Union Pacific

Building a railroad that long is somebody's crazy dream.

It's a wonderful age we live in.

A railroad from Omaha to California?

One might as well think of flying.

President Lincoln is for it.

This is the most monumental folly...

ever conceived in the mind of man.

In all this broad land of ours...

who wants this railroad...

that will start at the outer edge of civilization...

and wander expensively through the wilderness?

Who, I ask you, except a small group...

of money-grabbing financiers, self-seeking politicians...

and fanatical engineers?

Mr. President. Mr. President.

Does the Senator yield to the gentleman from California?

I am not done, Mr. President.

I would like to read...

from a speech by the late Daniel Webster on this subject.

Delivered from this very floor.

"What do we want with this vast, worthless area...

"this region of savages and wild beasts...

"of deserts and endless mountain ranges?

"What can we ever hope to do with 3000 miles...

"of cheerless rockbound coast...

"and not a harbor on it?"

Not a harbor on it?

Order! Order!

Why, there's room in the San Francisco Bay...

to float all the navies of the world.

His word against Webster's.

Mr. President. Mr. President.

Mr. Sargent.

Gentlemen. The learned Senator asks...

Who wants this railroad?

Well, I'll tell you.

This nation, crippled by four years of war, wants it.

A great artery...

through which may flow the gold and silver of the West...

into the empty treasuries of the East.

Grain and cattle into a war-torn South.

And thousands of men released from both armies...

want it for the work and the wages it will bring.

And the merchants of the whole world...

who need a shorter route to the Orient, they want it.

Gentlemen...

I move you the adoption of this railroad bill...

that shall bind us together, East and West...

forever as one people.

Mr. Ames...

I want to take a ride on this railroad...

the first thing after I retire from the presidency.

Mr. Lincoln had the vision to conceive this railroad.

You gentlemen must have the vision to help us finance it.

Frankly, Mr. Ames, the only vision I can see...

is a lot of loose dollars rolling away over those prairies.

Good day, gentlemen.

But there's more than profit...

in the lap of this undertaking.

This railroad is the future of the United States.

Along its rails, new cities will rise.

Is there not some danger that the Central Pacific...

which is building east across California, may reach Ogden first...

and keep you out of the Salt Lake Valley?

President Lincoln wisely arranged...

that the Central Pacific will build only to the California state line.

Here, where our tracks will join with theirs.

General Dodge, uh...

as Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific...

are you quite sure that a railroad more than 1000 miles long...

can actually be built through such a wilderness?

Yes. Yes. My brother Oliver and I...

are staking our fortune on General Dodge's word...

that it can be done.

How much of your fortune, Mr. Ames?

We'll back the Union Pacific down to the last shovel in our factory.

You're enthusiastic.

I promised Mr. Lincoln to see it through.

Mr. Lincoln is dead. Well, my promise to him is not dead.

Splendid, Mr. Ames, splendid.

I'm beginning to see a golden harvest in these iron rails.

Then you are with us?

My hand on it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Barrows.

On the contrary, I am indebted to you for showing me the fortune...

there is to be made out of Union Pacific. Good day, gentlemen.

Good day, sir.

Good luck, General Dodge.

Good luck. (Dodge) Goodbye, all.

Goodbye, sir.

Who is Barrows?

The biggest moneybag in Chicago.

He makes them and breaks them out there.

I never thought he'd join you.

What do you think would happen if the Central Pacific...

should build all the way to Ogden in the Salt Lake Valley?

It would bust the Union Pacific higher than a kite.

Much higher.

But he said that Lincoln had arranged for the Central to stop...

at the California border. Lincoln is dead...

and there are those in Washington who do not wish the Union Pacific well.

Can't both lines have terminals in Ogden? No, Whipple.

You miss the point.

The Union Pacific has authority to build only...

to where it meets the Central. Well?

And if the Central should pass through Ogden first...

and meet the Union in the wilds of the Wasatch Mountains...

Yes. Exactly.

The Union would have 1000 miles of track...

and a gopher hole for its Western terminal.

Splendid.

We'll sell Union stock short and buy Central.

We'll make millions, Mr. Barrows. A golden opportunity.

Pure gold. Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.

But suppose the Union Pacific gets to Ogden first?

It won't, Whipple.

I can assure you.

It won't.

# They call me the rose of St. Louis #

# The rose of this river town #

##

Gentleman to see you, boss.

Mr. Barrows.

Bring in a bottle of that extra-dry champagne.

Yes sir, extra dry.

Take a seat.

Oh. Rose...

# They call me the Rose of St. Louis ##

Sit down.

We ain't had the pleasure of seeing you here before, Mr...

Interesting decorations.

Only one like it in St. Louis.

I suppose you brought the idea with you from Panama.

Panama?

This biography of yourself, written by the best detective agency in Chicago.

What's on your mind, mister?

How's that partner of mine doing? Very good, sir.

Mr. Campeau...

in the past, your operations have always been, shall we say...

of a minor nature.

Do you think you could manage the biggest gambling outfit in America?

Do you think you could handle 10,000 workmen...

with plenty of money...

out in the wilderness?

Supplying them with liquor...

and any excitement the devil can brew?

Do you think you could keep them drunk and discontented, month after month?

Go on.

Excuse me, Mr. Allen.

Mr. Campeau would admire to see you in the other room.

Excuse me, gentlemen. Al. Al Brett...

take over.

It's your deal.

It means keeping your tent with its many diversions at the end of the track...

as it moves West...

and selling the tracklayers all the trouble they'll buy. You'll be protected.

What's the split? None. You take it all.

Including orders from me.

What kind of orders?

They will all add up the same. Delay.

Anything... I might say everything...

to delay the building of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Why not?

Longer it takes, the more money I make.

Mr. Barrows, this is my partner, Dick Allen.

Late of the Union Army...

but never late with a gun.

He'll be very handy, I assure you.

I've been making a deal with your partner. A big deal.

We're leaving St. Louis.

For where and for what? West, Mr. Allen...

for excitement and profit.

All right. Deal me in.

Where's my drink?

Here. I don't use it.

No?

Never take another man's drink.

It's bad luck.

Well, gentlemen...

here's to...

whatever it is.

'Tis that cottonwood you're feeding him.

He won't eat it.

It gives him a pain in his boiler.

Hey, Monahan.

Do you want I should spell you a bit, Monahan. In case you fall asleep?

Mollie Monahan, will you come down out of that before some Indian...

beats me to the pleasure of killing you.

I brought you supper.

Suppose you fell off, and I had to stop the train.

If you were half the dutiful daughter...

that this engine is to me...

Hold your whist. Here's your bite.

Heavens above. What's in it? Coupling pins?

Cartridges. I forgot to put them in your valise.

Get back to the caboose, you brat.

Twenty hours to Cheyenne...

and I'm supposed to live on powder and lead.

I think you've been eating dynamite.