The Golden Spike
Two railroads, built from opposite coasts, are about to meet at Promontory Summit. Write the day the last spike joins them — from the view of a laborer who laid a hundred miles of the track.
On 10 May 1869 the first US transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, Utah, joining the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines. Much of the grueling labor was done by Chinese and Irish immigrant workers.
Field notes
Did you know
- A ceremonial golden spike marked the joining; it was quickly removed for safekeeping.
- The journey coast to coast dropped from months to about a week.
- Chinese laborers, often unnamed in the famous photos, did much of the most dangerous work.
Key phrases
the grade · sledge and spike · the last rail · a nation stitched together · the men not in the photograph
Chase this down
Look up: Promontory Summit; the Chinese railroad workers of the Central Pacific.
Craft tip
Give voice to the people history's cameras left out. Whose sweat isn't in the official picture?
Try this
Write the same event as an old worker retelling it to a child decades later.