Hell on Wheels was the itinerant collection of flimsily assembled gambling houses, dance halls, saloons, and brothels that followed the army of Union Pacific Railroad workers westward as they constructed the first transcontinental railroad in 1860s North America. The huge numbers of wage-earning young men working in what was a remote wilderness, far from the constraints of home, provided a lucrative opportunity for business. As the end of the line continually moved westward, Hell on Wheels followed along, reconstructing itself on the outskirts of each town that became, in turn, the center of activity for the Union Pacific's construction work.[1][2]
- ^ Klein, Maury (2006) [1987]. Union Pacific: Volume I, 1862–1893. U of Minnesota press. pp. 100–101. ISBN 1452908737.
- ^ Ambrose, Stephen E. (2000). Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 217-219. ISBN 0743210832.