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Professor Vollum titled his presentation “Hell on Wheels Towns”. He describes the effect of the railroad boom on the towns that sprang up around them. It all started with the development of two railroad companies, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. In order for these railroads to build tracks across the United States they needed to form supply lines and towns along these routes. Because progress was so quick these towns had to be built in a matter of weeks. These towns were literally thrown together. A town of 50-100 people could be 5,000 in a matter of months. This of course caused chaos because there was no time for careful consideration and planning in the town development. It was also difficult to keep up with the law enforcement, due to the immense amount of railroad workers. Many of us have heard stories about how violent and lawless these towns were. Professor Vallum’s main argument was that these towns were not as lawless and crazy as we believe. Rather than a murder every night, there may be one or two in a whole month. Many of these stories have been exaggerated in books and movies and over exaggerated by word of mouth. These towns still had normal citizens that made normal lives there. I thought the colloquium was very interesting and informative and gave me a different perspective of railroad towns.