AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE. 145

 

the consummation of one of the grandest
of modern enterprises, that they had gath-
ered here. They were here to do honor
to the occasion when 1,774 miles of rail-
road should be united, binding in one un-
broken chain the East and the West.
(Sacramento at that time was the western
terminus.)

To witness this grand event—to be par-
takers in the glorious act—this assemblage
had convened. All around was excite-
ment and bustle that morning; men hurry-
ing to and fro, grasping their neighbors’
hands in hearty greeting, as they paused
to ask or answer hurried questions. This
is the day of final triumph of the friends
of the road over their croaking opponents,
for long ere the sun shall kiss the western
summits of the gray old monarchs of the
desert, the work will be accomplished, the
assemblage dispersed, and quiet reign
once more, broken only by the hoarse
scream of the locomotive; and when the
lengthening mountain shadows shall
sweep across the plain, flecked and mot-
tled with the departing sunbeams, they
will fall on the iron rails which will
stretch away in one unbroken line from
the Sacramento to the Missouri River.

The hours passed slowly on until the
sun rode high in the zenith, his glittering
rays falling directly down upon the vacant
place between the two roads, which was
waiting to receive the last tie and rails
which would unite them forever. On
either road stood long lines of cars, the
impatient locomotives occasionally snort-
ing out their cheering notes, as though they
understood what was going on, and rejoiced
in common with the excited assemblage.

To give effect to the proceedings, ar-
rangements. had been made by which the
large cities of the Union should be notified
of the exact minute and second when the
road should be finished. Telegraphic
communications were organized with the
principal cities of the East and West, and
at the designated hour the lines were put
in connection, and all other business sus-
pended. In San Francisco the wires were
connected with the fire-alarm in the tower,
where the ponderous bell could spread the
news over the city the instant the event
occured. Baltimore, Philadelphia, Bos-
ton, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago
Were waiting for the moment to arrive
when the chained lightning should be
toned, carrying the news of a great civil

 

i
er over the length and breadth of the |
land.

The hour and minute designated ar- |
rived, and Leland Stanford, President, as-
sisted by other officers of the Central Pa- |
cific, came forward: T.C. Durant, Vice. |
President of the Union Pacific, assisted by
General Dodge and others of the same |
company, met them at the end of the rail, |
where they reverently paused, while Rev. |
Dr. Todd, of Mass., invoked the Divine
blessing. Then the last tie, a beautiful |
piece of workmanship, of California laurel,
with silver plates on which were suitable |
inscriptions, was put in place, and the
last connecting rails were laid by parties
from each company. The last spikes
were then presented, one of gold from
California, one of silver from Nevada, and
one of gold, silver and iron from Arizona.
President Stanford then took the hammer,
made of solid silver—and to the handle of
which were attached the telegraph wires—
aud with the first tap on the head of the
gold spike at 12, m., the news of the event
was flashed over the continent. Speeches
were made as each spike was driven,
and when all was completed, cheer after
cheer rent the air from the enthusiastic
assemblage,

Then the Jupiter, a locomotive of the
C. P. R. R. Co., and locomotive No. 116, of
the U. P. R. R. Co., approached from each
way, meeting on the dividing line, where
they rubbed their brown noses together,
while shaking hands, as illustrated.

To say that wine flowed freely would
convey but a faint idea of the good feeling
manifested and the provision made by each
company for the entertainment of their
guests, and the celebration of the event.

Immediately on the completion of the
work, a charge was made on the last tie
(not the silver-plated, gold-spiked laurel,
for that had been removed and a pine tie
substituted) by relic hunters, and soon it
was cut and hacked to pieces, and the
fragments carried away as trophies or me-
mentoes of the greatevent. Even one of the
last rails laid in place was cut and battered
so badly that it was removed and another
substituted. Weeks after the event we
passed the place again, and found an enthu-
siastic person cutting a piece out of the
last tielaid. He was proud of his treasure
—that little chip of pine—for it was a piece
of the last tie. We did not tell him that
three or four ties had been placed there
since the first was cut in pieces.