Life in the Camps of Workers on the TCRR

Tanner Nielsen

Period 2

US History

Hell On Wheels:

By: PBS, Charles Crocker, Jack Casement, and Francis Casement

Life in the Camps:
   Samuel Bowles observed representatives of the American culture in North Platte, Nebraska and this christened what he saw as "Hell on Wheels". Many boomtowns followed the town of North Platte, and they grew without law, causing a state of anarchy. This allowed the scoundrels of the town to do as they please. An amazing thing about these workers and their camps was that they could pack up at a moments notice and be on their way. They had no emotional attachment to any town and they would move wherever the economy was good and there was plenty of work. Cheyenne was the first town that was created to try and stop the hell on wheels that were happening in other camps and to create a sense of security for those that lived there. Cheyenne had laws and rules to keep the peace as well as a military post outside the city for protection. "Hell on Wheels" camp life was nonexistent in Cheyenne which caused it to be a very popular town that housed thousands. In May of 1868, the town Laramie in Wyoming was founded with a new type of town run government. The newly run government resigned after only 3 weeks. As soon as this happened, anarchy pillaged the streets and murders took place nightly.

      Life in the camps was aweful and was a pain everyday to even be there. There were so many hard times and problems in the boomtowns that it was amazing they were able to sustain (how ever long they did). Boomtowns were very unstable overall and very unsafe to live in.

Sources:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/tcrr/