t to the Mormons. West of President Young's section the
grading was done by Sharp & Young, the same parties mentioned above as
subcontractors under President Young. It was conceded that the Mormons
carried out their contracts not only to the letter, but in the spirit.
Doing some of the best work on the line.

The track laying proper was done by General J. S. (Jack) Casement and
his brother, D. T. (Dan), with Captain Clayton as their
Superintendent. They had in their employ as high as two thousand men
at one time and worked under a contract that gave them a substantial
bonus for all track laid in excess of two miles a day, as well as made
them allowance for idle time occasioned by their being unable to work
on account of the grade not being ready for them. Thus they were to
receive eight hundred dollars per mile of track laid if two miles or
less was laid in a day. If they laid over two miles in one day they
were to receive twelve hundred dollars per mile, and for time they
were idle waiting for the grade they were to receive three thousand
dollars per day.

Many other names should be mentioned here and would did space permit,
but will have to be omitted.

The men who built the Union Pacific Railroad are entitled to great
credit and praise. They made money, much money out of the project, but
they were entitled to it. Their success brought in its train the usual
consequences, they have been accused of almost every crime in the
calendar, assailed by the press, investigated by Congress, and sued by
their less fortunate associates. Their achievement speaks for them
louder than words and they can leave their reputations to history for
vindication.

The line was originally laid with fifty pound iron from the mills of
Pennsylvania for four hundred and forty miles and with fifty-six
pound iron west of there. As has been mentioned before, the first
section was laid with cottonwood ties of local growth, treated by the
burnettizing process, which was erroneously supposed would prevent
decay. West of there hard wood ties from the East were used, some of
them coming from far away Pennsylvania, and costing the Company two
dollars and fifty cents laid down in Omaha. For the mountain section,
ties of local growth were largely and satisfactorily used. The basis
was twenty-four hundred ties to the mile on the plains, twenty-six
hundred and forty through the mountains, and twenty-five hundred west
of Laramie.

The lumber for bridges