Existing comment:
Rungs Of a Ladder
A Sioux warrior looked down at the construction crew below. From his vantage point atop a bluff it appeared the workers were building a giant ladder across the land. The ladder had iron sides and rungs made of wooden cross-ties. Mule skinners hauled ties to the end-of-track while workers laid them out along the survey line, 2500 ties to the mile.
Central Pacific built sawmills in the heavily-timbered Sierra Nevada mountains and produced identical finished ties.
Union Pacific used hand-hewn ties delivered from tie-cutting camps in the mountains. |