The First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed
Next: May 10, 2027
Honour the hands behind the last spike.
The story
Where it comes from
On 10 May 1869, at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory, the tracks of the Central Pacific, built east from California, met those of the Union Pacific, built west, and the driving of a ceremonial last spike opened the first railroad across the United States; this Story marks the anniversary. The Central Pacific's side was built largely by more than 11,000 workers from China, recruited in California and then from southern China. They faced blizzards, avalanches and blasting in the Sierra Nevada, and were paid less than their European-American co-workers.
How it's celebrated
The meeting place is now Golden Spike National Historical Park in Utah, which tells the story of the line and of the people who built it. In recent years groups such as the Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Association have helped bring the Chinese workers' stories to light. It is a good day to remember the builders behind a great feat of engineering, and to learn a few of their stories.
Did you know
- On the morning of 10 May 1869, it was eight Chinese workers who moved the final rail into position.
- On 28 April 1869 Central Pacific crews, hundreds of them Chinese, laid 10 miles and 56 feet of track in a single day.
- The company seldom recorded its Chinese workers' names; they worked in gangs of up to 30, each with a leader who collected and shared out the wages.
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