To build a rail line in uninhabited lands took a large team of men to do the work and men to provide supplies, new rail, and fresh meat for the workers and I can imagine large camps with rows of tents in the vast prairies with armed men standing vigil watching for possible attack by Indians. In places near the rail line where there was shelter from the sun and break from the winds I am sure that they had their main camps as they worked on the rail road. No dozers in those days just hundreds of men with primitive tools pushing themselves to the limit to do the impossible.
Considering the adversity of weather and Indian attack it must have taken a long time to construct, and even with a steady flow of supplys, a long ordeal for the men. As we drive along the railroad today and see it diminish out of sight, its hard to realize just how far it goes and how hard it was to build. Teams of men clearing roadbed, carrying rail and driving iron pegs while overcoming adversity that would stagger us today.
I discovered while studying old maps that these railroads were here much longer than I thought and almost everyone and everything moved along these tracks. I am researching the ghost towns that existed long ago along the railroad and I also am trying to get all the information that I can on the railroad itself and early work camp sites. It is easy to see in the hot steamy prairies how that large crews of men rested in the only shade that they could find along these sites and probably ate and slept there too. That means many of the large old trees around old trestles and creek beds would be prime areas for these campsites.
The only pastime the men had was playing cards and gambling after the work was done. I don't think they could spend money on anything else so men did what men always did just gamble their hard won money away in the lust for more and the hope for a better life. All of these old railroad camps should hold a goodly supply of coins and artifacts
Many of these roadbeds have been improved by raising them and adding crushed rock to the beds where they rested on the earth before, but they are still in the same place they have always been. When the steam engines pulled the trains through the new frontier they would likely stop at every water hole because they had to --- they were steam and they needed the water. People would pile out and walk around while the train watered and provisions for the little town site would be off loaded. Remember it took all these little town sites to provide elevated water for the engines and people to provide these services.
These small towns quickly learned that the passengers were easy pickin's and saloons and other establishments designed to deprive the passenger of his money were readied for the next train. So the West grew and spread. Years later as new engines that did not require water were developed the little towns died and only the wood sign along the railroad may yet remain to signify a water supply ahead and I remember riding down the road along the railroad as a child and seeing these little white signs with a name nailed to a pole along the track. At that time many of the old watering hole towns had died and gone away but some remained that had other forms of commerce.
We have a wonderful almost unlimited resource to find sites and old coins and artifacts. There are several sources of maps of early railroads available today but our best asset is our keen imagination and the clues that are still available in some places of the old sites. For myself I intend to spend some time this year "workin' on the railroad" and I'll let you know how it turns out.
