The character of Cullen Bohannon was loosely based on former Union General John "Jack" Casement, the real life chief engineer for the Union Pacific hired by Thomas Durant. He was later replaced by Major General Grenville Dodge but kept on as chief construction "boss" much the way Thomas Durant hired a chief engineer in season 2 but kept Cullen Bohannon on as chief construction "boss". See more

Goofs

All of the natives in this series are depicted with eyebrows. Almost all the native peoples of North America routinely removed all facial hair as part of their cultural traditions - including eyebrows. See the 19th-century photographs by Edward S Curtis and others, and the paintings from life by Bodmer, Catlin, and Kurtz and you will find nobody with eyebrows. This and many other cultural elements were lost during the early Reservation era and today even Native American actors are sadly unaware of it. See more