The Iron Horse
WILLIAM FOX
Presents
THE IRON HORSE
Copyright
William Fox
Passed by
the National Board
of Review.
A
JOHN FORD
PRODUCTION
Story by Charles Kenyon and John Russell
Scenario by Charles Kenyon
Photography by George Schneiderman
Titles by Charles Darnton.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Dave Brandon
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
GEORGE O'BRIEN |
Miriam Marsh
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|
Madge Bellamy |
Lincoln
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|
Charles Edward Bull |
Jesson
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|
Cyril Chadwick |
Thomas Marsh
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|
Will Walling |
Sergeant Slattery
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|
Francis Powers |
Corporal Casey
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|
J. Farrell MacDonald |
Private Schultz
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James Welch |
Buffalo Bill
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George Wagner |
Deroux
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|
Fred Kohler |
Judge Haller
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|
James Marcus |
Ruby
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|
Gladys Hulette |
Accurate and faithful in every particular of fact and atmosphere is this pictorial history of the building of the first transcontinental railroad.
DEDICATION
To the ever-living memory of Abraham Lincoln, the Builder
and of those dauntless engineers and toilers who fulfilled his dream of a greater Nation.FOREWORD
During the Civil War the United States was divided non only into North and South
but also into East and West, by a seemingly impassable barrier of prairie, desert and mountain.More than to any other man, the Nation owes gratitude to Abraham Lincoln whose vision and resolution held the North and the South while moulding with blood and with iron the East and the West.
Springfield, Illinois, in the days when a transcontinental railroad was but a dream.
One of the dreamers Brandon, a Surveyor
—and one of the skeptics—Thomas Marsh, a small contractor.
"Having another of your day-dreams of rail across the continent, Brandon?"
"Yes, Tom dreaming of rail that'll reclaim that wilderness out there clean to California—
"And with the help of God, I'll lend a hand to blaze the trail."
"We was just surveyin' through to the pond."
"Just heard down to the store that you'd made up your mind to trail west."
"I'm going to start in a couple of weeks, Abe."
Against winter snows—their few belongings sold—Brandon and his boy are impelled westward by the strong urge of progress.
"Are you ever comin' back, Davy?"
"Poor dreamer he's chasing a rainbow!"
"Yes Tom and some day men like you will be laying rails along that rainbow."
He feels the momentum of a great nation pushing westward he sees the inevitable.
And others see but face it in defiance.
Three months later—springtime in the Cheyenne Hills.
"Look, lad! Some day there'll be a railroad through that pass it's two hundred miles shorter than the Indian trail."
"But you're a white man!"
"You'll never tell that to anybody else!"
"Daddy daddy was killed a two-fingered Indian killed him."
Years pass—and dreams of a transcontinental railroad shape into reality.
It is June, 1862 and Congress has authorized the simultaneous building of the two railroads.
The Union Pacific is to go west from Omaha, Nebraska. The Central Pacific (first unit of the Southern Pacific) is to go east from Sacramento, California.
"Surely, Mr. President, you will not sign the bill for this engineering folly, now that every cent is needed to carry on the war?"
"We must not let problems of war blind us to greater problems of the peace to come
"Or we will have fought in vain."
"Mr. President, don't you remember me—Miriam Marsh?"
"And where is little Davy, who went west with his daddy?
"Now, that was a boy well worth your waiting for."
"Mr. President, this is Mr. Jesson—my father's engineer—and my fiancé.
"Mr. President, the whole nation hopes you will sign that bill."
"I have decided."
ALincoln
The far-seeing wisdom of the great rail-splitter President is the beginning of the Empire of the West.
From Sacramento, in 1863, the Central Pacific has started with a rush and after fourteen months scorn turns to wonder.
There is no white labor—it is necessary to bring in Chinese for the task.
Men and horses strain every nerve, hauling locomotives and supplies over the mountains—this making possible the construction of forty miles of track while behind them tunnels are chiseled by hand.
From Omaha the following year come the Union Pacific crews—chiefly ex-soldiers of North and South, working peacefully side by side. They had laid the first rail three months after the assassination of President Lincoln.
♬♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 ♪ 𝄾 ♪ ♬ 𝄾
"Drill, ye terriers, drill—
Drill, ye terriers, drill—
♪♬♪♬ ♪ ♪ 𝄾
♬ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯
"Sure, it's work all day,
Without sugar in yer tay—
When ye work for the U.P.
Ra-a-ail-way
♪ ♪ ♬ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝄾
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯
"Drill, ye terriers, drill—
𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬ ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 ♬ ♪ ♪ ♪
♬ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ ♪ ♪ 𝄾 ♬ ♪ ♪ 𝄾 ♪ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬
"Drill, ye terriers, drill—
An' work and shw-e-a-t—"
♪ ♪ 𝄾 ♫♫ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝄾♪ ♪
In dead of winter, close behind the advancing rails, headquarters has jumped to North Platte.
