Page "First Transcontinental Railroad" Paragraph 76

The Last Spike by Thomas Hill ( 1881 ) Six years after the groundbreaking, laborers of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory Summit, Utah.

It was here on May 10, 1869, that Stanford drove The Last Spike ( or golden spike ) which is now on display at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, that joined the rails of the transcontinental railroad.

( A second " Lost " Golden Spike is also on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

) In perhaps the world's first live mass-media event, the hammers and spike were wired to the telegraph line so that each hammer stroke would be heard as a click at telegraph stations nationwide — the hammer strokes were missed, so the clicks were sent by the telegraph operator.

As soon as the ceremonial spike had been replaced by an ordinary iron spike, a message was transmitted to both the East Coast and West Coast that simply read, " DONE.

" The country erupted in celebration upon receipt of this message.

Travel from coast to coast was reduced from six months or more to just one week.