A History of Box Elder County

The transcontinental railroad

CHAPTER 6 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD B 'ox Elder County has the distinction of being home of the Golden Spike National Historic Site which honors the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit on 10 May 1869. However, before officials of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific drove the symbolic golden spike thirty miles west of Brigham City, and the nation celebrated one of the most significant accom­plishments in America's history, thousands of construction work­ers- mostly Irish, Chinese, and Mormons-toiled to open a passage through the high crags, peaks, and defiles of the Rocky and Sierra ranges of mountains, cross countless streams and rivers, build a grade, and lay nearly eighteen hundred miles of rail. As Brigham Young and the vanguard of Mormon pioneers jour­neyed west in 1847, the vision of a transcontinental railroad was in the mind of the nation. Mormons welcomed the transportation rev­olution that the railroad would bring even though it threatened the isolation they sought. During the 1850s five major transcontinental railroad surveys were authorized by Congress and the questions became when and where the Atlantic and Pacific coasts would be tied 106 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY together by rail. In 1861 the Central Pacific Railroad Company was organized to build east from California. Company officials included Leland Stanford, president; Collis Potter Huntington, vice president; Mark Hopkins, treasurer; Charles Crocker, superintendent of con­struction; and Theodore Judah, chief engineer. The Union Pacific Railroad Company was organized in 1862 with John Dix, president; Thomas Clark Durant, vice president and general manager; Samuel B. Reed, construction superintendent; and Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer. The Civil War delayed construction of the railroad, but once the war ended in 1865 an army of former soldiers and new immigrants, coupled with generous subsidies and land grants from the federal government and a determination to complete the long discussed project, pushed both companies onward. As the two rail­roads approached each other, Congress set the meeting place approx­imately midway between the two ends-of-track. The place set was Promontory Summit. Not only did the two railroad lines meet in Box Elder County, the grading for both companies through Box Elder County (as well as through other parts of the route through Utah) was done by local labor. Brigham Young, with an eye to bringing the railroad to com­pletion, as well as providing cash-labor opportunities for Mormons, saw to it that Mormon firms got contracts for grading on both the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. Companies with the names Sharp & Young (Bishop John Sharp and several of Brigham's sons) and Benson, Farr & West (Apostle Ezra T. Benson, Weber Stake pres­ident Lorin Farr, and Bishop Chauncey W. West) were the grading subcontractors. The grand culmination of the transcontinental railroad project with the meeting of the two lines and the driving of ceremonial spikes was arguably the most noted historical event ever to take place in Utah-and it happened in Box Elder County. The great impor­tance of that event merits discussion in some detail. Driving the Golden Spike The date: 10 May 1869; the place, Promontory Summit, Utah; the event, completion of the first railroad to span the North American continent. THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 107 A wagon train meets a Central Pacific train powered by the locomotive "lupiter" at Monument Point on the northern tip of the Great Salt Lake in 1869. (Box Elder County) P r o m o n t o r y Summit is the high point of a valley in the Promontory range of mountains in n o r t h e r n Utah. It lies at an ele­vation of approximately 5,000 feet, that is, about 800 feet above the level of Great Salt Lake. The valley, about seventy miles northwest of Salt Lake City, is shallow, roughly circular, remote, a n d dusty-or muddy-depending on the weather, and carpeted with sage and rab­bit June grass, and a few scrub juniper. The landscape has changed little in one hundred thirty years. The m o r n i n g of 10 May 1869 was cold, and a chilling mist engulfed the valley. It had been raining for three days and Promontory dawned miserable. It was so cold that a t h in crust of ice had formed on the puddles which dotted the valley. As the rising sun began to b u r n off the mist and melt