Transcontinental Railroad Era

THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO PLEDGED FINANCIAL SUPPORT (named in last weeks post)

THANK YOU TO PAT MOSES OF PRESTON, IDAHO WHO CONTRIBUTED $60 TO THE FUND. SHE IS A DESCENDANT OF CHAUNCEY'S OLDER BROTHER AARON.

Most of the planning for the monument project can be done via electronic communication, but a meeting will be necessary to create a family organization. It may be possible to do it via a chat room or something of that sort. I am still learning how. More information on that in next couple of weeks. I will also post an illustration of the new monument and definite cost.

One third of the cost will need to be paid to order the material by September. Another one third must be paid to start making it about December and the final one third at time of completion of the monument by April 2009. The dedication will be near the time the monument is set in place.

Plans for a family gathering and dedication need to be completed by end of summer 2008 so all interested may make arrangements to attend. These plans need to be made by a family organization which means YOU.

Those of you who are in favor of this project and plan to support it financially, please email me what you pledge to donate so we can plan accordingly.

As I continue to learn more about the accomplishments of Chauncey West and the tremendous historical events that took place during his lifetime that he had a part in, I feel totally inadequate to put it into words. I am reading the seven-hundred page book Empire Express - Building The First Transcontinental Railroad, by David Haward Bain which was described by another historian and writer Geoffrey C. Ward in these words: "One of the greatest of all American stories has finally found a chronicler up to the task of telling it. David Haward Bain has managed to encompass it all--genuine heroism and brutal dispossession, utopian vision and rampant corruption, technological wonders and war with the elements--in vivid narrative that no one interested in the American character will want to miss."

It is obvious to me that the "genuine heroism" and utopian vision" spoken of definitely applied to Brigham Young's vision of how a railroad would benefit the growth of the Kingdom of God as well as the benefit to our nation. Brigham Young was the first one to buy Union Pacific stock and the only one who paid in full for it. Chauncey W. West, his partners and all of the men who labored in this state, most of whom were never paid, are the real heroes of this epoch.

For those of you who want to know more about Chauncey's contribution in this very important part of our nations history, I refer you to Bain's book or to Stephan Ambrose, another respected historical writer, who also wrote a book about the building of the railroad. It came with a high price for Chauncey and his family. Chauncey died in San Francisco while on one of several trips made in an attempt to be paid for the work that his company did in building the railroad. They were paid about half of what was owed. Another partner was Ezra T. Benson who also died within about six months of Chauncey. Lorin Farr was left with trying to straighten everything out. It took the rest of his lifetime for him to recover financially. What a great loss it was to everyone in the Ogden and Logan areas to lose such able, righteous, beloved servants of God.