“A nation previously divided by savages and wild beasts, wastes of quicksand and whirlwinds of dust was now united.”
News excerpt of the day
The meeting of the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad rail teams and the consequent driving of the final peak stands alone as the most nationally significant event in the history of the State of Utah. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to discuss it in some detail and provide useful information for those who want to attend the annual reenactment that takes place every May 10th or simply visit the site at their leisure.
Even before the Civil War, Congress had sent several surveying expeditions west in search of a practical route for the transcontinental railroad. The Beckwith Expedition of 1854 that passed through Tooele County was one of them. The companies that were to build the railroad were the Central Pacific Railroad Company, which started in California in the west, and the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which started in the east somewhere in Iowa.
After the Civil War, Congress took the project’s completion seriously by issuing 30-year government bonds from competing companies at 6% interest. The bonds were issued per mile and the amount of the bond depended on the roughness of the terrain. Flat land earned businesses $ 16,000 per mile, hills generated $ 32,000 per mile, and hilly terrain generated $ 48,000 per mile. Due to the money offered in bonds and the land given to the railroads by the government, the companies competed fiercely to build most of the highway in order to obtain more bonds and land grants. It is important to note that although these were large sums of money, it was still not enough to finance the construction of the railways and if the private company had not stepped forward, the railroad would never have been completed.
How was the construction? Consider the following obstacles the Central Pacific Railroad faced when it encountered the Sierra Nevada. Trestles and bridges had to be built, cuts and fillings were made, meandering slopes and 15 tunnels were blown through solid granite. A tunnel at the top was 1700 feet long and took a year to explode! Most of the workers in the Central Pacific were Chinese and were paid about a dollar a day for their backbreaking work. Many Chinese died during construction, either in explosions, crushed or buried alive by snow in the Sierra Nevada. 40 miles of snow sheds were also built in these mountains. It was truly an incredible feat of engineering to build a railway across that wild mountain.
Meanwhile, Union Pacific crews lumbered west through Nebraska at a speed of about a mile a day. This was a gigantic effort and literally tent cities would spring up at terminal points that attracted desperate people, criminals, gamblers, thieves, disreputable women, and camp followers. 18,000 men worked on the Union Pacific crew and earned $ 4.00 a day, so the money was plentiful. This so-called “roaming hell” of a tent city made many scheming opportunists rich.
Eventually, both crews entered Utah and because a meeting location had not been determined, it was assumed that the grading crews from each company would eventually meet and join their roads. However, this was not the case. Due to intense competition between the two railroads, their grading crews simply crossed paths and the result was 200 miles of parallel grading from Echo Canyon, Utah to Wells, Nevada, with each company hoping to be compensated in bonds and land for the work. . it had been completed along this redundant stretch. Newly elected President Ulysses S. Grant told companies that it would be better if they were set up in a meeting place or that the government would do it for them. Eventually the rail companies agreed to join the rails in Promontory, Utah and the competition to get there really heated up.
First, Union Pacific laid 3 miles of track in one day. Then the Central Pacific laid 4.5 miles of track in one day on the Nevada desert floor. Not to be outdone, the Union Pacific crew laid 7.5 miles of track in a 15-hour shift. UP Vice President Thomas Durrant was so sure this record couldn’t be broken that he bet Charles Crocker of the Central Pacific group $ 10,000 that it couldn’t be broken.
Then, on April 28, 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad did the unthinkable. Eight Irish railway operators and thousands of Chinese workers laid 10 miles of track in one day and finished just 3 miles west of the summit of the promontory. 3,000 workers, 100 horses, and numerous teams of mules moved 2 million pounds of iron rails, 21,000 lashings, and drove 84,500 nails. All of this was accomplished in a 12-hour workday. This record still stands today as it has never been broken, not even by the advanced technology and equipment now available. It is estimated that they left their mark at an astonishing 240 feet per minute while accomplishing this historic feat.
