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Transcontinental
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The culmination of these efforts, and those of thousands of men laying rails and tunneling through granite mountains, was the "wedding of the rails." On May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point , Utah, the country was connected from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. America would never be the same. Our cousin, Kimber, joined us as we watched a re-enactment of this ceremony at Golden Spike National Historic Site. Exact replicas of the "Jupiter" and "119" locomotives chug along track relaid on the original roadbed where the Central Pacific joined the Union Pacific. |
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"We watched a re-enactment of the Wedding of the Rails at Promontory Point. That's the ceremony where the two railroads were joined with the golden spike (later taken out). When we got home, we made a video of a newscast about the ceremony with our cousin, Kimber. We pretended we were there, interviewing railroad workers and people participating in the ceremony. I played the parts of the workers and talked in Chinese and Irish accents. It was really fun!"--Harrison |
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"There were silver and gold spikes at the ceremony to join the two sidesof the railroad, but they weren't really used. They were too valuable to leave outside."--Amanda |
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"I learned some safety tips: Never corss RR tracks when the signal arm is down or you might get killed by a train. 50% of the RR crashes are when the signal arm is working! You should never stand in the train's way or you might die."--Amanda |
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"Another cool thing we found at the station was a bunch of model trains with tracks that went almost all throughout the museum. There were trains from the time of the Goden Spike to today. I loved following them around."--Harrison |
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On our way through Salt Lake City, we stopped at the "This is the Place" monument. It is dedicated to the Mormon settlers, led by Brigham Young, who declared Utah valley the place for his band of religious outcasts. |
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Abraham
Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862 and chose the central
route from five possible options. Theodore "Crazy" Judah surveyed
the route from California, while Grenville Dodge explored the Platte
River Valley from the east.
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