the chill in the air, a Central Pacific construction train came chugging in from the west to extend the C.P. spur into a siding and thus establish claim to P r o m o n t o r y Station as a Central Pacific terminal. This race for time and territory had driven the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads from Sacramento and Omaha east a n d west in a monu­mental feat of railroad construction, to be completed this day-an amazing six years ahead of the time scheduled by Congress. As the 108 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY C.P. train pulled in, laden with material and workmen, it was met by a lusty cheer from Union Pacific workmen who had reached Promontory Station after a full night's work under the supervision of Union Pacific's chief engineer Grenville M. Dodge and construction contractor Jack Casement. The Central Pacific crews could but con­cede and take solace in the fact that in this race they had set the track laying record, having put down ten miles in a day on 28 April, a record they still hold.1 At 7:00 A.M. F. L. Van Denburgh raised the flag of the United States of America to the top of a telegraph pole opposite the point where the last two rails would join east and west.2 At 8:45 the Central Pacific special train arrived at Promontory. It was pulled by C. P. locomotive number 60 named Jupiter a 4-4-0 built by Schenectady in 1868, and in use on the C.P. only six weeks.3 The use of Jupiter to pull the special train was not as originally planned. When the Promontory bound train left Sacramento on 5 May, it was drawn by locomotive Antelope, number 29, a 4-4-0 built by McKay & Aldus in 1867. Behind the Antelope was a new "subsis­tence car" or "tender," built in April in the C.P. shops. It had the exte­rior appearance of a baggage car, but inside was replete with com­partments, water tanks, ice bins, and all the appurtenances of a large and well stocked pantry, to cater to the needs of the dignitaries on their long journey. Behind this car was the private car of Central Pacific's president, former governor of California Leland Stanford. At one end the car had a combination dining room and office, and at the other quarters for ten passengers. Stanford's party included California's Chief Justice S. William Sanderson and Dr. J. D. B. Stillman, San Francisco County coroner and friend of Mark Hopkins. Also along were three railroad commissioners appointed by the fed­eral government to receive the railroad, James W. Haines, William G. Sherman (brother of General Sherman), and Fred A. Tritle, who was also a candidate for governor of Nevada; Edgar Mills of Sacramento and of the Bank of California, and son of Darius Ogden Mills; Anson P. K. Safford, newly appointed governor of the territory of Arizona, on his way to take his new position; and Dr. Harvey W. Harkness, of Sacramento, scientist, educator, and publisher of the Sacramento Press. Also on board were a polished wood ceremonial tie, three pre- THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 109 cious metal spikes, and other ceremonial trappings for the Promontory festivities. All went well for the Stanford special until it was descending the Truckee River valley past Truckee, on the way to Reno. There a crew of Chinese were cutting logs. They saw the regu­lar train pass and knew nothing of the following special. One of the logs, over fifty feet long and more than three feet in girth scooted down the mountain side and landed in the railroad cut with its end across one of the rails. Minutes later the special rounded the bend, and there was neither time nor track to stop the lumbering locomo­tive and its load. Sixty-three-year-old Harkness was riding on the pilot, wrapped in a buffalo robe and enjoying the mountain scenery. Not any too soon, Dr. Harkness leaped to the ground and locomotive and log collided. The pilot of the Antelope was torn off, one side of the engine was damaged, and the cars lost their steps. Harkness was bruised, but not seriously injured, although somewhat shaken. The train was able to limp into Reno, where a telegram was sent to Wadsworth to hold the regular train. There the regular was aug­mented with the two extra cars and the train, pulled by Jupiter con­tinued east to its destination at Elko. When the special left Elko, it carried a water car as it set out across the Nevada and Utah deserts.4 When the dignitaries arrived at Promontory on the 7th, fully expecting the ceremony to be held on the 8th as previously sched­uled, they were informed that the U.P. special was delayed due