“As the Railroad marched thus rapidly across the broad Continent of plain and mountain, there was improvised a rough and temporary town at its every public stopping-place. As this was changed every thirty or forty days, these settlements were of the most perishable materials,— canvas tents, plain board shanties, and turf hovels,—pulled down and sent forward for a new career, or deserted as worthless, at every grand movement of the Railroad company. Only a small proportion of their populations had aught to do with the road or any legitimate occupation. Most were the hangers-on around the disbursements of such a gigantic work, catching the drippings from the feast in any and every form that it was possible to reach them. Restaurant and saloon keepers, gamblers, desperadoes of every grade, the vilest of men and of women made up this ‘Hell on Wheels,’ as it was most aptly termed.” – Samuel Bowles, Our New West, 1869.
The towns, which followed the Union Pacific Railroad’s portion of the Transcontinental Railroad through Nebraska and Wyoming, tended to pop up out of nowhere near the end of track to meet the primary needs of hard-working men setting down the track: booze, prostitutes, and gambling. On a more wholesome note there was usually music and dancing and, when a larger settlement was near, a few shops and maybe a church. Generally speaking, there was only one murder per night.
These towns were portrayed in the 1924 silent film by John Ford called “The Iron Horse,” and later in the “Hell on Wheels” TV series aired between 2011 and 2016 on AMC. These towns did not appear on the Central Pacific section of the road out of Sacramento because that line employed a large number of Chinese workers who found nothing attractive in sex, gambling, and whiskey. Frankly, these towns remind me of certain sections of the liberty ports I saw in the Navy in Japan, Hong Kong, and The Philippines.
The Union Pacific had more than it could handle in surveying, grading, and putting down rail to bother much with the Hell on Wheels towns, though as Stephen E. Ambrose notes in Nothing Like it in the World (about the creation of the railroad between 1863 and 1869), on at least one occasion the bosses went into a Hell of Wheels town and blasted it to hell. This victory was short-lived.
According to PBS “American Experience,” “The most striking feature of these insurgent colonies was their portability. As winter thawed, and the railroaders built toward new towns, agents of vice or enterprise could simply pack up their wares, dismantle their shacks, and follow along on the newly-laid track.”
According to the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, “The first “Hell on Wheels” town began near Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory, in August 1866, when the Union Pacific line met Dobeytown, a settlement that existed to provide for the soldiers’ more earthy needs. Fort Kearny (later just Kearney) and North Platte, Nebraska; Julesburg, Colorado; Cheyenne, Laramie, Green River City, and Benton, Wyoming; and Bear River City and Corrine, Utah, were among the primary towns.”
Whether these places were heaven or hell depended on one’s perspective. If heaven, then a few murders were a small price to pay for everything you wanted after pounding spikes all day while fighting off Indians.
–Malcolm
Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of “Conjure Woman’s Cat,” the first novel in the Florida Folk Magic Series.
Malcolm's Round Table 
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On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 at 3:57 pm, Rajini Tupakula
wrote:
We are small,poor people don’t have authority to offer a job to anybody,or to any one to hire.it is wrong in saying.we are not worthy to untie your shoe lace. We are from lower country,and you are from higher country. Pl.apologise or pardon me to write like this.
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On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 at 3:28 pm, Rajini Tupakula
wrote:
His/Her Holiness,
His/Her Majesty,
We want to hire ghost writer to write a story,biography,autobiography, any book,sovereign attacks by ghost at 200 nations etc,any title of book you keep,any matter,any heading,etc.our name,my email,our email, should be anonymous,don’t want to get published.or wanted to be known.
We don’t know to select any writer for story writing. You only decide and please send your email id. To contact you.
Iam an MBA will pay you by any moral job only as believer of God,converted Christian,,converted judaism etc.Converted Polytheist etc.
There is lot of difference between you and me ,your culture God,mine Culture God ,ways of living style, style of working,judging,analysing, viewing etc.in looks,physics,different types of standards,communications,wearing style ,food,pilgrimage,travel, etc.
I want you to cover the story from my grandparents,i.e. think from what grand mother,grandfather used to live,business,style etc related to sovereign travels or correspondence,sovereign differences since 1950. We have to go back always back to Heredity check up. Or Ancestors check up etc.in story.Then Heredity following up with my Mother,Father in 1974. My mother is my father’s second wife.Already he married 1st wife and have children boy and girl but his 1st wife died is a mystery in the story.leaving children orphan. Now they have grown big ,married,settled,with job,business,family children,home etc.but no contact.we are his second wife chidren.iam around 40-50 yrs.old and still remain unmarried due to dowry problem and many problems.etc.and stayed single for search of God,need of God.etc.you start the story before 1945 my father born ,i.e.before Indian Independence 1947,his life journey study,job,business,his family,etc.till 2023 how he lived and attacked by ghosts in between his life journey since 1985 to 2023 still and how ghost snatches his family ruins his family ,saved from death,disturb daily activities of worshipping God cleaning,washing,eating food,walking,now paralytic patient saved from death curse,etc.and LinkedIn to sovereign God’s,. why god’s fail to answer to us. may be false gods,.etc..
Then focus on my parents how
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On Thu, 3 Aug 2023 at 10:35 pm, Small Press Distribution
wrote:
July 2023
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Best of luck in your quest. What you want is beyond my capabilities due to age and skill level. I have seen advice about hiring ghost writers on Hope Clark’s site Funds of Writers and also in the resources section of the Poets and Writers website. Also, Jane Friedman’s website occasionally talks about finding the right freelancer/ghost writer for the kind of project one might have. My religious views are very eclectic, based on Christian and Jewish mysticism with a strong influence from the Hawai’ian religion of Huna. It would be hard for me to write anything with a religions focus outside my belief system. Your project, though, is indeed interesting.
Peace Profound,
Malcolm