Click2History - "Go West" - The Railroad Is Finished - Chapter 7

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>GO WEST</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 7 - THE RAILROAD IS FINISHED</p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">As the completed tracks neared each other, Union Pacific workers made their <a target="_blank" href="images/last.cut.jpg"><b>Last Cut</b></a> while Central Pacific workers had their <a target="_blank" href="images/big.fill.jpg"><b>Big Fill</b></a>.  On <a target="_blank" href="images/may10.jpg"><b>May 10, 1869</b></a>, the last spike, a ceremonial golden one, was <a target="_blank" href="images/set.jpg"><b>set</b></a> into the tie at Promontory, Utah. (There were actually five spikes, although the one which was <a href="http://www.steamlocomotive.com/promontory/" target="_blank"><b>actually driven</b></a> into the tie was made of iron.)</p> <p>With that historic action, supervisors from both companies <a href="http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Done!.html#Shaking_Hands" target="_blank"><b>shook hands</b></a> and Americas east and west coasts were <a target="_blank" href="images/connected.gif"><b>connected</b></a> for the first time. A telegram was sent to let the nation know. It <a href="http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/40/hh40a.htm" target="_blank"><b>contained</b></a> one word: "<a href="http://www.cprr.org/Museum/index.html" target="_blank"><b>Done</b></a>."</p> <p>A.J. Russell, the official photographer for the Union Pacific, stood atop Central Pacifics locomotive Jupiter to capture the Last Spike <a target="_blank" href="images/ceremony.jpg"><b>Ceremony</b></a>. Before long <a target="_blank" href="images/hotels.jpg"><b>hotels</b></a>, including those owned by railroad companies, were built along the <a target="_blank" href="images/transcontinental.route.jpg"><b>transcontinental route</b></a>.</p> <p>After the rail lines were connected, new commercial opportunities also dotted the landscape at Promontory:</p><ul> <li>A <a target="_blank" href="images/tent.city.jpg"><b>tent city</b></a>, just north of the tracks, was quickly erected at Promontory Summit.</li><br><br> <li>So was a ticket/telegraph <a target="_blank" href="images/office.jpg"><b>office</b></a> plus a <a target="_blank" href="images/school.wind.mill.jpg"><b>school and wind mill</b></a>.</li></ul> <p align="justify">After the track was joined on that <a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cic/images/brk00003079_16a_j.jpg" target="_blank"><b>spring day</b></a> in 1869, people seeking a new life in the West were about to dramatically transform the country. As a consequence, the Navajo and Apache would <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/collections/amwest/history5.html" target="_blank"><b>lose their homes</b></a> and be forced to live on reservations. Formerly proud Shoshone would soon beg at train stations (like <a href="http://photoswest.org/photos/10033751/10033755.jpg" target="_blank"><b>this family</b></a> in Carlin, Nevada). Native-American <a href="http://photoswest.org/photos/00110251/00110293.jpg" target="_blank"><b>cliff dwellings</b></a>, like those at Mesa Verde (in Colorado), were now a thing of the past. The same was true of the Prairie Schooner since families had a faster, more comfortable, and less arduous <a href="http://denverlibrary.org/whg/railroads.html" target="_blank"><b>travel option</b></a>.</p> <p>Lets take a look at the trains which carried Americans, and recent immigrants, West.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="go_west_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="go_west_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>  <a href="go_west_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>