It was on this date in 1869 that the two coasts
of the United States became connected by rail.
At
that time, the state of Utah was still a territory and a spot called
"promontory" was about to received the attention of the world and
mark its
place in American history. It was there where the final rail was to be laid,
linking the Union Pacific tracks out of Omaha, with the Central Pacific tracks out of
San Francisco.
Five
years of labor had gone before to bring the two to Promontory, Utah. Leland Stanford, President of the Central
Pacific, took a silver plated sledgehammer in his burly hands and took aim at
the gold spike in the final rail.
America
was listening for that clank. The Railroad's future was bright. Two engines
were puffing in anticipation. The Union pacific number 199 and the Central's
Jupiter waited to touch iron noses. All was set as Sanford swung the silver hammer
at the bright golden spike and he missed.
Somehow, now that seems appropriate. The railroads future was never
perfect. Progress took a different route and a new track eventually bypassed Promontory. Then as
irony would have it, the old rails were needed for steel during the 2nd world
war and they were removed. Promontory today has no tracks, only a memory on the 10th of May.
No comments:
Post a Comment