Officials and workers of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways met on Promontory Summit, in Utah Territory to drive in the Golden Spike on May 10, 1869. This spike symbolized completion of the first transcontinental railroad, an event which joined the nation from coast to coast and reduced a journey of four or more months to just one week. [...]
It would be difficult to overestimate the impact this event had on the United States. An image-rich site that's worth exploring is this one--the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum.Another historical event that may or may not be worth mentioning, today marks the anniversary of the capture of Jefferson Davis. Derided for trying to escape capture by dressing up like a woman, his wife wrote a huffy letter to a friend in the Lincoln administration attempting to take up for him, but it doesn't help her case any when she was the one who told the soldiers who captured them that the person with her--who just happened to be wearing women's outer clothing--was her mother.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 10, 2007 09:52 AMIts not too far to drive out there today. They fire up the steam locomotives and recreate the scene. I haven't seen it in a number of years but should make the trip again just for fun.
Hey, I could do that on the motorcycle...
Posted by: Nate at May 10, 2007 11:35 AM...the rebuilding of which is in itself a great feat of American engineering!
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 10, 2007 11:53 AM