HOTELSTOLP.
"Mornin', Serg'nt Slattery."
"Likewise, Corp'ral Casey."
"Hurry up with yer crawlin' shovelers—me min are stumblin' over thim."
"Is that so! Listen I slowed thim up a-purpose, so's we wouldn't be leavin' ye behind."
For their main food supply, the men depend on buffalo meat.
A young man named Cody, a crack shot, who supplies buffalo meat to the workers, is nicknamed "Buffalo Bill."
To the hardships of toil are added the rigors of winter.
The long overdue supply and pay train is eagerly awaited.
"Aint't it a shame thim fool Indians tryin' to rope our poor, weak little injine."
HERCU[LE]
U P R R
His brother.
Indians attacked
train No 8 near Clay
Send help to -
"The two months' payroll is on that train if it's lost, it means trouble with the men."
Beyond the aid of the rescue train.
Thomas Marsh, in charge of this division, faces the most vital single problem in Union Pacific construction a short cut through the hills must be found.
"Jesson, it will be financially impossible to keep on unless we find a short cut to save the two hundred miles ahead of us around the Black Hills."
Deroux—the richest landowner in the Cheyenne country.
"Marsh is in there now, demanding a shorter pass than Smoky River."
"Does he know I own that whole Smoky River section?"
"Hear you're hunting for a short cut through the hills."
"Yes, I am sending Mr. Jesson out in a few days."
"All work—no pay—snow an' chilblains buffalo meat mak' us seek Indians shoot like hell everything no good we quit!"
U. P. R. R.
"Say, boss, there's no gettin' on with these furriners I knocked five of thim down an' even then they wouldn't work."
Her heart in the road, Miriam stands with her father.
"Men, this great work depends on you for the sake of your country, I ask you to finish it make the whole Nation proud of you!"
"They don't understand ye miss! Ye got to swear at 'em!"
"Tony please you'll go back for another week won't you?"
"Anything to oblige a lady!"
"For the beautiful signorina, Tony he build the beeg ra'lroad heemself alone!"
"'Twas me iligant Irish iloquence that did it was it not!"
"Yes, it was
"
not!"In its steady pursuit of the Union Pacific, Judge Haller's combined court and saloon has earned the name of "Hell on Wheels".
JEDGE HALLER
SOUPERIER-JEDGE
BY
SPESHAL APOYNTMENT
N.P.
MY PAPERS FROM
THE GUVENR AINT
COME AS THE STAGE
WAS ROBBED, BUT
I'M JEDGING JEST
THE SAME
JED HALLER.
Ruby, the bright—but not too particular—star of the "Arabian Nights" dance tent.
"This bar of likker is now a bar of justice sit down!"
"They've got Ruby up before the judge again for shooting!"
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE
STATE OF KANSAS
Ah Fat Wong, Plaintiff, vs.
Maggie Rush, Defendant
Appeal from the Second District. INDICTMENT FOR ASSAULT. VERDICT, GUILTY. The indictment charged that the defendant did on the 13th day of December, 1860, vicously attack Ah Fat Wong, a Chinaman. The State proved that the defendant assaulted the plaintiff with a knife; that there was also a slight abrasion of the skin upon the plaintiff
"Y'ain't a Chinaman, be yuh?"
"Your Honor, Deroux requests my presence at the hotel so ta-ta."
"The fair defendant is excused pro tem—the trial kin go right on without her."
"The charge is attempted murder—
"
but the gent threw whiskey in the face of a lady what's known to tote a gun"
which ain't attempted murder at all, but deliberate suicide case dismissed.""Do you know Jesson Marsh's engineer?"
"Now you play up to him give him anything he wants not to find a pass through the hills."
"You're a smart girl, Ruby and this will mean your fare to see your folks back East in Kansas City."
That night Jesson works late on his maps next day he is to leave for the Cheyenne Hills.
"I'm afraid I've sprained my ankle please let me lean on you till I get to my house.
"My friends will make you very rich if you fail to find a shorter pass than Smoky River."
Next day as Marsh is making a tour of inspection—
"That's a pony express rider!"
"Jump off yer hoss and run!"
U P R R
"Saints alive he did jump!"
"Have you asked our young friend to ride with us in the car to the end of track, Miriam?"
"Miriam! Not Miriam Marsh?
"Don't you remember me Davy Brandon of Springfield?"
"And where is your father, Davy?"
"Dad was killed on the trail out here."
"This is Mr. Jesson we're engaged to be married."
"You're from the same part of the country I thought you might have met before."
Nearing the end of track.
"Davy, our money is running low unless we can find a shorter cut than Smoky River, we're beaten!"