to storm damage to trackage in Weber Canyon.5 The ceremony was delayed until the 10th. On the 8th the C.P. delegation became the guests of U.P. on an inspection tour of the line east of Ogden.6 On the 9th Stanford's train pulled back about thirty miles to Monument Point-where there was a spectacular view of the Lake-and waited.7 When the special returned to Promontory on the morning of 10 May, the end of the mainline track was still occupied by Superintendent J. H. Strobridge's construction train. The Strobridge train, drawn by locomotive number 62, Whirlwind, backed up, and Stanford's train pulled up on the main line to a point near the end of the track. From the west all was ready and they impatiently awaited the arrival of the Union Pacific train from Ogden. At last, at 10:00 A.M., the U.P. special came into view, pulled by U.P. number 119, a 4-4-0 built in 1868, by Rogers locomotive 8c machine works, which 110 HISTORY OF Box ELDER COUNTY consisted of four cars. Behind were four more trains full of army per­sonnel of the Twenty-First infantry on the way to the Presidio at San Francisco.8 Heading the Union Pacific delegation was Vice-President and General Manager Thomas C. Durant, and U. P. directors Sidney Dillon and John Duff, chief engineer Major General Grenville M. Dodge, construction superintendent Samuel B. Reed, Contractors Jack 8c Dan Casement, and Durant's sidekick, consulting engineer Silas Seymour. Also on board was the Reverend Dr. John Todd of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, representing the Boston Congregationalist. Reverend Todd was a friend of John Duff. The Union Pacific train also carried the delegation from Utah, including Bishop John Sharp of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and of the con­tracting firm of Sharp 8c Young. The other half of the firm was made up of three of Brigham Young's sons, Brigham Jr., John W., and Joseph A., who held contracts with the Union Pacific for grading through Utah. Lorin Farr, mayor of Ogden and president of the LDS church Weber Stake, Apostle Ezra T. Benson, and Chauncey W. West represented the contracting company of Benson, Farr, and West, which had contracted with the Central Pacific for grading. The dele­gation represented Brigham Young, who was in southern Utah on business.9 At 11:15 the two trains faced each other across the gap in the tracks and Stanford led his delegation over to meet the U.P. officials. For the next hour, Grenville Dodge of U.P. and Edgar Mills, repre­senting C.P., conferred in vain, arguing over details of the ceremony, no plans having been made in advance. Dodge wanted to have his own ceremony rather than a joint program. The two men could come to no agreement. Finally the ranking members of the two dele­gations, Stanford and Durant, settled the problems and five minutes later the ceremony began. During the official hour-long impasse, the workmen were busy. Since 10:30, Chinese workmen had been grad­ing the space between the two ends of track, laying ties, and making all preparations for the last two rails. Not to be forgotten was the transcontinental telegraph, which had been built alongside the rail­road. F. L. Van Denburgh, superintendent of telegraphy for Central Pacific, and W. B. Hibbard, superintendent of the Western Union THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 111 The Union Pacific's "Big Trestle" east of Promontory Summit. (Box Elder County) Telegraph Company, were in charge of the telegraph line, and Amos L. Bowsher, construction chief for C.P. telegraph, ran the lines from east and west to a small deal table near the point of Junction and con­nected them to a special operator's kit. He also had wires from the telegraph line connected to a regular spike and an ordinary maul for use in the ceremony. Telegraph operators on duty were Howard Sigler and Louis Jacobs of Central Pacific and W. R. Fredricks and W. N. Shilling of Western Union's Ogden office.10 A crowd had gathered-a motley group of dignitaries, trainloads of soldiers, excursionists from Salt Lake City, and citizens from sur­rounding towns and farms. The twenty-first infantry's band assem­bled near the gap in the rails, as did the band of the LDS church Tenth Ward from Salt Lake City, replete with new uniforms and $1,200 worth of new instruments from London.11 Major Milton Cogswell, commander of the twenty-first infantry, marched a double row of soldiers to a position between the two loco- 112 HISTORY OF Box ELDER COUNTY motives on the south side of the track to keep back the approximately