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150 years ago today – May 10, 1869 – "The Last Spike" had been incorporated into the first transcontinental railroad of America. This last crampon was gold, so everyone could say that it was important, but there were many other things that needed to be excited about.
What railways can do for you
Before the transcontinental railroad, the journey from the East Coast to the West Coast took many months and cost at least $ 1,000 (the equivalent of just under $ 20,000 today). If you have traveled by land, if you are a bandit, in bad weather or if you encounter unexpected dangers, you may get lost in the mountains and for a number of reasons, including up to Divine Wrath, your group may fall from thirst, hunger or plague, leaving bones to strange rodents. gnaw and scatter. If you go by boat, the trip would be long and you could get bored, which is a drag.
After the completion of the national railroad in 1869, a trip from New York to San Francisco could be completed in one week for less than $ 100. You would be free to spend the entire journey eating and sleeping in comfort, writing love letters to your mistress and reading, instead of experiencing poignant stories of deprivation and danger. Trade benefits as much as passengers. (Think of all this freight!) Even fresh produce could be transported by rail. Finally, the ribs were tied together.
So, if the transcontinental railroad was such a good idea, why did not they build it earlier?
First, it was necessary to invent the train and the steam locomotive, which did not happen before the nineteenth century. Then, when such a project was technologically and logistically feasible, states began their great schism, which would lead to civil war; and various North-South debates on the fate of the West, the future of slavery and the negotiations of the railways have paralyzed the negotiations.
The big race of railway
The civil war actually made progress on the transcontinental railroad project because it allowed the Union to build what it wanted, regardless of what the mockers of the South thought. In 1862, Congress succeeded in creating the Pacific Railway Act, which provided money and land for every kilometer of railroad built for the purpose of an east-west connection.
The two companies involved were Union Pacific and Central Pacific, respectively from Omaha and Sacramento, for as many subsidized miles as possible, before the meeting of the rails. (This was a "race" because the total mileage between two points is limited, so an additional kilometer earned by Union meant one kilometer less for Central, and vice versa.) Union Pacific crews were comprised of Irish and German immigrants, veterans of the civil war. , free black citizens, and some Native Americans. The Central Pacific employed more than 10,000 Chinese employees willing to work for less and in perilous conditions – which was important to Central, as they had to climb and make their way through the Sierras almost immediately after leaving Sacramento.
Tracks meet in Promontory, Utah
Congress has made the mistake of assuming that the railways have adopted some motivating rationality, not just greed. They did not dictate how, when and where the rails should meet. When the Central and Union teams met in northern Utah, instead of immediately merging the lines, they began to build miles of parallel leveling, with each company hoping to acquire more kilometers and therefore more reward. With a kind of paternal exasperation, Congress had to establish a junction point; and they chose Promontory, in Utah – a small town of tents formed of railroad workers and prostitutes north of Great Salt Lake.
The precious metals and the fat of the railways are good news
As the meeting of the rails was such a significant (and publicized) national event, everyone saw fit to celebrate with an extravagant ceremony. Of course, extravagance must involve precious metals whenever it can. Four precious points were given to adorn the last draw. There was a tip of iron, silver and gold from Arizona; a silver tip from Nevada; a hint of gold from the San Francisco Letter of information; and the gold crown of David Hewes, a friend of the Central Pacific tycoon, Leland Stanford (founder of Stanford University).
Hewes Peak was the first to be made, and it inspired the rest. Upon hearing about the big event, Hewes was initially disappointed by the lack of symbolic items (and precious metal) donated for the ceremony. He started the movement. Hewes ended up having for 400 dollars of gold, from his own treasure, fused into a spike, engraved on either side: two with names, one with dates, one with the motto "May God continue". Unity of our country the railway unites the two great oceans of the world "and head with a simple statement:" The last crampon ".
This was not, in fact, the last peak. Precious ceremonial tips were neatly engaged in a ceremonial tie with a ceremonial silver hammer.
When the dignitaries (Central Pacific Stanford and Union Pacific's Thomas Durant) tried real hammering to seal the deal, they both missed.
One point was equipped with telegraph wires, so that the whole nation could hear the hammer blows – a bit like a "live" show, but with the telegraph instead of the television, and no ads – and the publicists made sure to give him some good shots. Adding to these taps, a single-word telegram was sent around the United States: "Done". And the nation is rejoicing, from one ocean to the other. But after all this splendor was accomplished, the special picks and the tie were torn apart and unknown railwaymen used regular iron picks to complete the transcontinental railroad.
The verdict
"Never in our history, as a nation, has there been an event at the celebration where everyone can participate so warmly and with so little mental reserve," said the San Francisco Letter of information reported. Most spokespersons shared this feeling. The problem was that the Chinese workers had just rioted, that other workers had kept Durant in his sumptuous wagon while demanding unpaid wages, and of course this last telegraph would not spell anything out. Other than "Doom" for the new Native Americans belt and surely had one or two reservations about it.
All in all, it was a strange and powerful show, with the golden tip at its center, a scene that could symbolize much more about multi-faceted America than those simple and direct ideals of Industry and Progress.
This article was published in 2009.
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