Lumiere Brothers

As photography was starting to progress in the middle 1800's, the Lumiere Brothers Auguste and Louis, saw financial opportunity in the photographic process. Louis quickly discovered a process which assisted the development of photography...a 'dry plate' process. Soon, the two brothers and their father Antoine, were recognized as successful businessmen; producing about 15 million plates a year. Because of this, Edison's Peephole Kinetoscope was revealed to Antoine in Paris. He gave it to his sons, telling them how they should work on improving it because the prices at which Edison sold the Kinetoscope were unfair for the quality of the product.

Identifying the two main problems with Edison's invention, its size and how only one person could experience the film at a time, the brothers set to work on making an improved version. Soon after, in 1895, Auguste and Louis had invented the Cimematographe, by combining camera with a printer and projector. It was lightweight, hand-cranked and incorporated the principle of intermittent movement. They began showing the films by having screenings for invited guests only, but soon excitement surrounding this new technology spread and the public became interested. Because of all this excitement and discussion involving the brothers invention, they began to open theaters to show their films to the people. These theaters became known as cinemas. By the first four months of the brothers starting to share their films with the public, theaters had opened up in London, Brussels, Belguim and New York. Their film "La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière" is considered to be the first motion picture. Auguste's and Louis last big contribution to the world of film, as if starting the cinematic explosion wasn't enough, was the production of the first practical color photography process...the Autochrome Plate.

Sources:
1) http://earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html
2) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1403398/Lumiere-brothers

Life in the Camps

While the railroads were quickly forming, entrepreneurs eager to take advantage of the idle labor force rushed in. Everything you could imagine, from gambling houses to brothels, sprang up to accompany the needs of the railroaders...while taking all their cash from them at the same time. Eager for the comfort of this new outpost, miners and traders alike gathered around the towns that featured a railroad running through it. Because these towns grew to become boomtowns, they grew without law, just as the other convergence points did during that time. This created a spirt of utter loss of control and reason...a time of anarchy.

These colonies were extremely portable. As soon as the railroaders began building towards new towns and opportunities, the agents of these enterprises could easily pack up and follow along. Because of the loss of profit, this typically left the past towns they had stayed in dried up. All throughout the Union Pacific, prospective towns were made into lots, which were then sold to emigrants carried West by the railroad. A few of the camps turned into grand enterprises, such as Cheyanne, which didn't produce as much rough and tumble as the other "Hell on Wheels" towns.

These towns were called "Hell on Wheels", because the people who escorted the railroads advance were considered immoral and criminal. It got to the point that the town of Laramie, Wyoming had murders occurring nightly and overall anarchy happening in the streets. The characters who started these camps created a time of scoundrels, retaliation and misbehavior.