diff --git a/beacon_chain/utils/hashing/src/merkle_root.rs b/beacon_chain/utils/hashing/src/merkle_root.rs
index 345c491c5..11307a880 100644
--- a/beacon_chain/utils/hashing/src/merkle_root.rs
+++ b/beacon_chain/utils/hashing/src/merkle_root.rs
@@ -1,29 +1,35 @@
 use types::{Hash256}
 use hashing::canonical_hash;
-use std::iter::range_step;
 
-fn merkle_root(values: Vec<T>) -> Hash256 {
-    let mut o = vec![0; values.len()];
+pub fn merkle_root(values: Vec<T>) -> Hash256 {
+    let mut o: Vec<&[u8]> = vec![0; values.len()];
+    let mut value_hashes = vec![];
+    for v in values {
+       value_hashes.push(canonical_hash(v);
+    }
+
     o.append(values);
 
-    for v in range_step(values - 1, 0, -1) {
-        canonical_hash(v.as_bytes());
+    for i in (0..values.len() - 1).rev() {
+        canonical_hash(o[i * 2] + o[i * 2 + 1]);
     }
+
+    o[1];
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn calculate_merkle_root() {
-        let values = vec!['abc', 'lmn', 'xyz', 'o0o'];
+        let values = vec!["abc", "lmn", "xyz", "o0o"];
 
-        let test_leaf_1 = canonical_hash(values[0]);
-        let test_leaf_2 = canonical_hash(values[1]);
-        let test_leaf_3 = canonical_hash(values[2]);
-        let test_leaf_4 = canonical_hash(values[3]);
-        let test_node_1 = canonical_hash(vec![test_leaf_4, test_leaf_3]);
-        let test_node_2 = canonical_hash(vec![test_leaf_2, test_leaf_1]);
-        let test_root   = canonical_hash(vec![test_node_1, test_node_2]);
+        let test_leaf_0 = canonical_hash(values[0]);
+        let test_leaf_1 = canonical_hash(values[1]);
+        let test_leaf_2 = canonical_hash(values[2]);
+        let test_leaf_3 = canonical_hash(values[3]);
+        let test_node_0 = canonical_hash(test_leaf_3 + test_leaf_2);
+        let test_node_1 = canonical_hash(test_leaf_1 + test_leaf_0);
+        let test_root   = canonical_hash(test_node_0 + test_node_0);
 
         let result      = merkle_root(values);
         assert_eq!(result, test_root);