six hundred people who pushed in to get a look at the proceedings. As the noon hour approached, the weather was becoming ideal for the day's events. The sun was shining brightly in an almost cloud­less sky. The thermometer on the shaded side of the Central Pacific telegraph car showed that the day had warmed to 69 degrees and a breeze was blowing as it nearly always does across the sagebrush cov­ered valley at Promontory Summit.12 Mrs. Strobridge, the C. P. super­intendent's wife, a Mrs. Ryan, and several children were taken to posi­tions on the front row, and General Jack Casement asked repeatedly for the crowd to move back to give more people a chance to see the proceedings. Representatives of the press later complained that they had been pushed to the rear, and some stated that only about twenty persons got a clear view of the ceremony. One of those fortunate ones was Amos Bowsher, perched part way up the nearest telegraph pole- in case of wire troubles. A crew of Chinese, decked out in clean blue frocks, with their boss H. H. Minkler and a crew of Irish workers under a man by the name of Guilford brought the last two rails into place and spiked them to the ties all except near the end of the South rail. There the spikes were only partially driven, and one tie was left out. At 12:20 P.M., Utah time, the Western Union network was notified that in about twenty minutes the last spike would be driven. James Gamble, Western Union's chief, had ordered top priority for news from Promontory that day, and all lines were cleared so that all across the nation people could receive almost at the same time the great news from Utah in what was the first national network broadcast in his­tory. In almost every telegraph office crowds had assembled to get the news as soon as it came in.13 Then Superintendent James H. Strobridge of Central Pacific and his counterpart from Union Pacific, Samuel B. Reed, pushed through the crowd carrying from Stanford's car a ceremonial last tie of pol­ished California laurel wood and slid it into place in the bed that had been left for it at the rail junction. The last tie was presented by West Evans, tie contractor for the Central Pacific. The tie was about the size of a regular tie and had been prepared and polished by Strahle and Hughes, San Francisco billiard-table manufacturers. Auger holes THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 113 had been drilled in proper positions for four spikes and in the center on top was a silver plate bearing the following inscription: The last tie laid on the completion of the Pacific railroad, May 1869. Also on the plate was a list of the C P. officers, the name of the mak­ers, and that of the donor.14 With the laurel tie in place, master of ceremonies Edgar Mills (or according to some accounts General Dodge) stepped forward and called for order. As he explained the proceedings, the telegraph sent this following message to the nation: TO EVERYBODY. KEEP QUIET. WHEN THE LAST SPIKE IS DRIVEN AT PROMONTORY POINT, WE WILL SAY "DONE!" DON'T BREAK THE CIRCUIT, BUT WATCH FOR THE SIG­NALS OF THE BLOWS OF THE HAMMER.15 While this message was being sent, Mills (or Dodge) had intro­duced the Reverend Dr. John Todd of Pittsfield Massachusetts, rep­resenting the Boston Congregationalist and the New York Evangelist, who would offer the prayer. The telegrapher followed his first mes­sage with this one: ALMOST READY, HATS OFF: PRAYER IS BEING OFFERED. Reverend Todd prayed, Our Father and God, and our father's God, God of Creation and God of Providence, thou has created the heavens and the earth, the valleys and the hills; Thou art also the God of all mercies and blessings. We rejoice that thou hast created the human mind with its powers of invention, its capacity of expansion, and its guerdon of success. We have assembled here this day, upon the height of the continent, to do homage to thy wonderful name, in that Thou hast brought this mighty enterprise, combining the commerce of the East with the gold of the West to so glorious a completion. And now we ask thee that this great work, so auspi­ciously begun and so magnificently completed, may remain a monument of our faith and of our good works. We here consecrate this great highway for the good of thy people. O God, we implore thy blessings upon it, and upon those who may direct its operation. 