Sean begins by being a water boy which is a big come down for him but his father insists that Sean needs to work his way up through the ranks. He may end up getting shot, the fate of so many of the railroad workers. These “hell-on-wheels” towns are short-lived and Sean knows better than to venture into them. Then there is the violence that can break out at any time in the towns that spring up along the path of the new railway. The food is also pretty bad and the way in which food is served is even worse. Sean, his father and a friend share a tent whenever possible for the sleeping carriages that are provided for the workers on the railroad are dark, noisy and foul smelling. For one thing the living conditions are primitive. When Sean goes to join his father in Nebraska to work on the Union Pacific railroad line he has all sorts of ideas of what it is going to be like.
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