Partners, cspans city tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the citys history. Learn more all weekend here on American History tv. General dodge laid out cheyenne in july of 1867. When the newspapers started they had 300 People Living here. When the railroad arrived they had 3000 people. That is where it got the name magic city. We are currently in the cheyenne depot building. It it was constructed in 1886 and 1887. A portion of the west wing has been converted to a Railroad Museum up. It is a historic structure in cheyenne. It is the crown jewel of cheyenne as a landmark. The railroad act was signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The plan for Pacific Railroad had been on the drawing boards for a number of years prior to that. The civil war came about. That delayed instruction of the railroad. There was a lot of political pressure where the southern congressmen one of the route to go along the south and the northern congressmen wanted to go north. Abraham lincoln decided the central route would be the proper route to go. The terrain across wyoming allowed the early construction. The first terrain arrived in 1867. Cheyenne was laid out in 1867 by general dodge. The reason it was chosen was based on the fact that we had a creek that went through here. It was a source for water and they wanted to build a shop here also at that time. It was the base of the rocky mountains. There was nothing in cheyenne until the railroad came. The railroad is the cause for the development all the communities in this southern part of wyoming. The First Construction that occurred here in cheyenne went up to the military base. A it was not a base. It was a military establishment. Fort russell was a military establishment where they protected the railroad. They needed protection because of the indians. The indians were not fond of the iron horse coming. They knew this was going to bring civilization and it was going to bring you affect their hunting grounds. Which it did. If transportation was so important. It was wonderful to be able to travel by train on a stagecoach was the only way across. The mail service was improved so much. Bringing in supplies and material for the development of this region. The railroad responsible for that. The life shock industry was starting to develop. Cattle was the main type of livestock. It was the biggest industry that we had at that time. The livestock industry group. The railroad hauled all of that livestock off. It was important to have it. In 1889, the Union Pacific started a Construction Program and they built huge facilities here in cheyenne. Cheyenne was selected because it went south to denver. It was intermediate between ogden and omaha. It was selected to handle freight switching and locomotive repairs. That was the beginning of the cheyenne boom. It they improved the shops. That building was completed in 1919. Even during the depression the manhours of shops across the Union Pacific, cheyenne exceeded all of the shops with the manhours. The railroad was a big employer. At one time the Union Pacific was the largest employer in cheyenne. I think the railroad that originated in cheyenne, over the years it has been such an important history to cheyenne and wyoming. I dont know how you could think about it any other way. It still is. We run 100 trains a day through here. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] all weekend long American History tv is featuring cheyenne, wyoming. It was the home of the democratic governor Nellie Taylor ross, the first female governor in the united states. Governor for two years from 1925 to 1927. Our Charter Cable partners worked with cspans city tour staff when we recently traveled there to explore the areas history