"Two powerful railroads clash in a dispute over the Royal Gorge right-of-way to serve a valuable silver strike in Colorado. A reclusive financier with substantial holdings in the Denver & Rio Grande commissions the Knights of Labor to foment labor unrest against rival Atkins Topeka & Southern to delay development of the Royal Gorge spur while the dispute is litigated. Stephen Atkins, owner of the AT&S, turns to Pinkerton for assistance in breaking the strike. Atkins learns financier Eli Chorus