13. Further West

Cullen leaves the Union Pacific and rides to Fort Smith to be with his family. However, upon arrival, he finds some of the fort's residents are missing, including Naomi and baby William, and the rest are dead. He buries the dead and proceeds to Salt Lake City for answers. There, he learns that Fort Smith had an outbreak of smallpox. He finds someone with the Hatch name at a makeshift clinic, but it is Naomi's mother, who tells Cullen that Naomi was sent somewhere west, where he will never find her.

Collis Huntington sees Cullen and offers him principal interest in the Central Pacific, which, with its expansion, may possibly be the only way Cullen will find his family. Back in Cheyenne, Campbell has had the provisional part removed from his governorship and begins to obtain most of the businesses there, except for the newspaper, which is owned by the railroad, and he fails to convince its editor, Louise Ellison, to partner with him. Durant and his crew reach the summit, and Durant telegraphs Huntington in California, to gloat. Cullen arrives at Huntington's version of Hell on Wheels and accepts Huntington's offer, at least until Cullen's family is found