As the Central Pacific crews worked up the western side of the summit of the Promontory, the Union Pacific crews encountered their most difficult obstacle along their entire route, which was the eastern approach to the summit of the Promontory. It is here that they encountered the second steepest slope on the entire Trans-Continental Railroad. The Central Pacific grading team was also working on this point and this is where two of the largest projects on the entire route were built side by side in stubborn competition.
The UP built its “Great Trestle”, which was a wooden bridge 400 feet long and over 80 feet high. 150 feet to the west, parallel to the Great Trestle, the Central Pacific built the “Great Landfill” which consisted of more than 10,000 cubic yards of fill material. Interestingly, much of the work at Big Fill was done by Mormon laborers. These enormous feats of engineering were completed side by side due to the stubborn refusal of companies to agree on a place to join the rails. Finally, a joint congressional resolution confirmed the selection of Promontorio as the location where the “Wedding of the Rails” would take place.
Keeping pace with the construction of the railroad was the Transcontinental Telegraph. The supply trains would bring the poles that were transported along the roadbed in wagons. Holes were dug, posts were placed and cables were connected as operations progressed. Finally, it was time to organize a ceremony commemorating the monumental achievement of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Each railway sent a special train to participate in the ceremony.
The Central Pacific Railroad selected “Antelope” to participate. This engine broke down in Sierra Nevada when logs fell en route to the ceremony and was replaced by the “Jupiter” at the last minute. Similarly, Union Pacific selected the “Durrant Flyer” to represent the UP. Due to recent flood damage to a bridge in Echo Canyon, which made it unsuitable for an engine as heavy as the Durrant Flyer to cross it, a dark engine, the # 119 that was in Ogden at the time, was taken to Promontory to participate.
How about the legend of the golden spike? Well, the gold tip was created at the request of David Hewes, a close friend of Leland Stanford who was president of the Central Pacific Railroad. Hewes contracted with the Garrett foundry to create a 5 5/8 inch long, 14.03 ounce, 17.6 carat gold spike. One side was written with the words “May God continue the unity of our country as the railroad joins the two great oceans of the world.” At the top of the peak were inscribed the words “The last peak”. The spike was never driven into the railroad tie because it was too valuable. The true story of what happened is quite entertaining and can be learned by visiting the Golden Spike National Historic Site. The actual Golden Spike now resides in the Stanford University Museum along with the solid Silver Spike that was created by Nevada.
What was the significance of this event? I quote from the National Park Services landmark study “The joining of the rails at Promontory spelled the end of the colossal effort to build the first transcontinental railroad in just 6 1/2 years. Representing one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century, the completion of This continuous rail line accelerated the settlement and economic development of the American West, which was the final ruin of the American Indian way of life. The completion of the first transcontinental railroad also facilitated transportation and trade, improved communications and helped to unite the country physically, economically and politically. “
When the last iron point was placed, it was connected to the telegraph so that the nation could hear the blows as the point was thrown. Telegrapher WN Schilling sent the long-awaited “DONE” message at 12:47 pm on Monday, May 10, 1869. What an incredibly significant event! And to think that it happened right here in Utah. You can visit the Golden Spike National Historic Site by taking Exit 365 in Brigham City and then following Utah State Highway 83 for 32 miles west to Promontory. There are brown signs that will guide you to the site along this route. The center is open every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. M. At 5 p. Many of the famous sites can be seen in one visit. In fact, you can walk through the “Great Fill” by following the walking path of the same name. You can take the car tours and drive for miles along the old railroad slopes.
You can visit the place where the Central Pacific laid 10 miles of track in one day. The main attraction has to be the visitor center where there are interpretive films, an excellent bookstore, and the site’s crown jewels – the beautiful large-scale working replicas of the “Jupiter” and “119” locomotives. Every year from May 1 through Labor Day, these engines come out of their shed and give a demonstration. Without a doubt, it is worth visiting. A large-scale re-enactment of the junction of the rails also occurs each year on May 10.
