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Historical Museum Train Travel

Where East Met West

Train
No plans existed for this historic engine so the Jupiter was rebuilt using only references designs developed from pictures and postcards. It is now very similar to the original train engine and it is in immaculate condition.

Every day, east meets west in a recreation of the event that made this huge country small. On May 10, 1869, two railways joined tracks at a place called Promontory Summit in Utah and created the first transcontinental rail line. For the first time it was possible to buy goods on one coast and have them efficiently delivered to the other, the west could sell to Europe and the east could sell through to asia. The world got smaller too.

The reason the railroads met here was chance. The two companies who accepted the government’s contract started from opposite directions: one in Omaha heading west, the other in Sacramento heading east. Progress across the plains was fast and easy but laying track out of California over the Sierra Nevada mountains was slow progress. 

Starting in 1863, the two companies were in competition to lay more track as the government paid by the mile. Thanks for a huge contingent of Chinese laborers the two companies made steady progress till six years later they approached each other outside of Ogden, UT. Ironically, in the interest of laying more track to make more money they overshot each other but eventually agreed to meet here for a joining ceremony.  A key point in the celebrations was when the last spike was driven into the final rail connecting the two systems. That nail was made of pure gold and if famously referred to as the “Golden Spike”.

The western line extended 690 miles and was built by the Central Pacific Railroad; the eastern line extended 1,086 miles and was built by the Union Pacific Railroad. After the joining ceremony rail service began. The United States was now truly united.

My favorite picture of the ceremony is this black and white image below.

This monument is for the Chinese who worked and died on the project.

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By TravisGood

Speaker. Maker. Writer. Traveler. Father. Husband.

MakerCon Co-Chair (MakerCon.com)
Maker City San Diego Roundtable Member
San Diego Maker Faire Producer (SDMakerFaire.org)

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