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What happened on May 10th 1869?

Wedding of the Rails” Officials and workers of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways held a ceremony on Promontory Summit, in Utah Territory—approximately thirty-five miles away from Promontory Point, the site where the rails were joined—to drive in the Golden Spike on May 10, 1869.



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The crowd cheers as Governor Leland Stanford drives the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.

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Where is the real golden spike? It is located in Palo Alto, California. Leland Stanford's brother-in-law, David Hewes, had the spike commissioned for the Last Spike ceremony. Since it was privately owned it went back to California to David Hewes.

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The building of the Transcontinental Railroad relied on the labor of thousands of migrant workers, including Chinese, Irish, and Mormons workers. On the western portion, about 90% of the backbreaking work was done by Chinese migrants.

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In 1862 Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Acts which designated the 32nd parallel as the initial transcontinental route and gave huge grants of lands for rights-of-way. The legislation authorized two railroad companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to construct the lines.

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Immediately following the ceremony, the spikes were replaced with standard-issue material. In 1937, California writer and historian Robin Lampson researched the Golden Spike's history.

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Amtrak still operates passenger trains over portions of the original Transcontinental Railroad route. Even today, navigating that treacherous path can present challenges for engineers.

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Otherwise known as the Golden Spike Ceremony, this historic event not only celebrates the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, named the Pacific Railroad, but it also recognizes the significance of the immigrant workforce that helped the nation accomplish what many believed was impossible.

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The crowd cheers as Governor Leland Stanford drives the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.

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