"
some day there'll be a railroad through that pass ""Yes dad showed me exactly what you're looking for one night just before
"
he was murdered by a two-fingered renegade, who headed a band of Cheyennes.""I know that section there's no such pass."
"Will you go with Jesson to look for this pass?"
The end of track.
"Why don't you Eyetalians quit loafin' an' lay some track?"
"You sittin' in that cab! If we was movin' a pianner, you're the kind of a feller that would grab the stool."
Davy starts with Jesson on his quest.
"It would be best if he never came back."
"It's a lucky thing, me boy, that ye jumped when I told ye!"
"That's another life I've saved!"
While a great herd of cattle starts from Texas on an 800-mile trail to feed the railroad workmen.
The straggling town of Cheyenne soon to become another Union Pacific metropolis.
KELLYS
PONY EXPRESS
STAGE STATION
"Boys, headquarters gets here in a few days!"
½ACRES$25
½ACRES$250
MOVING DAY IN
NORTH PLATTE
Its reign as the Union Pacific is over another night and in will be deserted—with its inhabitants building a new city in distant Cheyenne.
HOTEL
DANCE HALL
BANK
JUDGE HALLER'S
SALOON AND COURT
Hell on Wheels.
Boarding
HOUSE.
"Boys, this bar of justice and likker will still function when we get to Cheyenne—let 'er go!"
Friendly Pawnees, enlisted by the Government, guard the workers.
Everything but the old houses moves on wheels.
U P R R
WAREHOUSE
The price of the town's last night of orgy.
"C'mon the old soak's deep enough!"
"I hereby pro-nounce you man and wife by jiminy!"
And not even a dog remains.
In the Black Hills—Davy and Jesson have come to Brandon's pass.
"It's perfectly safe for you to go down."
"Not for me—thanks!"
A new and greater Cheyenne springs into life.
SALOONHARDWAREHAY GRAINR R EATI[NG HOUSE]
HOTEL BENTEAL
PONY-EXPRESS
STAGE STATION
SALOON
MY WIFE TAKES
IN WASHEN
"I calc'late to keep law an' order in this here town, Wild Bill Hickok, if I have to shoot the hull population."
MARS
"I want a divorce!"
"Deevorce! Look here, didn't I marry you in North Platte not more'n ten hours ago?
"Now separate!"
DENTIST&BARBER
The three musketeers—
Sergeant Slattery,
Corporal Casey,
Private Schultz.
"Go on be a man and a soldier!"
"I think I'd rather be shaved "
"Shure I niver dreamed the roots could go that deep."
"Welcome back, Jesson! General Dodge, our engineer-in-chief, is eager for your report."
"Sorry, sir but there's no pass other than Smoky River."
"But young Brandon was so positive where is he?"
"I deeply regret to say he fell into a ravine and was killed."
"Too bad about young Brandon. You must be glad, though, than it happened to him instead of to me, aren't you?"
While the great cattle herds rumble along the trail from Kansas.
The road of his father's dreams his road for he, too, is helping to build it.
But the rails curve southward toward Smoky River—has Jesson failed to report the discovery of the shorter pass?
"Casey, why are they laying track toward Smoky River?"
"There's gonna be a foight!"
BAR | Whisky BEER LIQUOR |
DANCING |
4
"They're laying track south why?"
"Mr. Jesson reported that no other pass was practical."
"If you made such a report, you deliberately lied."
SALOON AND COURT
Beer
CORDIALS
WHI[…]
LONG[…]
AA. 2[…]
BEE[…]
"You've made a sweet mess of it. After Marsh hears what you've done, this place'll be too hot for you
"So, you'd better finish young Brandon the next chance you get or he'll finish you."
"Mr. Marsh, my field notes will show you there is a shorter pass and it's practical."
"By George! My old orderly, Sergeant Slattery!"
"Gin'ral, don't you remimber Corp'ral Casey who stole that chicken fer yer dinner?"
Like a flash of gunpowder, rumors of a battle between Davy and Jesson spread through the town.
"Deroux's roundin' up his gang here looks like they don't mean to give that game lad a chance for his life."
IN JUGS
WHISKEY.2
LONG.GREEN 1.15
AA. 2.5¢ A DRINK.
BEER 5¢
"I sent for you, Davy, because I heard there was to be a fight promise me you won't have any trouble with Mr. Jesson."
"He has a right to his chance."
"But what about me?"
"I'm sorry, Miriam I forgot you are engaged to Jesson."
"Can't you understand? It's not Jesson I love?"
"All right, dear I promise I give you my word I won't fight Jesson."
"Damn your cowardly soul blaze away at him!"
"Mr. Jesson, I'm sorry I lost y temper today
"We're both working for the success of the road so let's forget everything else
"—and shake hands."
