Travel back in time to the moment when the dream of trains traveling across America became a reality--and witness the hardships endured to make this dream come true.

In the 1860's America was a divided nation. The Civil War tore the country's spirit apart and mountains, desert and wild rivers divided the country geographically. At a time when the nation desperately needed a symbol of unity, Congress authorized the building of a railroad that would make the country one. The Union Pacific built from the East. The Central Pacific built from the West. It was one of the most extraordinary engineering events the country had ever seen. Construction crews built across hundreds of miles of desert, pushed into mountains as high as 8,000 feet and crossed one river alone 31 times. The Iron Road recounts the six years of harsh labor, searing heat, Indian attacks, and frontier lawlessness that railroad men endured in their quest to build America's first transcontinental railroad.