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Constructing the line west from Omaha to Promontory is covered in the first volume of Maury Klein’s history, Union Pacific, published by Doubleday in 1989 (click on the cover to search for these books on Bookfinder.com).
Lucius Beebe provides the other side of the story in The Central Pacific & The Southern
Pacific Railroads, published by Howell-
The Golden Spike National Historic Site is located at Promontory, 8 miles off US
Highway 83, some 53 miles north-
Promontory was established as the meeting place for the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways by Congress on 10th April 1869. Although a somewhat unassuming place, it is the location of what has come to be seen as a seminal event in U.S. history: on 10th May 1869, the last link in the nation’s “first” transcontinental railway was forged by the ceremonial striking of the Golden Spike.
Today, the site is a fascinating place to visit, wonderfully cared for by the National Parks Service. It is better to visit between 1st May and Labor Day, however, when the two replica locomotives are steamed up and on display. I visited in September 2008 and October 2009. The photos on this page are from both visits.
Looking south along the old Central Pacific grade just south of Rozel. The gate is the western end of the 7 mile NPS West Grade Auto Tour that leads back to Promontory, one of two vehicle tours on the Promontory National Historic Site (details of the auto tours are available on the Golden Spike NHS site).
You can find out about the story of the grade from Lucin to Rozel on the Historic Central Pacific Grade page of this website.
When it was completed in 1904, the Lucin Cutoff connecting Lucin with Ogden directly across Salt Lake reduced the overland route by 44 miles. Although the old line was subsequently used occasionally when bad weather threatened the cutoff, in 1942, the rails were torn up and salvaged for the war effort, an event marked by the ceremonial "undriving" of the last spike at Promontory.
“Crocker’s Pets” at Work, from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
The Chinese labourers were paid $28 a month for the dangerous work of digging, chipping and blasting at granite cuts, hauling earth and stone, laying ties, balasting and heaving rails into place.
Central Pacific Construction Camp, Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
This would have been typical of the sort of tent and car body camps the Chinese labourers lived in as they moved across Utah laying track.
Miles of track laid per day became a matter of contest between the two companies. In early April 1869, Union Pacific labourers had laid 8.5 miles in one day, the greatest length to date. However, Central Pacific Board Member Charles Crocker issued a $10,000 wager to the Union Pacific Vice President Thomas C. Durant that his crew could lay 10 miles in a single day. It was a wager Durant felt sure of winning but, through careful preparation and excellent logistical management, Crocker’s “Chinese pets”, as the Central Pacific labourers were termed, duly laid the ten miles on 28th April 1869.
The task involved bringing up and locating 25,800 ties, 3,520 rails averaging 560 pounds each, 55,000 spikes, 14,080 bolts and other material totalling 4,462,000 lbs. It was an accomplishment unequalled until the 20th century, when advanced technology made such accomplishments commonplace.
This photograph shows an example of “stair step construction” of a cut. Labourers worked on several different levels at once to facilitate progress.
The Union Pacific probably abandoned this cut in April 1869, as soon as the decision was made about the meeting place for the two lines.
There is much Union Pacific parallel grade along the way (e.g. on the right of this photograph).
Both companies surveyed hundreds of miles in advance of each other: 250 miles of parallel grade exist from Echo, UT, to Wells, NV.
Looking west along the old Central Pacific grade in Promontory Hollow.
Looking east towards Promontory from the same position.
Looking west along the old Central Pacific grade just east of Promontory. The mountain is King’s Peak.
Looking east towards the NPS Visitor Centre from the eastern end of the West Grade Tour. Jupiter and #119 are standing at the upper middle of this photo.
Looking west from the grounds of the NPS Visitor Centre. Jupiter and #119 are standing behind where this photo was taken from.
The Visitor Centre building is open 9.00am-
The location was first designated a National Historic Site in non-
The Visitor Centre is not all there is to see. The historic site runs 7 miles in a band from a half mile south east of Rozel to Promontory, and then another 7½ miles to the western edge of Highway 83.
In 1916, the Southern Pacific Railroad (formerly the Central Pacific) erected a marker at the site, which now stands adjacent to the main entrance to the Visitor Centre. By 1916, however, except for local residents, the original event appears to have been all but forgotten.
