Sharman's 1929 manuscript of his work on building the Union Pacific railroad provided the source material for Western fiction author Ernest Haycox to write a story called the "troubleshooter" in Collier's magazine in 1936.

[1] "Trouble Shooter," told the story of Frank Peace, nominally a (civil) engineer working with (Samuel) Reed but mostly as (Grenville) Dodge's hired gun on the line.

The novel first appeared in serial form in Collier's magazine in 1936 and was the basis of the Cecil B. DeMille motion picture epic Union Pacific, released in 1939.

[1] In August 1865, Sharman was discharged and by the following spring had arrived in Omaha, Nebraska looking for work with the Union Pacific Railroad's (UPRR) civil engineering corps.

[1] Sharman's work assignments included Grand Island, the North Plate river railroad bridge and related winter camp as well as the Dale Creek crossing in 1867 and 1868.

Sharman's journal of his working on the project provided the source material for Western fiction author Ernest Haycox to write a story called the "troubleshooter" in Collier's magazine in 1936.