d a scapegoat and Ames was
selected. This, and the anxiety and strain of the load he had been
carrying proved too much for him and he died May 8th, 1873. After his
death the voice of calumny silenced, his work and character received
the recognition it so well deserved.

The cost of material used in the construction of the road was
enormous, thus the ties brought from the East ran as high as two
dollars and fifty cents laid down in Omaha. The rails for the first
four hundred and forty miles one hundred and thirty-five dollars per
ton. This was before railroad connection was established between
Council Bluffs and the East. After that the price got down to
ninety-seven dollars and fifty cents per ton.

The pay of laborers ran from two dollars and twenty-five cents to
three dollars and fifty cents per day. Train men two hundred dollars
per month for conductors, one hundred and twenty-five dollars for
brakemen, two hundred dollars to two hundred and fifty dollars for
engineers, and one hundred and fifty dollars to one hundred and
seventy-five dollars for firemen. Telegraph operators eighty dollars
to a hundred dollars.

At times the Company (Credit Mobilier) was paying as high as five
hundred thousand dollars per month interest. And in fact it was
claimed by several of the directors that the paramount reason for the
haste displayed in building the road was not so much the competition
with the Central Pacific as it was to get rid of the enormous interest
charges they were paying and which they would cut off upon the road
being accepted by the Government and the consequent receipt of
Government Bonds.

CHAPTER IV.

_Commencement of the work._

Selection of Omaha as Eastern Terminus--Celebration Over Breaking
Ground--Speech, George Francis Train--Commencement of Work--Conditions
October, 1864--Routes Considered.

The first move towards the construction of the road was the selection
of an eastern terminus which by the Charter was left to the President
of the United States. This was fixed by President Lincoln on December
2nd, 1863, the official announcement being as follows: "I, Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States, do upon application of said
Company (The Union Pacific Railroad) designate and establish such
first above named point on the western boundary of the state of Iowa
east of and opposite to the east line of Section Ten in Township
fifteen, north of range thirteen, east of the sixth principa