They have come. They come like ants searching for honey. They come from the direction of morning sun, yet they are pale as ghosts. The paths for their metal beasts grasp the earth like the gaunt fingers of evil. They stretch for miles through our land given to us by our Creator. These men have no sense of reason, bravery, or respect for our Mother Earth. They kill our bison, which have fed and clothed us since creation. These men leave them rotting in the grass. They drink foul liquid and smoke bitter tobacco. They have no women, no children. They are blind to the ways of the Great Spirits. The white men have strange ways and tools. They drink a boiling black liquid in the morning. They grow hair on their faces. Many have hair the color of autumn leaves! They work all day building paths for loud metal beasts with fire in their bellies that give off a thick black smoke. They plant great trees with string between them. They shot at us when we approached the strange trees and metal paths. We had not fought them before, but now the time has come. The scouts left first. They go silent and watchful like hawks. We painted our bodies and our war horses. They too felt the anticipation of battle and would not quiet. The scouts returned after sighting the enemy. With the wrinkled chief’s blessing, we mounted at nightfall and bid farewell to our proud families. We went on swift wings to meet the enemy at their camp. Ha! They were all sleeping. The smell of their foul water was carried to us from the camp. They were foolish not to expect attack. We crept down from the hill from where we had been watching. We brandished clubs, knives, spears, and bows. We did our work swiftly and quietly. We all took the scalps of our victims as trophies. We destroyed their precious ceremonial poles and stole their horses. We returned home victorious, full of brave deeds. More men came. They were frightened by the site of their brothers strewn across the camp like dead dogs. They buried the bodies and repaired the damage to the poles. They fled after the work was done. They soon returned with different men. These men bore clothes of blue and lines of yellow. These clothes would make magnificent trophies! We sent more scouts and discovered that these blue men were smarter than their fallen brethren. They kept watch over camp and lit large fires to tear the cloak of our Brother Night. Their tents were many and all alike. Our Chiefs have decided to leave these men alone. We keep a regular watch on their camp. One cold morning I heard the approaching sound of hooves. The blue men approached. The alarm sounded and our warriors prepared for battle. Our women gathered the children and rushed to hide in the misty reeds and mud of the river. We were no match for their great guns and speedy horses. We were defeated and broken. Where were our Great Spirits? The white men took our land, killed our bison, and destroyed our village. Their crimes have gone unpunished and their great metal beasts roam our land. Soon our entire tribe will become nothing but smoke in their fiery bellies. Bibliography Book- Hofsnide, Robert. Indian Warriors and their Weapons, New York: William Morrow & Company, 1965 Internet- http://pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tcrr/peopleevents/e_tribe.html » read more...

Dear Grandma, Since moving to San Francisco from the foothills of Sacramento, life has been very different. Since Father decided that gold mining was no longer supporting our family, he moved us here and found a job with the cable car company. Last week I turned 16 and became a nanny to a family who have four children ages two through seven. Their father made his money in silver mining- as most of the very wealthy here have done. They have been building parks and boulevards in the city to beautify it. My employer’s live in beautiful Victorian redwood mansion. I have a small room to myself on the upper floor. San Francisco’s weather is mostly gloomy with fog. Though when the sun shines it is beautiful. The house has a magnificent ocean view and you can smell the salt in the air. There are always flocks of seagulls, cawing and searching for food. On special occasions, the children and I enjoy walking to the beach, feeling the soft grains of sand between our toes and the wind whipping our faces. The sound of the crashing waves calms me, and I feel it is the only peaceful place in San Francisco. Most of San Francisco is a crowded, loud, lawless and rowdy boomtown. There is much immoral behavior, including drinking, smoking, theft and prostitution. Things I have never seen in our cottage in the foothills. Today the golden spike was driven into the completed Transcontinental Railroad tracks in the Utah desert- connecting the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads. Mr. Stanford and his partners, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, are visionaries and very determined men to have accomplished such a task. Both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies received a land grant of twenty square miles of land for every mile of track laid. The Transcontinental Railroad is 1,776 miles long. That’s 35,520 acres! My goodness, I can’t even imagine such big numbers! The newspaper says1, 086 miles were built by the Union Pacific and 690 miles by the Central Pacific Railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad miraculously took only six years to build. They started in 1863 and finished in 1869.That is amazing since only 50 miles of track were laid from Sacramento east in the first two years by the Central Pacific Railway. Just think, now it’s possible to travel coast to coast in six days instead of the four to six months it takes over land! The process of sending mail will be much faster. On the Pony Express, it would take months to deliver a letter from coast to coast and the coach might be robbed and the mail lost. But now, it takes less than one week and your mail will be safe! I am very thrilled because it is the first time in history that a single, continual train route will link the eastern and western states together. The states are becoming more connected with each other, especially with the telegraph lines that are strung next to the railroad for immediate communication across the country. Just think when Aunt Martha has her baby in Virginia, we could find out that same day-thanks to the telegram. Our trade will blossom. I am excited for the new fabric, produce, furniture and books that will be imported by rail. I now can make softer and more elaborate dresses. Today, there were cannons booming and church bells ringing as people across the city celebrated this modern accomplishment. People were dancing in the streets and making a hullabaloo. I feel so excited because now that there is a safe and fast way to travel. I hope you can come for a visit or maybe I can come visit you. Hope to see you soon, Sincerely, Mary » read more...

