Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 9, 1916, Page 21

PART THREE * EDITORIAL PAGES ONE TO SIX THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE PART THREE MAGAZINE VOL. XLV—NO." 30. OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY HE BUILDING of a Pacific steam road to connect the streams flowing into the At- lantic and Pacific was advocated as carly as 1819, before a mile of railroad was built in any part of the world. It took practical form when Asa Whitney, in 1845 ‘lln petitioning congress in behalf of a Pacific rall- Iroad, said: ‘You will see that it will chauge the whole world." Senator Thomas H. Benton in 1849 pleaded that the great line when built should ‘be adorned with its crowning honor, the colossal statue of the great Columbus, whose design it ac- complishes, hewn from the granate mass of a peak of the Rocky Mountains, overlooking the road, the mountain itself the pedestal, and the 'statue a part of the mountain, pointing with out- |stretched arm to the western horizon and saying Ilo the flying passenger, ‘There is the east! There |is India?’ Charles Summer in 1853 said: ‘The | railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific, t*raversing ’n whole ¢ofitérnt and Binding together two oceans, | this mighty thoroughfare when completed will 1mark an epoch of human progress second only to | that of our Declaration of Independence. May the day soon come!’ And it did come, and all the | prophecies were fulfilled when the first transcon- | tinental line was completed and the tracks joined at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869, just forty years ago. ““This ceremény was one of peace and harmony between the Union Pacific, coming from the east, and the Central Pacific, coming from the west. For a year or more there had been great con- tention and rivalry between the two companies, the ! Union Pacific endeavoring to reach Humboldt Wells, on the west houndary of Utah, and the Cen- tral Pacific rushing to reach Ogden, Utah, to give , them an outlet to Salt Lake City, and the two lines | were graded alongside of each other for 225 miles ! between Ogden and Humboldt Wells. Climbing ) Promontory mountain they were not a stone's throw apart, “Wken both companies saw that neither could reach its goal they came together, and we made an zrcement to join the tracks on the summit of Fromontory mountain, the Union Pacific selling to the Central Pacific fifty-six miles of its road back within five miles of Ogden, and leasing trackage over that five miles to enable the Central Pacific | to reach Ogden. These five miles were not only a part of the Union Pacific, but used by their line north to Idaho. This agreement was ratified by | congress. Each road built to the summit of Prom- ontory, leaving a gap of 100 feet of rail to be laid when the last spike was driven. Arrival of the Official Parties “On the morning of May 10, 1869, Hon. Leland Stanford, governor of California and president of the Central Pacific, accompanied by Messrs. Hunt ington, Hopkins, Crocker, and tralnloads of Cali- ‘Mrni;\ s distinguished citizens, arrived from the west. During the forenoon Vice President T. C. Jurant and Directors John R. Duff and Sidney Dil- lon and Consulting Engineer Silas A, Seymour of the Union Pacifie, with other prominent men, including a delegation of Mormons from Salt Lake City, came in on a train from the east, The na- tional government was represented by a detach ment of “regulars” from Fort Douglas, Utah, ac companied by a band, and 600 others, including Chinese, Me. 8, Indians, half-breeds, negroes, and laborers, suggesting an air of cosmopolitanism, all gathered around the open space where the tracks were to be jolned. The Chinese lald the rails from the west end, and the Irish laborers laid them from the east end, until they met and joined ‘Telegraph wires were so connected that each blow of the descending sledge could be reported in- stantly to all parts of the United States. Corre- sponding blows were struck on the bell of the city ball in San Francisco, and with the last blow of the sledge a cannon was fired at Fort Point. General Bafford presented a spike of gold, silver and iron &8 the offering of the territory of Arizona. Gov- ernor Tuttle of Nevada presented a spike of silvey from his state. The connecting tie was of Cali- fornia laurel, and California presented the last Plke of gold in behalf of that state. A silver sledge had also been presented for the occasion A prayer was offered; Governor Stanford of Cali fornie made a few appropriate remarks cn behal? of the/Central Pacific, and the chief engineer re sponded for the Union Pacific. Then the tele graphic inquiry from the Omaha office, from which the circuit was to be started, was answered: ‘To everybody: Keep quiet. When the last spike is driven at Promontory Point we will say ‘‘Done.” Don't break the circuit, but watch for the signals of the blows of the hammer. The spike will soon be driven. The signal will be three dots for the commencement of blows.' The ‘magnet tapped one—two—then paused—'Done." The spike was given its first blow by President Stanford, and Vice President Durant followed, neither of whom hit the spike the first time, but hit the rail, and were greeted by the lusty cheers of the onlookers, accompanied by the screams of the locomotives and the music of the military band. Many other spikes were driven on the last rail by some of the distinguished persons present, but it was sel- dom that they first hit the spike. The original spike, after being tapped by the officlals of the companies, was driven home by the chief engineers of the two roads. Then the two trains were run together, the two locomotives touching at the point of junction, and the engineers of the two loedmo- tives each broke a bottle of champagne on the cther’'s engine. Then it was declared that the con- nection was made and the Atlantic and Pacific were joined together never to be parted. Celebrate from Ocean to Ocean ‘At the eastern terminus in Omaha, the firing of a hundred guns on Capitol Hill, more bells and steam whistles and a grand procession of fire com- panies, civic socleties, citizens and visiting delega- tions echoed the sentiments of the Caiifornians. In other large cities expressions of public gratification were hardly less hearty and demon- strative. Bret Harte was inspired to write the celebrated poem of ‘What the Engines Said." The tirst verse is “What was it the engines sald, Pilots touching. head to head, Facing on the single track, Half a worid behind each back? This is what the engines said, Unreported and unread.” ‘“After the ceremony a sumptuous lunch was gerved in President Stanford's cars and appropriate speeches were made by Governor Stanford and others, and a general jollification was enjoyed. At night each train took its way to its own home, leaving at the junction point only the engineers end the workmen to complete the work, ready for the through trains that followed in a day or two after ‘The one thought that was in the minds of all was, ‘What of the future? What could a rail- rcad earn that ran almost its entire length from Nebraska to the California state line through a country uninhabited, and at ' that date, with no developed local business upon its whole line.’ “My own views upon that question I expressed in my report upon the completion of the road in 1869, in which I said ‘Its future is fraught with great good. It will develop a waste, will bind together the two ex- tremes of the nation as one, will stimulate inter- course and trade, and bring harmony, prosperity and wealth to the two coasts. A proper policy, systematically and persistently followed, will bring to"the road the trade of the two oceans and will give it al! the business it can accommodate; while the local trade will increase gradually until the mining, grazing and agricultural reglons through which it passes will build up and create a business that will be a lasting and permanent support to the company It is » great satisfaction to have lived and witnessed the deveiopment of our nation, from the lale the Pa ¢ result of the civil war it has made a century's growth in fifty ars This is the Fascinating Story of the Driving of the Golden Spike as Written for The Bee by Gen- eral Dodge on Occasion of Fortieth Anniversary Governor C]ar/{e 1916. R A SINGLE COPY FIVE C Military Funeral of Gen'l Grenville M. Dodge Pioneer, Soldier, Master Railroad ’ Builder and Financier PAGES ONE TO SIX