The film is about the construction of the American first transcontinental railroad. It depicts Irish, Italian, and Chinese immigrants, as well as African Americans, as the men who did the backbreaking work that made this feat possible. The primary villain is an unscrupulous businessman who masquerades as a renegade Cheyenne. It culminates with the scene of driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. There is a note in the title before this scene that the two original locomotives from the 1869 event are used in the film, although this is false - both engines (Union Pacific No. 119 and Jupiter) were scrapped before 1910. Main stars were George O'Brien and Madge Bellamy.
Cast
George O'Brien as Davy Brandon
Madge Bellamy as Miriam Marsh
Charles Edward Bull as Abraham Lincoln
Cyril Chadwick as Peter Jesson
Will Walling as Thomas Marsh
Francis Powers as Sergeant Slattery
J. Farrell MacDonald as Corporal Casey
Jim Welch as Private Schultz / Mackay (credited as James Welch)
George Waggner as Col. William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody
Fred Kohler as Deroux / Bauman
James A. Marcus as Judge Haller (credited as James Marcus)
Gladys Hulette as Ruby
Jean Arthur as Reporter (uncredited)
Chief John Big Tree as Cheyenne Chief (uncredited)
Jack Padjan as Wild Bill Hickok (uncredited)