"This here's a law an' order town an' this fight's goin' to be conducted legal!"
"What is it a fight?"
"Quick quick—Brandon's killing Jesson—you're the only one who can stop him!"
"I couldn't help it, Miriam—I'm sorry—"
"David—you promised!"
"You promised me—and you've broken your word."
Personal bitterness is put aside.
Davy is made gang boss
and the road advances along the shorter route.♩ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♩ ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬
"Drill, ye terriers, drill—
Drill, ye terriers, drill—
♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♩ ♩ ♬
𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 ♬ ♬ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪
"Sure it's work all day,
Without sugar in yer tay—
When ye work for the U.P.
Ra-a-ail-way.
♬ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♩ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬
♬ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♫
"Drill, ye paddies, drill,
An' work an' shw-e-at—"
♩ ♩ ♩ ♩ ♬ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
"With those foreign laborers making trouble, we Americans must stick together."
A spectre from the past visits the great Cheyenne chief.
"Does my red brother remember me?"
Deroux tries desperately to halt work through the new pass by inciting the hostile Cheyennes to war.
"My brother, before many suns we shall stop the iron horse forever "
Meanwhile the cattle herd nears the end of its long journey with Cheyenne only a few miles away.
"My God, Pat! They've got Schultz!"
[U P R] R 317
UP22RR
"Pat, can you fire an engine?"
"I kin do anything!"
"Telegraph Major North to rush his Pawnee scouts to the end o' track!"
R. R. STATION.
"Indians at the end o' track!"
U P R R353
"Come on, boys—save your fellow-workmen there's a gun here for every one of you!"
"Let 'em send soldiers!"
"You promise us the beef we no get."
"Yer Saint Columbus found this country but it's our Saint Patrick who has to make it go!"
"Here they come!"
"Here there are, boss ten thousand head of 'em."
"Enough good beef to feed you all for a year!"
"If the damned shirkers won't get aboard, we'll stampede the herd and drive 'em on the train!"
"Ye wanted beef did ye? Well, now, ye'll get hell!"
UPR351 R
"That's a sharpshooter close in!"
"Deroux!"
Like a sweeping wind, the Pawnee scouts rush to the rescue.
"TWO-FINGERS!"
BENTON SUPPLY STORE
HARDWARE
"Don't be grievin' so, me lad the young lady will be forgivin' ye one of these days."
"Pat, I'm going away the Central Pacific needs men, and I think I'll trail west."
"Shure an' y'll have to take me along ye'll be worth nawthing without me."
And the next day the stage for California is ready to start.
"Me an' Davy are leavin' for California to take charge of the C.P."
U P R R
"Was Dave Brandon on that coach?"
In distant California the Central Pacific track-layers make the mountains resound with their song:
♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♩ ♪ ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♩
"Drill, ye Chinymen, drill,
Drill, ye haythens, drill—"
𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬
"Sure it's work all day,
Without sugar in yer tay,
When ye work for the
Cay Pay Ra-a-ail-way.
♫♫ ♬ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬
♫ ♪ ♪ 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♬ 𝅘𝅥𝅯
"Drill, ye haythens, drill,
An' work and shw-e-at."
♬ 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝄾 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♪ ♫ ♫
After another year over conquered prairie and through riven mountain the great roads draw together.
THE TRACK-LAYING RACE!
The U.P. leads off by building four miles in one day.
The C.P. comes back with six.
Then the U.P. does eight.
At Promontory Point the final hour when, in seven years less time than Congress allowed, the rails are to meet—1086 mile west of Omaha, 690 miles east of Sacramento.
A WORLD'S RECORD.
The Central Pacific finishes the race by laying ten miles between daylight and dark.
CP JUPITER RRJUPITER
UPRR
In the heart of one man there is no rivalry.
—to him the tracks will meet and the roads will be one—the transcontinental railroad.
"Davy!"
"Dinny!"
"Wurra, what a happy man Serg'nt Slattery would be to see this great day!"
"Me, I Irish now, too I marry Nora Hogan!"
He stands alone that night and sees the consummation of his father's dream.
With his own hands he has driven the last spike the buckle in the girdle of America.
The wedding of the rails—celebrated with joyous exultation in the uniting of East and West.
The afternoon of May 10,1869.
Note: The locomotives shown in the scene are the original Jupiter and #116.
116U P 11[6 R R]
JUPITER
Leland Stanford, President of the Central Pacific, greets Thomas C. Durant, Vice-President of the Union Pacific.
"You belong on this side, Davy."
"When they drive the golden spike we'll belong to both sides and to each other."
California sends a golden spike to President Stanford.
As hammer falls on golden spike, the wire carries the sound to every telegraph office in the United States
D—O—N—E
"His Truth is marching on."
The End
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1973, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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