Hear that lonesome whistle blow: Railroads in the West

The heroes in this extraordinary epic are the Irish labourers and Chinese coolies; the villains, the avaricious bankers and the corrupt politicians. Before the undertaking was complete, more than 155 million acres of land had been given away to railway magnates, the Indian tribes had been massacred and the buffalo driven from the Great Plains, millions of settlers had been lured from Europe and a colossal industrial nation had been forged.