264 A RAILWAY QUICKLY MADE. 



after the four men had been hung, which quieted the town 

 wonderfully for a time. 



While I was at Sheyenne a ten-mile race was got up between 

 a prairie-bred mare and a thoroughbred, as he was called, 

 belonging to some gamblers, and I went to see it. The 

 gambler's horse was certainly not thoroughbred, though a 

 good-looking animal, and the mare was a nice pony somewhat 

 bigger than " Polly. " 



There was a great deal of betting, a crowd of gamblers 

 backing their companion's horse, and a good deal of quarrelling 

 as to weights, the gamblers having got a boy from the east, 

 while the owner of the mare, who was a big man, rode her 

 himself. In spite of this the mare led nearly all the way, being 

 only beaten in the last mile. There were many attempts made 

 to induce me to run my stallion ; but even if he had been fast 

 enough, which he was not, I should not have had fair play, as 

 they would have thought nothing of giving him a dose before 

 the race. 



I had an opportunity of seeing how quickly railways are 

 made in Western America before I left. A branch line 

 was wanted from Sheyenne to Fort William Russell, so they 

 offered the men who were working on the main line extra pay 

 if they would work on a Sunday. The distance was three miles, 

 and they began it on Sunday morning and had some freight 

 cars at the fort by nightfall; the ties in most cases were 

 laid on the grass, a few shovelfuls of earth being put under 

 them when necessary. It was in this way that the Central 

 Pacific Railway was made at first, to get the subsidy from the 

 government, and of course when the storms came most of them 

 gave way and had to be remade. 