114 HISTORY OF Box ELDER COUNTY O Father, God of our fathers, we desire to acknowledge thy hand in this great work, and ask thy blessings upon us here assembled, upon the rulers of our government, and upon thy people every­where, that peace may flow unto them as a gentle stream, and that this mighty enterprise may be unto us as the Atlantic of thy strength and the Pacific of thy love, through lesus, the Redeemer, Amen.16 Some accounts state that, as a matter of protocol and courtesy, Bishop Sharp, representing the Mormon church, was asked to offer a prayer, which he briefly did.17 It was then approximately 12:30. Iron spikes were driven by two United States railroad commissioners, J. W. Haines of Nevada and William G. Sherman of San Francisco, and by Henry Nottingham, president of the Michigan (Southern) Central and Lake Shore Railroad, and perhaps by some other guests.18 A fish­plate was bolted on, joining the last two rails, some say by Commissioner Haines. It was 12:40. The telegrapher notified the East: WE HAVE GOT DONE PRAYING: THE SPIKE IS ABOUT TO BE PRESENTED.19 Then came the presentation of the ceremonial spikes. Governor Safford had an intricately engraved spike from the people of Arizona. He read the inscription: "Ribbed with iron, clad in silver and crowned with gold Arizona presents her offering to the enterprise that has banded a continent, dictated a pathway to commerce."20 Commissioner Tritle, candidate for Nevada's governorship, pro­duced a spike of silver from the Comstock Lode, on behalf of the people of the Silver State. In presenting it, he said, "To the iron of the East and the gold of the West, Nevada adds her link of silver to span the continent and wed the oceans."21 Harkness recovered from his mishap, presented two spikes of gold from California. One was inscribed, "With this spike the San Francisco News Letter offers its homage to the great work which has joined the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This month-May 1869."22 It had been given to President Stanford by the News Letters pro­prietor, Frank Marriot. The other gold spike is the spike which is famous today as the "Golden Spike." It was 5/8 inches in overall THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 115 Looking east from the Central Pacific Locomotive "Jupiter" at Promontory Summit, 10 May 1869. (Box Elder County) length, weighed 14.13 ounces, and was made of twenty-dollar gold pieces by Schultz, Fischer, & Mohrig, of San Francisco. Inscriptions on the sides were as follows: "The Pacific Railroad: Ground Broken January 8, 1863; Completed May 8, 1869" "Officers. Hon. Leland Stanford, Pres'dt. C. P. Huntington. Vice Pres'dt. E. B. Crocker, Atty. Mark Hopkins, Tres. Chas Crocker, Gen. Supt. E. H. Miller, Jr. Secty. S. S. Montague, Chief Eng'r." "Directors of the C. P. R. R. of Cal. Hon. Leland Stanford C. P. Huntington E. B. Crocker Mark Hopkins A.P. Stanford E. H. Miller, Jr." "May God continue the unity of our country as this railroad unites 116 HISTORY OF Box ELDER COUNTY the two great Oceans of the World. Presented by David Hewes, San Francisco" The head of the spike bears the famous inscription, "The Last Spike."23 It was Dr. Harkness's t u r n to speak: Gentlemen of the Pacific Railroad, the last rail needed to com­plete the greatest railroad enterprise of the world is about to be laid; the last spike needed to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific by a new line of trade and commerce is about to be driven to its place. To perform these acts the East and West have come together. Never since history commenced her record of human events has man been called upon to meet the completion of a work so magnificent in contemplation and so marvelous in execution. California, within whose borders and by whose citizens the Pacific Railroad was inau­gurated, desires to express her appreciation of the vast importance to her and her Sister states of the great enterprise which by (your) joint action is about to be consummated; from her mines (of gold) she has (had) forged a spike, from her laurel woods she has hewn a tie, and by the hands of her citizens she offers them to become a part of the great highway which is about to unite her in closer fel­lowship with her sisters of the Atlantic. From her bosom was taken the first soil, let hers be the last tie and the last spike, and with them accept the hopes and wishes of her people that the success or your enterprise will not stop short of its brightest promise.24 As they were presented, "Governor" Stanford and Dr. Durant placed the spikes in the auger holes in the laurel tie. About that time Durant, suffering from a severe headache, retired to his private car to rest. While he was indisposed, Stanford responded on behalf of the Central