to fleece the laborers who flocked in. Men often disappeared overnight. At one time, seven unidentified bodies were removed from a hole under a saloon and gambling hall. It was thought the tent covered a trap door through which refuse and dead men were dumped. The town quieted quickly when the rails moved west. Echo was just a representative of all those towns that lived so briefly along the line of march. And who were the men responsible for this historic band of wood and steel? Of course there were bankers, politicians, executives, men of wealth and influence, but most of all there were laborers strong men undismayed by back-breaking, hand-blistering work. There were all races and colors. Strapping and noisy Irish "paddies" predominated on the U. P. crews, while wiry, tough, yellow skinned Chinamen sweated for Central Pacific. There are still those in Weber County who remember Old Tom Calhoun. During the 1870's and 80's he was a familiar figure on Ogden streets. Always well-dressed and gallant, Tom kept his hat tilted to cover the place where his scalp used to be, for while he was working on the railroad crossing Nebraska in the 1860's he was wounded in a fight with Indians. His hair was "lifted" while he was alive. When it became evident that the cross-country line would miss Salt Lake, Brigham Young had tracks laid between Salt Lake and Ogden, calling his railroad the Utah Central. The route was completed in 1870, and in 1871 was extended south under the name Utah Southern. It was this that resulted in the first real exploitation of the low grade silver, lead and copper ore deposits in Bingham Canyon. Then, in 1883, the Denver and Rio Grande Western graded into Utah from Colorado, through the richest coal fields in the state. The Carbon-Emery region suddenly sprang to life. Everywhere sleepy communities emerged from years of near-isolation to a new awareness of themselves. Population increased, rich mines opened up, and lands were redeemed by farmers who now had new markets for their produce. With the railroad, prosperity had come to the Utah country. In 1903, after a year and a half of work, one of the greatest improvements in Utah railroading was completed by Southern Pacific the Lucin Cutoff across Great Salt Lake. The 102 miles of track between Ogden and Lucin includes some thirty miles of trestle-work and rock-fill. Hundreds of trainloads of rock and 38,000 trees were hauled out to use in the construction. Today, operating from the town of Saline, the Lucin Cutoff Safety Patrol makes rounds in small businesslike motor boats to check on the fills and the trestlework. It is interesting to note that, though it is east of the dividing line between Mountain and Pacific time, Ogden in railway practice is the place to reset watches. Travelers going east advance their timepiece an hour, while those westbound retard theirs an hour. At the time the first railroad into Utah was mentioned, much fear was aroused in the Mormon populace, for they feared, rightly, that many undesirable features would accompany it. However, the benefits incurred since the coming of the rails, the progress made, and the prosperity attained, quickly counterbalance any doubt as to its desirability. The railroads are today an important part of our Utah scene. Page 8 COWMAN by Marjorie Hill Bang! The shot echoed down the valley, and the last lone redskin fled on his frightened pony, leaving the cowboy panting and weary, his shoulder bleeding slightly where an Indian bullet had grazed the flesh. He could not afford the time to rest or to bind up his wound, and he signaled across the sea of milling backs for Slim and Joe to start moving. They were lucky to have been able to prevent the cattle from stampeding. The Indian menace was only one of the obstacles facing the early stockmen of Utah. There were also cattle diseases to be contended with, rustlers to be fought, and long, hard treks of hundreds of miles to be made to cattle markets. And yet the lean, sunburned cowboys could take it, for it was a profitable business, and one in which a man made and kept his own laws. The cowboy worked hard and played hard, reflected a spirit of freedom matching the open country which was his home. His boots and ten-gallon hat were a familiar sight of the time. The newly-opened western territory was ideal for stock raising, with vast stretches of grazing land seeming to invite herds. The buffalo had used the ranges; now the Longhorn cattle of the white man would eat, and grow, and make him rich. After a number of years of widespread cattle raising, during which the growing industry thrived, it became apparent that uncontrolled grazing on timber lands was detrimental to the diminishing resources of the country. Thus, in 1891, national forests were set aside, and six years later a new grazing policy was adopted under the regulations of the U.S. Forest Service. Under this policy, stockmen were, and still are, allowed controlled grazing on forest lands upon obtaining of a permit to do so. This system has benefited the stockmen through increasing the carrying capacity of the land, and has done much to preserve our forest resources. Stock raising is still one of Utah's most important and lucrative occupations. Ogden city's annual stock show is a great event for many interested westerners, and is known throughout the country. The romance of the range has largely disappeared now, however; it is preserved only in the colorful rodeos widely supported today by everyone who enjoys a glimpse of the old west and in dude ranches perched here and there in the high hills and lake country of the intermountain west. Page 9