Earlier this month, May 10th,  marked the 150th Anniversary of the Gold Spike ceremony at Promontory, Utah.    I thought it appropriate to rerun this picture story from a few years ago. 

The  “Thank God it’s Friday”  graphic is one of several intro’s for my slide shows to groups.  It’s good for a laugh, however,  the 1869 meeting of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific in Utah was somewhat similar.  Rather than joining in such a slip-shod manner, they simply passed one another, and kept on going.   Seems the two railroads were being reimbursed by the Government for work performed, by the mile.    The joining of the rails at Promontory, about three miles around the bend in the picture,  was the result of a negotiated settlement.

In the picture, you can easily see the railroad right-of-way on a fill.  That is the work of the Central Pacific, charging eastward into the picture.   But look closely to the left half of the picture.  You can see two earthen bridgeheads with a gap in between.   The distant one is easy to see, the other is in the foreground, lower left of the pix.   The Union  Pacific, working westward, filled the gap with a trestle, long since lost to the elements, salvage, or fire…..  not sure.

If you go to Google Earth, you can see both landmarks by tracing the twin right’s-of-ways of both railroads eastward from the Gold Spike Monument site.  In a little over three rail miles, or 2.8 the way the crow flies you will see clearly the filled curve, the bridgehead a little less obvious.   (Hint: use the ruler in the tool bar, to gauge the distance.)

Credits:   (Artwork, unk., can anyone out there ID the artist.?)    Photo by Drake Hokanson as seen in TRAINS Mag June 2015