May 10,1869: TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD COMPLETED. Today, a golden spike was driven in at Promontory, Utah, to link the First Transcontinental Railroad. This joined the Union Pacific Railroad, running east to Omaha, and the Central Pacific, running west to California. "The long-looked for moment has arrived," a dispatch from May 10, 1869, read in The New York Herald. "The inhabitants of the Atlantic board and the dwellers on the Pacific slope are henceforth emphatically one people." The event was a turning point in American history, opening up the West and truly making the United States a coast–to–coast nation. Although the completion of the railroad was celebrated on May 10, it did not actually reach the Pacific Ocean until later in the year. On May 10, the rails stretched to Sacramento, where passengers were transferred to river steamers on their way to San Francisco.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
This Day in History
May 10,1869: TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD COMPLETED. Today, a golden spike was driven in at Promontory, Utah, to link the First Transcontinental Railroad. This joined the Union Pacific Railroad, running east to Omaha, and the Central Pacific, running west to California. "The long-looked for moment has arrived," a dispatch from May 10, 1869, read in The New York Herald. "The inhabitants of the Atlantic board and the dwellers on the Pacific slope are henceforth emphatically one people." The event was a turning point in American history, opening up the West and truly making the United States a coast–to–coast nation. Although the completion of the railroad was celebrated on May 10, it did not actually reach the Pacific Ocean until later in the year. On May 10, the rails stretched to Sacramento, where passengers were transferred to river steamers on their way to San Francisco.
