Transcontinental Railroad Turns 150
The construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad was one
of the greatest engineering feats in American history, one whose
ramifications are felt to this day. The six-year project involved
two competing railroad companies laying nearly 1,800 miles of
track across the continent, linking west with east.
Completed on May 10, 1869, its effects on cross-country
commerce and passenger transport helped towns grow into cit-
ies, altered national demographics, changed Americans’ eating
habits and created countless businesses through the new avail-
ability of goods and services. It also abetted the destruction of
the American Indian culture and ruined wide swaths of the en-
vironment.
Events and circumstances converged to make the TCRR
imminent. In the 1840s, California’s rail system looked primi-
tive compared to those thriving in the east, midwest and south.
The gold rush of 1849 brought more than 300,000 people from
around the world to Northern California, a migration that ulti-
mately established the Golden State’s legacy of ethnic diversity.
Further, California became a state in 1850. During the Civil War
(1861-1865), President Abraham Lincoln was eager to bring
it closer to the rest of the country. A railroad linking the west
and east would shorten the journey to California from months
to days.
Railroad engineer Theodore Judah became the catalyst. He
formed an investment group with local entrepreneurs Leland
Stanford, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker.
They founded the Central Pacific Railroad in 1861, but Judah died
of yellow fever before ground was broken on his dream venture.
The next year, Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act, ordering
the unification of the east and west via rail. Drilling and blasting
its way through the Sierra, the Central Pacific laid 690 miles east
from Sacramento, while the Union Pacific put down 1,085 miles
west from the Iowa-Nebraska border.
road built to international standards, electrified and capa-
ble of top speeds of 150 mph.”
That scenario is decades away, but a major step was tak-
en in 2017 when Amtrak debuted $7 million state-of-the-art
Charger diesel-electric locomotives that run faster, cleaner
and quieter than the ones they replaced, most of which were
built before 2000.
Also, at least three near-term projects are on the draw-
ing boards, Kutrosky says.
• The two-phase Sacramento-Roseville Third Track Project
will add two additional round trips between Sacramento
On May 10, 1869 two locomotives — the Jupiter from Sacra-
mento and Engine No. 119 from Omaha — met nose-to-nose at
Promontory Summit in Utah Territory, where a cheering crowd
had gathered to witness history.
What happened next is a matter of debate among railroad
historians, as accounts vary and facts have been smudged over
time. One credible story is that the symbolic 17.6-karat Golden
Spike, or Last Spike, was positioned in a predrilled hole in a cere-
monial laurelwood tie. Central Pacific president Stanford picked
up a sledgehammer, swung at it and missed. It was replaced by
the actual last spike — an ordinary one made of iron — that was
pounded into a pine tie by a Chinese laborer.
There’s a little-known addendum, says Earl Tobey, a guide at
the California State Railroad Museum. San Francisco business-
man David Hewes had commissioned the Golden Spike and a
duplicate for the ceremony, with the predetermined date of the
ceremony — May 8 — engraved on them.
“The Union Pacific train had been hijacked in Wyoming by
a group of disgruntled railroad employees because they hadn’t
been paid yet,” Tobey says. “They chained it to the tracks and
wouldn’t let it proceed for several days.”
There was a huge party on the streets of Sacramento on May
8 to celebrate, as word had not spread about the hijacked train
that wouldn’t arrive at Promontory until May 10.
Later, Hewes donated the Golden Spike — bearing the incor-
rect date — to Stanford University, where it is still displayed. He
kept the duplicate gold spike and had the May 8 date changed
to May 10.
“It was held in the Hewes family private collection for 135
years, until they sold it to us,” Tobey says. “It’s been on display
here ever since.”
~ Allen Pierleoni
For more information on events related to the Transcontinental
Railroad’s 150th anniversary, visit comstocksmag.com.
and Roseville within two years. (Callison’s commuter is
the only round-trip now). In the long term “there will be
even more trains in each direction that will go all the way
to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley,” Kutrosky says.
• Within three years, the Santa Clara Track Siding Project
“will better serve events at Levi’s Stadium with special
trains that will pull into the station when the events are
over,” he says.
• In three to five years, the South Bay Reroute will take
15 minutes off travel time between Oakland and Santa
Clara.
May 2019 | comstocksmag.com
33