Wickedest City in the West
Two panels are mounted on the same stand.
Transcontinental Railroad
The dream of uniting America by rail began its journey to reality in June 1865 when the Union Pacific Railroad Company started laying track westward from Omaha, Nebraska. Construction was slow but finally reached this point two years later. On May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific met the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah.
The railroad company laid only nine miles of track in Colorado along the north side of the South Platte River. This sealed the fate of the military post, trails, towns and telegraph line along the south bank. Today, freight trains pass along this same route pioneered over 130 years ago.
Wickedest City in the West
"New Julesberg" started out in 1867 with forty men, one woman, four tents and a half-finished eating house. It became the third Julesberg and end of track on the Union Pacific Railroad. The town grew quickly to 1200 buildings, most devoted to some form of vice or illicit activity. This "Hell on Wheels" traveled westward with the railroad, serving the "social needs" of construction workers.
As the rails moved on to Cheyenne, Wyoming, New Julseberg quickly faded, but the name refused to die. When the Union Pacific began construction of its Denver branch line in the 1880's, a fourth Julesberg was founded. The small community remaining the third location changed its name to Wier.
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"I verily believe that there are men here how would murder a fellow creature for five dollars. Nay, there are men who have already done it and who stalk abroad in daylight unwhipped of justice. Not a day passes but a dead body is found somewhere in the vicinity with pockets rifled of their contents. But the people generally are strangely indifferent to what is going on." - Sir Henry Morton Stanley, New Julesberg, July 1867
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