How thankful I am for this day, May 10, 1869, a true day to remember. My family and I are finally going to be able to take the Transcontinental Railroad to our new home in California. Such a long and treacherous journey to go by wagon train; I never wanted to take the chances of hurting my children. Instead, we will be safe and warm on the railroad leading us to a new and hopeful future. But let me take you back to the beginning of the story. The Transcontinental Railroad started out as a dream, and the planning for this new idea began at a convention in 1838, held by John Plumbe. Pacific Railroad bills had occasionally been discussed in Congress since the 1940’s. These bills proposed to give land, subsidies, and as much as 90 million dollars to help build the railroad. But since no one could agree on a safe route, none of the bills passed. The northerners wanted a northern route while the southerners wanted a southern route, which was a result of the slavery issue. There wasn’t any slavery yet in the west, and Congress was debating if they should allow it. Because of the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, the population of people in the west became much larger, and safe traveling across the U.S. became much more important. It was time to build this railroad so families could travel west without worrying about the bad things that could happen. So, in 1861, Congress finally decided on a central route that ran through Nebraska. Theodore Judah, in 1861, had at last brought together the Central Pacific Railroad Co., along with the “Big Four,”: President Leland Stanford, vice-president Collis P. Huntington, the treasurer Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker, who handled labor issues. Judah was soon able to start building the Central Pacific railroad, which would become the Transcontinental Railroad. But Theodore Judah was never able to see the finished railroad because he had sadly died in 1863. On January 8th, 1863, when workers started building on the Central Pacific, they changed their minds and planned to take the route that had been laid out by Theodore Judah, which ran through the Sierras. The Union Pacific Railroad was founded in Chicago on September 2nd, 1862. “By December 2nd, 1863, the Union Pacific broke ground on the Missouri River bluffs.” Now that both companies had started building, the Transcontinental Railroad slowly crept closer and closer together. Work was running smoothly and everything was going well, until 1865, when silver was discovered in Nevada. It was not quite as exciting as the California Gold Rush, but a large number of men left in search for wealth. Many white men, with the options of silver hunting, safe jobs in California, or dangerous work on the Central Pacific Railroad, chose to leave from the railroad. As a result, Charles Crocker, in 1865, began hiring Chinese workers to take their place. After many days of tedious work, the Central Pacific passed the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and had met the point where their contract ended, though they kept building as fast as they could, because of the competition with the Union Pacific. The UP would work as hard and as fast as they could, but they didn’t get as far as the Central Pacific, who just kept moving eastward. The CP moved at such a fast rate that Charles Crocker once claimed they could place ten miles of the railroad in one day while the UP officials just laughed at such a ridiculous statement. But, after careful planning and hard work, on April 28, 1869, the Central Pacific set a record by laying ten miles of track in one day. It is presently May 10, 1869; the railroads have been connected at Promontory Point, Utah, and they are now called the Transcontinental Railroad. And families in the U.S., including my own, will now be able to travel west safely. It is a wonderful occasion that will be remembered for ages. » read more...