Golden Spike

 On our way from The Tetons to Utah, Trish and I visited the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Point, Utah.

Here, in May of 1869, the nation was literally joined from coast to coast when the Union Pacific Railroad line was joined with the Central Pacific Railroad at this very spot.

Construction on both rail lines had badly bogged down when Brigham Young send The Mormon Brigade to finish the job.  And it was done.

The Jupiter arrived from the west with Railroad President Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific Railroad on board.  

The large stack shows us that the Jupiter was a wood burning engine. One simple reason for this: there are no coal mines in California and coal, though more efficient, was simply not available.

From the different stack, we see that Union Pacific 119 was a coal burner.  It came right of the heart of coal country.

When President Stanford tried to drive the symbolic Golden Spike, he missed. One of the ordinary laborers who was present volunteered and finished the job in three blows.

One hundred years later, the first man walked in the moon.  While a great feat, if you think about it, which event actually affected the lives of people more: the moon landing or the trans-continental railroad?  You decide.