In 1938, services to Promontory were discontinued. Four years later, with an “Undriving of the Golden Spike” ceremony, the 90 miles of track from Corinne (about 25 miles east of Promontory) to Lucin were pulled up for use in the WWII war effort.
In the years after WWII, there was a revival of interest and, in 1952, The Golden
Spike Association held its first re-
There is a book shop in the Visitor Centre with information on the site, and the NPS staff are friendly and informative.
Above, a replica of the final tie at the NHS. The original was made by the San Francisco billiard table manufacturer Strahle & Hughes of polished California laurel on behalf of West Evans, the Central Pacific’s tie contractor.
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Above, a replica of the original silver plate, which is now fixed to the replica tie.
The original tie was immediately taken up and returned to San Francisco but was unfortunately destroyed in a fire there following the 1906 earthquake.
Both replica locomotives are steamed daily between 1st May and Labor Day at 10.00am
and 1.00pm and, on Saturdays, there are period costume re-
Jupiter is the first to roll out of the engine house a few hundred yards east of the visitor centre. In the set of photos above, Jupiter backs to the west of the site and then pulls forward to one of two visitor observation platforms.
The original Jupiter was one of 4 wood burning American class (4-
Because the transcontinental railroad was not yet completed, all four were dismantled and shipped around Cape Horn to San Francisco, CA. They were then reassembled at the CP’s Sacramento workshops and commissioned for service in March 1869.
Although named Jupiter, the locomotive was numbered #60.
The original #119 was also an American class locomotive, one of five built for the Union Pacific in 1868 by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Patterson, NJ (the other locomotives were #116, #117, #118 and #120).
After the ceremony, #119 served as a freight locomotive at various locations on the Union Pacific system. Renumbered #343 in 1882, it was eventually sold for scrap in 1903. Like Jupiter, it made $1,000.
Union Pacific Grading Outfits, from Edwin L. Sabin’s Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
The Union Pacific labour force comprised Irish, German and Italian immigrants, Civil
War veterans, ex-
As the head of the Union Pacific grade pushed west, depots were set up to receive supplies and equipment for the ongoing work. At these, tent towns blossomed, providing “services” for the labourers. The mix of merchants, saloons, dance halls, gambling houses and brothels that characterised these towns made them a place of riots, petty crime, gun fighting and murder.
As each head of grade moved forward and a new depot was established, the itinerant traders, shysters and “women of ill repute” upped sticks and moved along to the next location, earning the towns the name “Hell on Wheels”.
Charles Crocker, Supt. Construction Central Pacific R. R., from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
Faced with labour shortages laying the Central Pacific line over California’s Sierra Nevadas, Crocker had pushed for the recruitment of Chinese labourers brought in from Canton. They proved a hard working, sober work force, and many remained after completion of the railroad to work at section stations or run small businesses in settlements along the route.
The Final Act, from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
In May 1869, the rail heads of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific met at Promontory Summit. The ceremony to drive the Last Spike had been scheduled for 8th May, but bad weather and a Union Pacific labour dispute that delayed the Union Pacific entourage, caused it to be postponed for two days. Finally, at 12.30 on the afternoon of 10th May, with Union Pacific #119 and Central Pacific's Jupiter facing each other, the final spike was slipped into the waiting hole, and what became known as “The Wedding of the Rails” was christened with champagne toasts made from the pilots of the two locomotives.
The photo above, taken by A. J. Russell for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, captures the scene moments before the ceremony. The great and the good fill the space, crowding out almost all traces of the labourers who actually laid the rails. Estimates vary widely on the number of attendees: from just 300 to as many as 3,000.
The Engines Touch Noses, from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
This is perhaps Russell’s best known photograph of the meeting of the two railroads, "East meets West shaking hands, May 10, 1869".
Although there is no longer a continuous railroad track through Promontory, a 1½ mile section was relaid for the centennial anniversary in 1969 and is still used by the two replica locomotives when they are in operation.
The replicas were built in 1980 by Chadwell O'Connor Engineering Laboratories of Costa Mesa, CA, for the National Park Service. They cost a total of $1.5 million and were the first steam locomotives built in the U.S. for 25 years. Originally built as gas burners, in 1991, they were converted to burn the fuels of the original locomotives: wood for Jupiter and coal for #119.
