Many people fail to realize the actual cost in time and labor that was spent in constructing the Western North Carolina Railroad from Salisbury to Murphy. They also fail to realize that this railroad was built almost entirely by convict labor and was instrumental in opening up the isolated mountain region of western North Carolina. The purpose of this thesis is to show the difficulties that had to be overcome in building this railroad over the mountains, to describe the important role that convict labor played in this engineering feat and to relate the importance of the coming of the railroad into western North Carolina.Private manuscript collections of the builders of the railroad and collected documents of other railroad personalities have been indispensable for this study. The Annual Meeting of the Stockholders Reports yielded much information. Careful examination of North Carolina State Government documents and period newspapers has been useful. The North Carolina Penitentiary Reports have also proven helpful. Secondary sources such as monographs and special studies, periodicals, pamphlets, and unpublished works were invaluable. The above materials can be found in the North Carolina State Archives at Raleigh and in the Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.The results of this research reveal that convict labor was the most important element in building the Western North Carolina Railroad and that the Western North Carolina Railroad had a major influence in opening up the mountain communities of western North Carolina