Ernest Haycox

The Story of Frank Peace. He was trouble shooter for the Union Pacific, hand-picked as the only man in the West who could get the road over a thousand miles of rugged desert and treacherous mountains. Faced with savage Indians, bands of vicious outlaws, and power hungry interests sworn to destroy him, Frank Peace was in the business of war. And every man from Omaha to Salt Lake City would have to prove either friend or foe before Frank Peace was through.-Goodreads.com. The book is the basis for the 1939 Cecil B.
DeMille film "Union Pacific" starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea.