Golden Spike
"The last rail is laid. The spike is driven.
The Pacific Railroad is completed." Here at
Promontory, Utah, at 12:47 P.M. on May 10,
1869, the driving of a golden spike
completed the first transcontinental
railraod, climax of a dramatic railroad-
building race between the Union Pacific
building from the east and the Central
Pacific building from the west, this event
symbolized attainment of a long sought
goal - a direct transportaion route to the
Pacific Ocean and the China trade. And it
achieved the great political objective of
binding togther by iron bonds the
extremities of continental United States.
A rail link from ocan to ocean."
National
Park Service
United States
Department of the Interior
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