When first built, the replica locomotives’ red and vermilion livery was designed by the Disney Company. Later research, however, uncovered written records of their original colouring. On 10th May 1994, the 125th anniversary of the Golden Spike ceremony, the locomotives first appeared in their probably more accurate blue, crimson and gold livery, which they have worn ever since.
The Golden Spike, from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
The golden spike was manufactured by the William T. Garratt Foundry in San Francisco. It is 17.6 carat gold, weighs 14.03 ounces and is just over 5½” long. It is now in the Stanford Family Collection of the Stanford University Museum.
After casting, the spike was engraved by the San Francisco jewellers Schultz, Fischer and Mahling. On one side it read "May God continue the unity of our Country as the Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world". Another side read "The Pacific Railroad ground broken Jany 8th 1863 and completed May 8th 1869". The other two sides bore the names of the officers of Central Pacific and the directors. The top of the spike was engraved, "The Last Spike”.
The original Jupiter had not been chosen to haul the Central Pacific dignitaries to Promontory. That privilege first fell to a locomotive named Antelope but, on the trip, it ran into a log rolled onto the track by inattentive workmen. It was so badly damaged that the locomotive hauling the regular train ahead had to be pressed into service, and so Jupiter took its special place in history.
Jupiter continued in service as a passenger locomotive but lost its name in the 1870s when it was repainted and, in 1891, was renumbered from #60 to #1195.
Over the years, the locomotive was converted to a coal burner, it received a new boiler, the bonnet stack was replaced with a diamond stack, sand and steam domes, and the vertical slatted pilot was replaced by one with horizontal slats. In 1893, #1195 was sold to the Gila Valley, Globe, and Northern Railroad in Arizona and, as their first locomotive, was renumbered #1. It continued in service until 1909, when it was sold for $1,000 and scrapped.
About 30 minutes after Jupiter, #119 is brought over from the engine house.
In the set of photos above, #119 comes forward on the inner siding (closer to the visitor centre), backs off to the set of points at the east end of the site and then pulls forward to the second visitor observation platform on the far siding.
Like Jupiter, the original #119 had not been the Union Pacific’s first choice to haul the dignitaries to Promontory. The identity of that locomotive remains unknown, but it was halted and forced onto a siding at Piedmont, WY, by a group of laid off Union Pacific labourers who had been waiting 3 months to be paid. Two days later, the dispute was settled and the party was allowed on its way.
At Devil’s Gate, however, the train met a bridge with some of its supports washed out. Although this would not support the weight of the locomotive, it was able to carry the weight of the cars, which were given a push by the locomotive and allowed to coast to the other side of the bridge. But this left the train without an engine, so a wire was send to Ogden, UT, where the five Union Pacific locomotives #116 to #120 were based. #119 happened to be fired up and standing next to the main line, so it was immediately sent back to pick up the cars and return to Promontory.
Two views of the locomotives standing at the visitor viewing platforms.
From the platforms, visitors are able to look into the cabs of the two locomotives. Neither locomotive offers cab rides to the public.
Union Pacific Locomotive 119, from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919).
The photograph was taken at Promontory on 10th May 1869. Note the dignitaries posed on the boiler.
In the Days of the Old Wood-
Taken at Promontory in May 1869, the locomotive is not identified.
Three miles east of the visitor centre, the Eastern Auto Tour begins. The tour splits from Golden Spike Drive just below the head of King’s Peak on the horizon of the view above. The two main features on the tour are the Chinese Arch and the “last cut”.
The “last cut” is exactly that: the last cut completed by the Union Pacific as it edged towards the meeting of the two railroads at Promontory.
The Chinese Arch is a 20’ natural limestone formation that has become a memorial to the thousands of Chinese labourers employed by the Central Pacific in building the railroad. Originally called “Chinaman’s Arch”, as the result of a petition, the name was officially changed in 2006 to appease sensitivities about the term “Chinaman”. However, the name “Chinaman’s Arch” remains in use.
Above are three shots looking down into “last cut”. Debris on the edge of the cut
is original rock from the excavation, which would have been used for fills elsewhere
along the grade had it been required. The right-
Above are three views walking west inside the “last cut”.
These three views are taken walking east inside the “last cut”.
Note the continuation of the Union Pacific grade and another abandoned cut to the right of the view above.
Further on, the old grade continues to hug the flank of Promontory Mountains. “Chinaman’s Arch” is a short walk from where this photo was taken.
