Here’s a scene, titled “Moment of Excitement,” that almost certainly never happened. “Plains Indians, desperate for winter food and hides, have stampeded buffalo onto the tracks and stalled an Emigrant Train,” says the painting description. “The train crew and passengers exchange fire with the Indians while a settler watches from his sod house in western Kansas country.”
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Why would the Indians try to stall the train? Why would the train crew fire at the Indians who appear solely interested in acquiring meat and hides? If the Indians were truly threatening, why is the settler so calmly standing by his sod house? Why did the Union Pacific select this somewhat racist painting for its menu series when it could have used one of a famous Big Boy steam locomotive, or one of a 4-8-4 Northern locomotive pulling a World War II troop train?