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Early in the 19th Century, a German chemist was able to extract the
most active component from the juice of the poppy. He named the
substance "Morphine" after the Greek god of sleep. Physicians began
to focus on the two most powerful effects of this substance; it could
bring sleep and it could relieve pain.

In 1843 a Scottish physician, Alexander Wood, developed a new
technique for administering morphine with a syringe, which made the
effects more immediate and more powerful. This immediately was put
to use on the battlefield, first in the Crimean war in Russia and only
slightly later in the American Civil War. With the new medicine,
physicians were able to perform much more aggressive battlefield
procedures, many of them amputations, to save the lives of the
wounded. Many of those who survived the war and the surgery, later
learned the cruel truth that they were addicted to morphine.

Back in China in l848, when the Emperor learned of the smuggling of
opium, he ordered the chests of opium to be seized and destroyed.
With characteristic indignation, the British declared that this was the
wanton destruction of the property of her Majesty, Queen Victoria,
which provided the excuse to declare war. The frail Chinese ships
were no match for the British warships. After a brief conflict, the
British were able to impose new trade rules and open other Chinese
ports to western trade.

When the Civil War ended in this country, the building of the
transcontinental railroad began. Two companies were selected. The
Union Pacific was to build west from Omaha, while the Southern
Pacific built east from Oakland. It was a race because the companies
were paid not only by the mile of track completed; they also received
substantial land on both sides of the track. The Union Pacific speedily
crossed the flat plains while the Southern Pacific was bogged down
with labor problems and the menacing reality of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains.

Unable to find sufficient, suitable labor, Charles Crocker, one of the
"Big Four" owners of the Southern Pacific, reluctantly decided to try