Pacific Railroad: Gentlemen, the Pacific Railroad companies accept with pride and satisfaction these golden and silver tokens of your appreciation of the importance of our enterprise to the material interest of the whole country, east and west north and south. These gifts shall receive a fitting place in the superstructure of our road, and before laying the tie and driving the spikes in completion of the Pacific Railway allow me to express the hope that the great importance which you are pleased to attach to our undertaking may be in all THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 117 respects fully realized. This line of rails connecting the Atlantic and Pacific and affording to commerce a new transit, will prove, we trust, a speedy forerunner of increased facilities. The Pacific Railroad will, as soon as commerce shall begin fully to realize its advantages, demonstrate the necessity of rich improvements in railroading so as to render practicable the transportation of freight at much less rates than are now possible under any system which has been thus far anywhere adopted. The day is not far distant when three tracks will be found necessary to accommodate the commerce and travel which will seek a transit across the continent. Freight will then move only one way on each track, and at rates of speed that will answer the demands of cheapness and time. Cars and engines will be light or heavy depending on the speed required and the weight to be transported. In conclusion I will say that we hope to do ultimately what is now impossible on long lines- transport coarse, heavy and cheap products all distances at a living rate to the trade. Now, Gentlemen, with your assistance we will proceed to lay the last tie and last rail and drive the last spike.25 In the absence of Durant, the Union Pacific was represented by chief engineer General Grenville M. Dodge. His remarks were terse, but fraught with historical portent: Gentlemen, the great Benton proposed that someday a giant statue of Columbus be erected on the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains, pointing westward, denoting that as the great route across the continent. You have made that prophecy today a fact. This is the way to India!26 At that, wild cheering broke out, then increased. They cheered General Dodge, they cheered Stanford, Durant, the engineers, the superintendents, the workmen, the financiers, the two railroads, and the flag of the United States. When the cheering had died down a bit, the master of ceremonies, Edgar Mills, made a few remarks and then i n t r o d u c e d Mr. L. W. Coe, president of t h e Pacific Union Express Company, who in behalf of that company presented a silver-plated spike maul to Leland Stanford. The head of the maul was 63A inches in overall length. The base part was t h r e e inches long, and the pointed end was VA inches long. The point was one inch in diameter and the head was VA inches in diameter. It was described as a maul 118 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY or sledge, "the kind used in driving railroad spikes." The ceremonial maul was made of iron by Conroy & O'Conner, of San Francisco, whose corporate name was stamped on the side of the maul. It was silver plated by Vanderslice & Co. also of San Francisco.27 After being presented the silver maul, Stanford made a ceremonial tap on the heads of the spikes in the laurel tie. It was then time for the ultimate combination of the Pacific rail­road companies' routes into one road. The last spike was an ordinary iron railroad spike, the head of which had been polished, and which was wired to one side of the national telegraph hookup. The tele­graph wire was fastened to a sheet of copper which, in turn, was wired to the head of a regular spike maul. The wire was twisted around the handle of the maul and connected to the Central Pacific side of the telegraph line. In this way, the spike was connected to the Western Union line, according to C. P. telegraph construction chief Bowsher. This telegraph connection was in addition to the Western Union operator's key manned by Mr. Shilling.28 The last spike was partially driven in an ordinary tie adjacent to the laurel tie. The moment of culmination had arrived Telegrapher Shilling wired the waiting East: ALL READY NOW, THE SPIKE, WILL SOON BE DRIVEN. THE SIGNAL WILL BE THREE DOTS FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE BLOWS.29 It was about 12:45. Leland Stanford stepped forward and took the spike maul that was connected by wire to the entire American