he Omaha Sunday
Bee
PART THREE
' EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO SIX
PART THREE
MAGAZINE
PAGES ONE TO SIX
. (
f !ro
VOL. XLV NO. HO.
Military
TIJE BUILDING of a Pacific Bteam road to
connect the btrcams flowing into the At
lantic and Pacific was advocated as
early as 1819, before a mile of railroad
wag built in any part of the world. It
took practical form when Asa Whitney, in 1845,
petitioning congress in behalf of a Pacific rail
road, said: 'You will see that It will change the
-whole world.' Senator Thomas II. Benton in 1849
I pleaded that the great line when built should
'be adorned with its crowning honor, the colossal
iftatuo of the great Columbus, whose design It ac
complishes, hewn from the granate mass of a
j peak of the Rocky Mountains, overlooking the
road, the mountain itself the pedestal, and the
i etatue a part of the mountain, pointing with out
jelretched arm to the westers horizon and saying
: to the flying passenger, 'There is the east! There
lis India?' Charles Summer in 1853 said: 'The
railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific, traversing
I' n whole Cohn&enf andTflndlng together two oceans, '
this mighty thoroughfare when completed will
i mark an epoch of human progress second only to
that of our Declaration of Independence. May the
; day soon come!' And it did come, and all the
prophecies were fulfilled when the first transcon
j tinental line was completed and the tracks joined
! at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869, Just
forty years ago.
"This ceremeny wu one of peace and harmony
. between the Union Pacific, coming from the east,
and the Central Pacific, coming from the west.
. For a year or more there had been great con
tention and rivalry between the two companies, the
t'nion Pacific endeavoring to reach Humboldt
W elln, on the west boundary of Utah, and the Cen
tral Pacific rushing to reach Ogden, Utah, to Klve
them an outlet to Salt Lake City, and the two lines
verc graded alongside of each other for 225 miles
I between Ogden and Humboldt Wells. Climbing
I Promontory mountain they were not a stone's
i throw apart.
"When both companies saw that neither could
I reach it3 goal they came together, and we made an
I agreement to join the tracks on the summit of
Tromontory mountain, the Union Pacific selling to
! the Central Pacific fifty-six miles of its road back
within five miles of Ogden, and leasing trackage
. over that five miles to enable the Central Pacific
to reacn ugaen. 'inese rive miles were not only a
part of the Union Pacific, but used by their line
north to Idaho. This agreement was ratified by
congress. Each road built to the summit of Prom
ontory, leaving a gap of 100 feet of rail to be laid
I U'Yien thA la ct cnlln won ilvfin
Arrival of the Official PnrtJea
"On the morning of May 10, 1869, Hon. Leland
j Stanford, governor of California and president of
the Central Pacific, accompanied by Messrs. Hunt
( ington, Hopkins, Crocker, and trainloads of Call
j fornia's distinguished citizens, arrived from the
went. DurinK the forenoon Vice President T. C.
Nyi i. jrfJurant and Directors John II. Duff and Sidney Dil-
m"mm lrn orH Pnnonllln. I."' 1 ...... l- 1 1 a o .
the Union Pacific, with other prominent men,
including a delegation of Mormons from Salt lake
City, came in on a train from the east. The na
tional government was represented by a detach
ment of "regulars" from Fort Douglas, Utah, ac
lompanied by a band, and 600 others, including
Chinese, Mexicans, Indians, half-breeds, negroes,
and laborer suggesting an air of cosmopolitanism,
all gatherea around the open space where the
tracks were to be joined. The Chinese laid the
rails from the west end, and the Irish laborers laid
them from the east end, until they met and Joined.
"Telegraph wires were so connected that each
blow of the descending sledge could be reported in
atantly to all parts of the United States. Corre
sponding blows were struck on the bell of the city
hall in San Francisco, and with the last blow of the
sledge a cannon was fired at Fort Point. General
Safford presented a spike of gold, silver and iron
as the offering of the territory of Arizona. Got
rnor Tuttle of Nevada presented a spike of silver
from his state. The connecting tie was of Cali-
lornia laurel, and California presented th
Pike of gold in behalf of that state. A stiver
led go had also been oresented for the ocranlm.
