Adobe Ruins of Green River—Union Pacific Terminus.
Photograph, 1871, by E. O. Beaman, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.
Scene before Driving the Last Spike—Promontory Point, Utah, May 10, 1869.
John Duff in front, immediately beneath engine. Sidney Dillon at his left. The Reverend Doctor Todd asking a blessing.
Photograph by C. R. Savage for the Union Pacific Railway.
But these savages were little worse than those who composed a large part of the population of each terminus. They had different methods, that was all. Whiskey flowed free and drunkenness was, as usual with our European race, the great recreation. Gambling dives and grog shops made up a large part of the mushroom town that grew up at each official end of the track. All manner of people, like birds of prey, flocked to these places to secure a share of the money paid to the workers, who were numbered by thousands. Some buildings were fairly substantial, but there were many that were merely board sides with a canvas roof. Others were "dugouts," that is, holes in the ground roofed over with sticks and earth; in a side hill if possible. There were large numbers of tents. Where there were vertical clay banks along a dry water course, or a stream, these were burrowed into near the top, a square chamber being made seven or eight feet long, five or six high, and four or five deep, the outer side being closed by a blanket or canvas hung from the upper edge. Rents were high and any shelter at all was valuable.