nation. Momentous as was this occasion, Stanford was plainly ner­vous, and the cumbersome wires dangling from the spike maul made it no easier. Those who were able to see him focused their eyes on the maul as he raised it and then slammed it down. The telegrapher sent three dots east as a signal. Stanford's blow had not made a click on the telegraph; he had missed the spike and hit the rail. The circuit had not been completed. Unknown to those "listening in" by telegraph, at Promontory everyone was yelling with glee at President Stanford's poor marksmanship. Stanford proffered the maul to Durant, who, for some reason, courteous or otherwise, also missed the head of the spike. Pride probably caused them to try again and hit the spike, THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 119 before calling in reinforcements. Superintendents Strobridge and Reed, with un-wired mauls, drove the last spike into place and the t r a n s c o n t i n e n t a l railroad was completed.3 0 After more cheers, the crowd was again asked to retire, and photographers Russell, Savage, Sedgwick and Hart preserved likenesses of the event on large glass photographic plates for generations to come. With the first of the three dots, a magnetic ball fell in the dome of the national Capitol. In New York a hundred-gun salute was fired. The choir at Trinity Church chanted the Te Deum, and then the steeple bells chimed "Old Hundred." In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell rang once again. At the War Department, General Sherman and some oth­ers received the news over the army telegraph, and the time of com­pletion was set at 2:47, making it 12:47, runtime, at Promontory.31 All over the c o u n t r y there were celebrations. In Salt Lake City, Mormons and gentiles met together in the great tabernacle to cele­brate the victory of the railroads. At Promontory, Shilling followed his dots for all t h e blows on the last spike with one word: DONE. With the two trains touching pilots, champagne or wine from the East and West was exchanged and then broken over the joint of the rails. To complete the ceremony, Jupiter backed up with its t r a in and 119 pulled its train over the junction point and then retired while the C. P. t r a in crossed the point of union.32 While crews were replacing the ceremonial tie and spikes with ordinary ones, t h e railroad officials sent the following telegram to Washington, D.C., with a copy to the Associated Press in New York: PROMONTORY SUMMIT, UTAH MAY 10, 1869 THE LAST RAIL IS LAID. THE LAST SPIKE IS DRIVEN. THE PACIFIC RAILROAD IS COMPLETED. THE POINT OF IUNC-TION IS 1,086 MILES WEST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER AND 690 MILES EAST OF SACRAMENTO CITY. LELAND STANFORD CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD T. C. DURANT, SIDNEY DILLON, JOHN DUFF, UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD33 120 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY At the invitation of Thomas Durant, the officials of both compa­nies retired to Durant's private palace car to receive the telegrams of congratulations coming in from East and West, and to toast the rail­road's completion. After the toasts, they all retired to Stanford's pri­vate car for more toasts and a sumptuous luncheon from the stocks of the pantry car.34 James Strobridge, meanwhile, gave a dinner in his car to the bosses and foreman of the Chinese crews who had done the work on the Central Pacific. Superintendent Strobridge then took the Chinese foreman of all his tracklayers to Stanford's car and introduced him to the group of officials. They gave him a standing ovation in tribute to the monumental construction feat of the Chinese crews of Central Pacific.35 The celebrating over, the brass rolled away in their plush private cars, and were on their way back to Omaha and Sacramento by 5:00 P.M. Promontory began to go quiet, and the railroad, one now, was ready to go to work-a steel artery coursing across the great North American nation. The United States of America was spanned by rail. The driving of the Golden Spike was more of a beginning than an end for Brigham Young, the LDS church, and the people of Box Elder County. Brigham Young collected unpaid debts from the Union Pacific in the form of rail and rolling stock and other supplies and equipment, with which he began his own empire of connecting lines. First came the Utah Central, built from the terminus at Ogden south to connect the transcontinental line with the capital city.36 The Utah Northern was built north from Ogden