the livestock industry was starting to develop. cattle was the main type of livestock. it was the biggest industry that we had at that time. as the livestock industry gr ew, it was about 1867 when there was a terrible blizzard. the railroad hauled all of that livestock off. to market. 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 had a line that 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. as time went on, they improved the shops. like the shop building we have over here. it used to be a lot larger. they have reduced it. that building was completed in 1919. cheyenne had the largest shop on the system. even during the depression the man-hours of shops across the union pacific, cheyenne exceeded all of the shops with the man-hours. 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 b