The old Union Pacific grade runs parallel at a slightly lower level on the left of this view.
Above, “Chinese Arch”.
Many of the Chinese labourers stayed with the Central Pacific after completing the line, and travellers often noted their camps along the route. One such camp was apparently at this location during the 1880s when the arch was given its original name.
Here, both grades continue east towards Big Fill and Big Trestle cutting back across Golden Spike Drive.
From “last cut”, the tour follows the old Central Pacific grade round the northern flank of a spur in Promontory Mountains.
The cut in this view is part of the Big Fill Loop Trail.
Above, the old Central Pacific grade cuts across Golden Spike Drive. The previous two views in the Eastern Auto Tour section of this page were taken where the grade emerges from the cut on the far left of this photo.
From here, you can follow the Big Fill Loop Trail about a mile east on the old Central Pacific grade and come back along the old Union Pacific grade. The trail gets its name from the “big fill” built by the Central Pacific to carry the grade around Spring Creek ravine on the eastern flank of the Promontory Mountains.
You can’t drive the Big Fill Loop, but there is a car park just to the right of this view where you can park and then walk the loop. It is a relatively easy walk unless you decide to go down into the ravine itself!
Looking east as the old Central Pacific grade (visible running from the left of this view) curves towards the cut shown in the last two photos in the Eastern Auto Tour section of this page.
Looking west from the position in the view above towards the car park. The old Union Pacific grade runs to the left. The road to the far left is Golden Spike Drive.
Looking east further along the old Central Pacific grade. The old Union pacific grade runs slightly lower on the right.
Inside the old Central Pacific cut visible on the horizon in the view on the left.
On the eastern side of the cut, there is a fine view of both grades.
The buildings in the distance are part of the ATK Launch Systems Group complex on Utah 83 just south of Thiokol.
Inside the old Central Pacific cut visible on the left of the previous lower view.
Big Fill is 500’ long and 70’ high. Below the cut in the middle distance is the eastern abutment of what was once Big Trestle, a bridge built by the Union Pacific.
A view looking south down Spring Creek ravine. On the left and right of the ravine are the eastern and western abutments of Big Trestle.
On the Last Leg, from Edwin L. Sabin, Building the Pacific Railway (1919). A view of Big Trestle shortly after completion.
The Union Pacific was lagging at least a month behind the Central Pacific when Big Trestle was built as a hasty alternative to constructing their own fill. It was 400’ long and 85’ high, and completed in 38 days, just 5 days before the Golden Spike ceremony. Only a few trains edged their way across this flimsy bridge as, within six months, the Central Pacific was granted control of the line from Promontory to Ogden and rail traffic was diverted to Big Fill instead.
Entering the cut at the east end of Big Fill.
Looking west along Big Fill. The South Promontory Mountains are on the horizon. To the left is Great Salt Lake. This view provides a clear view of the abutments of Big Trestle.
Beyond, the grade emerges onto the Big Fill. 500 Central Pacific labourers hauled 10,000 cubic yards of dirt in small hand carts over a period of two months to make the fill.
Beyond, both grades continue east towards Blue Creek.
This view is looking east along the old Union Pacific grade just below the Central Pacific cut above
Looking west across Big Trestle abutments from just below the Central Pacific cut.
Looking west across the abutments from the Union Pacific grade.
Looking west across the Big Trestle abutments from below the Union Pacific grade. The eastern abutment is on the right of this view.
Looking east from just below the western abutment of Big Trestle.
Looking east from the southern edge of the Union Pacific grade on the western abutment of Big Trestle.
Looking east from the western abutment of Big Trestle.
Looking west from the western abutment of Big Trestle.
The cut just west of Big Trestle. Evidence of the “steps” cut into the left wall as it was made are clearly visible.
Another view looking east at the cut just west of Big Trestle. On the left is “false cut”.
The Union Pacific began blasting a cut through here to line up with the partially built abutment, but it was decided that the location of both would create a very sharp curve that might cause problems for trains, so both projects were abandoned and rebuilt nearby.
Three views of “false cut”.
Two views looking west along the old Union Pacific grade near “false cut”.
Looking down into the cut from the old Central Pacific grade.
The old Union Pacific grade hugs the edge of Promontory Mountains as it heads west.
The Union Pacific cut looking west just before the grade swings back towards the start of Big Fill Loop Trail.