through Brigham City, around the northern tip of Wellsville Mountain and east into Cache Valley, then north to Franklin, Idaho. Even the building of this railroad was an outgrowth of the concept of Zion. In contrast to the crass business venture of the transcontinental, the Utah Northern broke first ground at a religiously directed dedication ceremony held at Brigham City on 26 August 1871.37 As the railroad pushed north-reaching nearly to Cache Valley by the beginning of July 1872-it began to have the desired impact on the gentile enclave at Corinne.38 It also provided access to a quarry (opened, apparently, during construction of the Utah Northern), which provided the bulk of the stone used in construction of the Box Elder Stake Tabernacle. THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 121 The Utah Northern brought Brigham City and the larger county into rail contact with both San Francisco and New York. Immigrant converts to the LDS faith could come by rail. A Union Pacific broad­side of the time proclaimed that one could travel from Omaha to San Francisco "in less t h a n four days, avoiding the dangers of the sea."39 The railroad was of immediate benefit to the Mercantile and Manufacturing Association, as well. Heavy equipment, such as that for the tannery and woolen mill, could be shipped from the east in a few days by rail, instead of the long, dusty, dangerous route formerly requiring many wagons, teamsters, and animals. ENDNOTES 1. George Kraus, High Road to Promontory (Palo Alto, CA: American West Publishing Company, 1969), 270. 2. James McCague, Moguls and Iron Men (New York: Harper 8c Row, 1964), 304-11; The Last Spike Is Driven (Golden Spike Centennial Celebration Commission, 1969), 91. The flag he raised had in its field twenty stars. The official flag of the Nation in 1869, had thirty-seven. The U.S. flag officially had twenty stars from 4 July 1818 to 4 luly 1819. Why he raised that flag we do not know, but that was the flag he raised. 3. The Last Spike Is Driven, 73. 4. Ibid. 79-87; McCague. Moguls and Iron Men, 318-19. 5. Kraus, High Road to Promontory, 267. 6. McCague, Moguls and Iron Men, 322. 7. Gerald M. Best, Iron Horses to Promontory (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 1969), 49-50. 8. The Last Spike Is Driven, 73; Best, Iron Horses to Promontory, 50. 9. Best, Iron Horses to Promontory, 51. 10. The Last Spike Is Driven, 88-89, 94. 11. John J. Stewart, The Iron Trail to the Golden Spike (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1969), 223. 12. Golden Spike National Historic Site locomotive engineer Bob Dowty, who has spent twenty May lOths at Promontory Summit, disputes the accuracy of the temperature reported. On not one May 10th has the tem­perature risen to 69 degrees in the shade by noon. With ice on the puddles at dawn and a stiff wind blowing from the north, Mr. Dowty says the temper­ature couldn't have been that high. 13. The Last Spike is Driven, 95; McCague, Moguls and Iron Men, 326. 122 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY 14. The Last Spike Is Driven, 87. 15. Kraus, High Road to Promontory, 273. 16. Ibid., 273-74. 17. McCague, Moguls and Iron Men, 328; Stewart, The Iron Trail to the Golden Spike, 222. 18. Stewart, The Iron Trail to the Golden Spike,, 225; Kraus, High Road to Promontory, 274. 19. The Last Spike Is Driven, 95. 20. Kraus, High Road to Promontory, 278. 21. Ibid. The spike, when it was presented, was rough-forged, with the marks of the smith's hammer. It was later polished, and the words of Tritle's presentation engraved on its surface. 22. The Last Spike Is Driven, 80. 23. Ibid., 79; Best, Iron Horses to Promontory, 58. 24. The Last Spike Is Driven, 80. Words in parentheses indicate variants according to the differing accounts of the ceremony. The speeches are given here as they were given to the newspaper previous to 10 May, hence the inconsistencies. 25. Ibid., 275-79. 26. McCague, Moguls and Iron Men, 328. 27. The Last Spike Is Driven, 86-87. 28. Kraus, High Road to Promontory, 73. 29. Ibid., 279. 30. The Last Spike Is Driven 93. 31. Ibid., 89-90. 32. McCague, Moguls and Iron Men, 329-331. 33. Kraus, High Road to Promontory, 282. 34. Ibid., 284. 35. The Last Spike Is Driven, 100; Best, Iron Horses to Promontory, 55. 36. See Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958),270-75. 37. Deseret News, 27 August 1871, cited in Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 284. 38. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 284. 39. "Great Event" poster, copy in my possession.