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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Hell On Wheels" Origin of the phrase:
I'm reading "The Great American Railroad War" by Dennis Drabelle.
It's a fascinating book, about the 'war' between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads in forging a transcontinental rail line from east to west (or west to east if youn were so inclined and invested).
Greed, corruption, robber barons to the Nth degree.
He tells where the phrase came from and I checked it on wiki.
"The phrase "Hell on Wheels" was originally used to describe the itinerant collection of flimsily assembled gambling houses, dance halls, saloons, and brothels that followed the army of Union Pacific railroad workers westward as they constructed the American transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.
The huge numbers of wage-earning young men working in what was a remote wilderness, far from the constraints of home, proved to be a lucrative opportunity for those with expertise at separating such men from their money.
One early documentation of the term "Hell on Wheels" being used to describe the phenomenon was by Springfield, Massachusetts Republican newspaper editor Samuel Bowles, who also stated the followers were called "hangers-on."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_on_Wheels
Just thought that was interesting.
niyad
(113,265 posts)hlthe2b
(102,228 posts)It will be back for another season in the Fall.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)hlthe2b
(102,228 posts)monmouth3
(3,871 posts)winter is coming
(11,785 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Have not read it yet.
Will try to find your author for a comparison.
I love etymology! Thanks...
Book did not happen to tell you where "hell in a handbasket" came from, by any chance?
dmr
(28,347 posts)Can't wait to read it.
From Amazon