Life in the Camp

Life in the camp was very bad. Some people even called it hell on wheels. It usually consisted of grueling work that took all day. The camps were always on the move. Mining would boom in one place, a town would be built, railroad would be established and then the mining would completely die off and there would be no reason to stay in the town. Miners and traders would be scattered around the countryside working and doing what they do just to survive. Regular train service on constructed track also brought carloads of migrants and workers looking to settle down, make a buck, or simply experience the beauty of a town out in the wild. North Platte and towns that followed were the new boomtowns, they grew without any law. Which, of course, encouraged a spirit of anarchy, not to mention a good number of criminals.

          One of the most striking things about the colonies was their portability. As winter commenced, and the railroad workers built toward new towns, agents could simply pack up their wares, dismantle their shacks, and follow along on the brand new track. It did not require days of packing up and moving.
          Workers lived in canvas camps alongside the grade. In the mountains, wooden bunkhouses protected them from the drifting snow. Most of the houses were compromised by the elements. Each group had a cook who purchased dried food from the Chinese districts of Sacramento and San Francisco to prepare on site. While Irish crews stuck to an unvarying menu of boiled food, like beef and potatoes, the Chinese ate vegetables and seafood, and kept live pigs and chickens for weekend meals. The newcomers were very strange and seemed alien in other ways. They were very clean, they bathed themselves, washed their clothes and stayed away from whiskey. Instead of water they drank lukewarm tea, boiled in the mornings and dispensed to them throughout the day.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-hell/
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By Max Buchner