Re: Transcontinental Railroad

In a nutshell,the Plum Creek incident occured on August 6.1867 on the UP along the Platte river. A band of Cheyenne had placed a tie on the track, bound to the rails wiht a length of telegraph wire. When the line went dead a repair crew was sent out on a handcar. the handcar hit the obstruction, tossing the crew on the ground. All but one of the crew were killed by the raiding party. He was wounded,and then scalped. Miracously he survived, and witnessed what followed. The Cheyenne built a bigger barricade and waited. Soon a west bound approched. The engineer tried to ram through the barrier, but the locomotive and five cars rolled over, killing the head end crew. The wreck set fire to the rest of the train.The rear end crew saw the raiding party approching (they had begun looting the wrecked cars) and fled backn down the tracks. A second train was close behind, and it's arrival caused the raiders to retreat.