Union Pacific Page #10

you and I have fought

side by side many times.

We've been through

hell and high water...

robbed the same chicken

coop, chewed on the same bone.

But you're on the other

side in this fight...

and the next time I see you on Union

Pacific property, I'll have to...

You got a match?

Won't your conscience

bother you for letting me go?

There's grub and blankets

in the pack on that horse.

I won't be hung for

horse stealing, will I?

[chuckles]

Belonged to an Indian.

He won't need it anymore.

All right.

All right. I'll get going.

Where to?

Central Pacific.

You're going to help the

road that's trying to beat us?

Yeah.

I'm gonna help them the same

way I helped the Union Pacific.

Here. You might need that.

Don't deal any cards off

the bottom with it. Thanks.

Extra cartridges in the pack. Thanks.

You're all aces, bucko.

But you're in love with Mollie...

and don't you ever forget she's my wife.

I might. She wouldn't.

Now, when the Central meets the

Union's tracks, I'll be there, Jeff...

and you and the Union Pacific

and the devil himself...

won't keep me from my wife.

I'd hate to kill you with your own gun.

I'll be there, Dick.

Oh, Jeff...

you're wasting your time on Campeau.

The man behind him is

Barrows, the banker.

Thanks.

So long, Dick. So long, bucko.

[wind howling]

Thirty days? Thundering

Hades! We can't lose one day.

The ground in that tunnel is frozen

harder than rock. We can't dig through!

We've got to blast

every inch for 900 feet.

Stuck here for 30 days?

And Ogden only 60 miles away.

And the Central on the plains...

with nothing to stop them

but daisies and buttercups.

In the Army, when we can't smash

through the enemy's center...

we always go around the flanks.

What's that, Butler?

Lay a track on the snow.

What? On the snow?

On the snow? No one

ever laid track on snow.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Go ahead, Butler. I'll

show you what I mean.

Go around the mountain

instead of through it.

Then finish your tunnel

later. Impossible.

Impossible?

It was impossible to lay

four miles of track a day...

impossible to clear out the gamblers...

impossible to make

engines climb mountains.

Jumping Beelzebub! It was impossible

for Moses to cross the Red Sea.

Why can't we lay track on top of snow?

Well, let's find out.

[all muttering]

You never seen the like.

A track laid on 10 feet of snow.

We have the race as good as won.

[chuckling]

Come here before you hang yourself.

That Jeff Butler...

don't wear all his

brains in his holster.

Who's going to take

the first train over?

Now, who else would they be trusting

to it but me and old McPherson.

It is a chancy thing, so

don't go breaking your neck.

Well, 'tis the first time for

an engine to run on snow...

and if he don't like it,

I'll put snowshoes on him.

Here, open your mouth and

take what's good for you.

Tastes like it come out

of McPherson's boiler.

The highest and longest

railroad in the whole world...

had just come out of McPherson's boiler.

So don't you be insulting him.

Here...

take this along in case you...

Let me kiss you to keep you warm.

Looks like you won't need to put

those snowshoes on him, Monahan.

Well, he's been through fire and snow...

and if he comes to a

river, he'll swim it.

[laughing]

They're going to make it. Sure they are.

Jump, Monahan! Jump!

There she goes! Look out, Monahan!

They're both gone!

(Casement) Poor old Monahan.

[gasping]

[panting]

I know you're hurting me...

no more than you can help.

Monahan!

Monahan! Praise Heaven, you're alive.

I fell clear. We'll get you out.

It's no use, Jeff.

Me and him has come to End of Track.

Oh, no.

Now. Oh, no, it's no use.

You'll have to beat the Central...

to Ogden without us...

if you can.

That'll be hard without you.

Mollie's cross.

Bury us both together, Jeff.

Here where we can hear

the trains thundering by.

There's nothing like

hearing an engine whistle...

in the still night.

What's to be done now?

Start shoring up that track, Dusky.

And what will happen

to the railroad now?

As soon as the track's

shored up, we'll try again...

with another train.

Hook this car on it, will you?

There's only one thing wrong

about dying in the snow, Jefferson.

A fella's liable to catch cold!

Here she comes! Tighten up!

Good boy, Jeff! The

Central can't beat us now.

He's over! They've made it!

[all cheering] I told

you they could do it!

You passed the 1000 Mile

Tree back there, General.

We're gonna beat them, Jeff.

We lay six miles of track

today, seven tomorrow...

Then wire your congratulations

to the Central Pacific.

Why? What's wrong?

That parlor engineer that Asa M. Barrows

brought with him just condemned...

27 miles of our track.

What? Condemned 27 miles?

Why, that'll let the Central

into Ogden ahead of us.

Barrows, huh?

Boy...

Get me Leach Overmile

and Fiesta. Yes, sir.

You lay the track into

Ogden, General Casement...

I'll handle Mr. Barrows.

You'll regret this.

You'll regret this as long as you...

Don't you worry none

about us, Mr. Barrows.

You just think about yourself. Here.

This is plain abduction.

Do you hear that, Fiesta?

Abduction.

[chuckling]

That is why I had to

marry my first wife.

[laughing]

How much do you want?

We don't want nothing. We're just interested

in the Union Pacific, same as you are.

Here, put that on.

Now, about this track you

say won't pass inspection.

What about it?

You and us are going to walk over

every inch of that 27 mile of track...

and then you're going to show

us every place that needs fixing.

What?

And then you're going to fix it.

Walk over 27 miles of track.

Here's your cane, Mr.

Barrows. Time's a-wasting.

##[Leach and Fiesta humming]

Here's another one, right there.

[sighing]

Seems to me like I've found more

the matter with this track...

than you have, Mr. Barrows.

He will ruin the railroad.

You're all mixed up, Mr. Barrows.

You're trying to drive the

tie through the spike...

instead of the spike through the tie.

##[humming]

I do declare, he's improving.

General Casement. Yeah?

At this very moment, the

Union Pacific's first train...

is pulling into Ogden, Utah.

The victor in the great

race to girdle the continent.

Say, does the New York Tribune

own this telegraph line?

We're about to turn it

over to the Boston Post.

Gentlemen...

President Grant has chosen

Promontory Point, west of Ogden...

as the place where the two Pacific

railroads shall meet and join their rails.

Promontory Point? Where is that?

And so President Grant has chosen

Promontory Point as the meeting place...

[all chattering] for the two railroads.

The actual meeting place...

[knocking on door]

Jeff.

I've not seen you in a month of Sundays.

Sit yourself down.

I just came over to say goodbye before

you get lost in the crowd out there.

Everybody's coming to

see the engines meet.

You know...

California sent a golden

spike to clinch the last rail.

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