On the west side of the cut looking east.
Looking west along the Union Pacific grade on the other side of the cut. The old Central Pacific grade runs at a slightly higher elevation to the right. Both grades make a wide curve here to the left, cutting across Golden Spike Drive (just visible rising from the left), and join the end of the Eastern Auto Tour.
Looking east back along the Union Pacific grade close to the start of Big Fill Trail. The old Central Pacific grade is on the right. Compare this view with the second view in this section, which shows a similar view from the old Central Pacific grade.
Big Fill and the Big Trestle abutments can be seen from Big Fill/Big Trestle Viewpoint on Golden Spike Drive.
A distant view of both grades as they head east from Big Fill towards Blue Creek ravine.
From Big Fill and Big Fill Trestle, both grades turn north along the edge of the Promontory Mountains, criss cross each other several times as they swing north east to Blue Creek and then head south west to Corinne.
Above, looking north, the old Union Pacific grade curves across Blue Creek. The old Central Pacific grade runs to the left, although no longer visible here. Utah 83 is on the right.
Above, three more views of the old Union Pacific grade crossing Blue Creek.
Looking south east along the old Union Pacific grade from Blue Creek in the early morning. Utah 83 runs from the left. The ATK Launch Systems Group complex is in the distance.
Looking south along the old Union Pacific grade a short distance south of Blue Creek. The old Central Pacific grade is faintly visible on the right.
Two views looking north east to where the Union Pacific grade crossed Blue Creek.
Looking north along the old Union Pacific grade at Lampo Junction.
Looking south from Lampo Junction. The line of the old Central Pacific grade crosses from the upper right.
Lampo Junction is where Golden Spike Drive joins Utah 83. You turn off west to travel to Golden Spike NHS.
This view is looking north west from Utah 83 across Blue Creek Valley about two miles south of Lampo Junction. The Promontory Mountains are on the horizon.
The old Union Pacific grade crossing Duck Lake seen from Utah 83 about seven miles south of Lampo Junction. The Hansel Mountains are in the distance.
Golden Spike National Historic Site is a little out of the way, but it offers a fascinating
glimpse into 19th century railroad engineering and touches on one of America’s great
efforts at nation-
All in all, it’s well worth a visit!
Photographs from this page featured in the July 2009 edition of Tehnikamaailm magazine.
The first transcontinental railroad?
Well, no. In reality, in May 1869 the Central Pacific/Union Pacific line did not form a continuous transcontinental connection because, until March 1872, there was no bridge linking Council Bluffs, IA, and Omaha, NE.
After the Chicago and North Western Railway reached Council Bluffs in 1867, the Union
Pacific for a while actually tried to run freight trains across the frozen Missouri
River during the winter (not always successfully!). The railroad then ran trains
across the river by ferry, but this was not a particularly economical or customer-
Meanwhile, Hannibal Bridge was the first rail crossing on the Missouri River. Completed in July 1869, it connected the Kansas Pacific Railroad to Denver. From there, the Denver Pacific connected to the Union Pacific at Cheyenne. A little over a year later, in August 1870, the Kansas Pacific drove its “last spike” a half mile east of what is now Strasburg, CO, and the first truly transcontinental railway was completed. The final work involved laying 10½ miles of track in nine hours (more even than Crocker’s “Chinese Pets” had achieved a year earlier) and was celebrated with the cracking of a cask of whiskey at the meeting point at Comanche Crossing.
The Union Pacific have placed a commemorative sign at Strasburg. I took this photo of it in February 2010.
The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, NV, has what research suggests was the coach that transported Leland Stanford, the Central Pacific officials and the golden spike to Promontory.
Virginia & Truckee Coach #17 was built in 1868 by the Central Pacific in Sacramento, CA, as a private car for company officials and it was used as Charles Crocker’s private car for several years It included eating and sleeping quarters, as well as office space.
The Virginia & Truckee bought the car in 1875 for $2,500 for use by its officers. It was renumbered #25 and named “Bonanza”. Three years later, the coach was remodelled for passenger use and renumbered #17. It remained in service for sixty years before being sold to 20th Century Fox in 1939 where it was used in film making. In 1971, it was sold to Short Line Enterprises for continued service in films. The museum purchased #17 in 1988 and it is now housed in the museum’s car shop awaiting restoration.
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