A rrayer was offered; Governor Stanford of Cali
fornia made a tew appropriate remarks cn behalf
Of tneAjentral Pacific, and the chief engineer re
sponded for the Union Pacific. Then the tele-
1
Funeral of Genl Grenville I
3D
.--.,IU 1 l--' jjj I ... , Ur-V,""A rH'FI
This is the Fascinating Story of the Driving of ;
the Golden Spike as Written for The Bee by Gen
eral Dodge on Occasion of Fortieth Anniversary
graphic inquiry from the Omaha office, from which
the circuit was to be started, was answered: 'To
everybody: Keep quiet. When the last spike Is
driven at Promontory Point we will say "Done."
Don't break the circuit, but watch for the signals
of the blows of the hammer. The spike will soon
be driven. . The signal will be three dots for the
commencement of blows.' The 'magnet tapped
one two then paused 'Done.' The spike was
given its first blow by President Stanford, and
Vice President Durant followed, neither of whom
hit the spike the first time, but hit the rail, and
were greeted by the lusty cheerB of the onlookers,
accompanied by the screams of tho locomotives
and the music of the military band. Many other
spikes were driven on the last rail by some of
the distinguished persons present, but it was sel
dom that they first hit the spike. The original
spike, after being tapped by the officials of the
companies, was driven home by the chief engineers
of the two roads. Then the two trains were run
together, the two locomotives touching at the point
of junction, and the engineers of the two locomo
tives each broke a bottle of champagne on the
ether's engine. Then it was declared that the con
nection was made and the Atlantic and Pacific were
Joined together never to be parted.
Celebrate from Ocean to Ocean
"At the eastern terminus in Omaha, the firing
of a hundred guns on Capitol Hill, more bells and
steam whistles and a grand procession of fire com
panies, civic societies, citizens and visiting delega
tions echoed the sentiments of the Caiifornians.
In other large cities expressions of public
gratification were hardly less hearty and demon
strative. Bret Harte was inspired to write tho
celebrated poem of 'What tho Engines Said." The
first verse is:
"What was it the engines said.
Pilots touching, bead to head,
Facing on the single track.
Half a wor'.d behind each back?
This is what .the engines said,
Unreported and unread."
"After the ceremony a sumptuous lunch was
served in President Stanford's cars and appropriate
speeches were made by Governor Stanford and
others, and a general jollification was enjoyed. At
night each train took its way to its own home,
leaving at the junction point only the engineer!
end the workmen to complete the work, ready for
the through trains that followed in a day or two
after.
"The one thought that was in the minds of
all was, 'What of the future? What could a rail
read earn that ran almost its entire length from
Nebraska to the California state line through a
country uninhabited, and at ' that date, with
no developed local business upon its whole line.'
"My own views upon that question I expressed
in my report upon the completion of the road in
1869, in which I said:
" 'Its future is fraught with great good. It will
develop a waste, will bind together the two ex
tremes of the nation as one, will stimulate inter
course and trade, and bring harmony, prosperity
and wealth to the two coasts. A proper policy,
systematically and persistently followed, will
bring to'the road the trade of the two oceans and
will give it alt the business it can accommodate;
while the local trade will increase gradually until
the mining, grazing and agricultural regions
through which it passes will build up and create
a business that will be a lasting and permanent
fcupport to the company.'
"It is p. great satisfaction to have lived and
witnessed the dev lopir.tnt of our nation, from the
lakes to the Pacific; ts n result cf the civil wur
it has made a century's giowth in fifty years."
OMAIIA, SUNT) AY MOIiNIXO, JANUAHV
Clarke
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Pioneer, Soldier, Master Railroad
Builder and Financier
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Dodge
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