Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

By: David Haward Bain

This seven hundred and ten page book has another hundred pages devoted to the Index, with lots of references to Brigham Young. The writer has, as I and many others have, a nostalgic response to the sound of the train whistle and the jostling of the tracks. The Wall Street Journal referred to this story as one that changed the country’s landscape, and altered the horizon of the nation. This was especially true in the Great Basin. The mountains which encircled the Saints were no longer a barrier to the outside world. Trains brought an influx of outsiders, merchandise, and store goods. For some, it brought a way out. Many never returned.