edge. tolessth an eigh teenin chesa year i nthe
west ernpans.Summe rraino ften poursdown in
fi erceth u ndersto rms and can brin gsudde nan d
destructivefloods.Dro u ghts happenevenm or e often
th anfloo d s.Thes elong.d ryperiodsb ringth e dange r
ofpra irietift'S,whichraceacrosstheg rasslandsand
bu rneverythingintheirpath.Inw interrhcGreat
Plainsbecomeverycold.T em peratu resdrop as low
as_-tOOFah renh eitand VIOlen t,wmdysno ws torms
sweep acrossth e flat .openland.
Int hemid d leo f then ine teenthct'nturytheG reat
Plainsw erethehomeofwandering Am erindian
hunterssuchasth e Sioux.Thelin's o f th esepeople
dependedupont hevastherdsofbuffalothatgrazed
0 11theseaofgrass.The buffaloprovidedthe
Amerin d ians w it hcverv rhin gthey needed.T heyate
its meat.Theym adeclothesfromits skin.Theyabo
stretchedits sk inover polesto make th ete pe esthey
lived in.Theyshape dirsbonesinto k nives.tools,
andornaments.
Inth e I840sand1850sthousa ndsofw h itt'people
crosse dtheGreat Plain sroreachth e farmsofO regon
and the goldfield so f Californ ia.Tothemth eregion
wasnotsomewhere[ 0se t t le and m ak enewhomes
buta placetopass throughasq uicklyaspossible.
Theysawit asunwelcomingand dangerous.and
werehappytoleaveit to th eAm eri ndi an s.They
agreedw ithrhcmapmakc rsofthetime,w how ro te
the name"GreatAmericanD esert "acrossthewhole
area.
Yetwithintw ent y- fin:yearsofth eendofthe Civil
War, pr actically all of t heGreatPlainsh adbeen
dividedintostates and territories.Ran ch erswere
feedinglargeher dsofcattleonthe"seaofg rass, "
farmerswere ploug h ingthe" G rearAmerican
Desert"to g ro wwheat, sheepher ders wereg razin g
theirflocks o n the foo th illsofrheRock yMountains.
13 y18Y()th esepa ra teareasofsenlemcmo n the Pacific
Co ast andalo ng the MississippiRiverhad mo ved
together.TIll'frontier,that movingboundaryof
whitt"settlementth athadbeen oneofthemost
Importantfact or sin Am eric anlifeeversince the
timeo f rhc Pilgrims. haddi sap peared.
Railro ad splayed animpo rt antpartin this"dosing "
of thefro nti er.D uringtheC ivil War,Congresshad
be-comean xioustojointhegold - richsettle me nts
alongthePacificCoastmorecloselyto th e restofrhe
UnitedSrarcs.In 1862it g ran tedlan dand mo ne yto1 4 MINE R S ,!{AILRO AI ) S.\NllCAflU,M L !';th eUnionPacificRail roa dCompanytobuilda
railroadwcsrfromth e M ississip pitowardsthe
Pacific.Atthesametime it gavea sim ilargranttoth e
Central Pac ifi c Railr o adCompan ytobuildeastwar ds
fro mC alifo rn ia.
Thro ug ho utthe1860s gangsofwork me nlabored
withpicks,sho velsandgunpowderto b uildthetwo
lines.Mostofth eworkersontheU n ionPacificwere
Irish m eno rotherrecentimmigran ts fromEurope.
TheCentral Pacificworker s werem ainlyChinese.
whohad beenbrough t to Americaun dercontract
especiallytod o rileJo b.
T he railro adworke rs'p rogressdependedmainlyo n
th e lando verw h ichth eyhadtobuild.Onth eRat
GreatPlain sth eycou ldmo veforwardquickly,
buildin gup tosixmileso f railroadin aday.Am o ng
therocksandcliffsoftheSierr aNevadamounta ins
theirprogrl'Sswasslower.Sometimesitwould take
daysofd ifticultand dangeroustunnelingtomow
fo rw arda fewyards.
5')