The nation celebrated the completion of its first Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit Utah.

Here is how it happened:

May 7th

​Leland Stanford, President of the Central Pacific Railroad, and his guests arrived early to get ready for the ceremony (he is pictured on the right).

May 8th

The scheduled day of completion for the Transcontinental Railroad. Thomas Durant, Vice-President of the Union Pacific Railroad, was delayed on his way to the ceremony. Unpaid railroad workers stopped his train and would not let him proceed until he paid them. He did not arrive at Promontory Summit until 10:00 a.m. on May 10.

Noise and crowding kept most of those attending the ceremony in Utah from seeing the great occasion, so there are different reports of the actual sequence of events​, but this is what many think happened:

May 10th

11am

One hour before the official ceremony began, Irish workers representing the Union Pacific (UP) and Chinese workers representing the Central Pacific (CP) laid the final two rails that would join the railroads.

12pm (noon)

The ceremony began with a prayer of thanks. Photographers captured the excitement, and the telegrapher sent a message: "Almost ready. Hats off. Prayer is being offered."

James Strobridge (CP) and Samuel B. Reed (UP) laid the ceremonial final tie made of polished California laurel wood with four pre-drilled holes under the joined rails.

After they placed the final tie, four ceremonial spikes were presented to Stanford and Durant. Nevada donated a spike of silver; Arizona gave a spike plated with silver and gold; a California newspaper gave a gold spike and businessman David Hewes donated an engraved spike made of gold. Hewes actually created two golden spikes. He presented one to Stanford for the ceremony and the other spike is on display at the California State Railroad Museum.

Right Before the Last Spike was Driven

12:47pm

Stanford tapped the golden spike with a silver maul (or hammer) and the telegrapher sent the message “DONE.”

The railroad was complete!

Another first: The completion of the nation’s first Transcontinental Telegraph. The country could finally enjoy coast-to-coast transportation and communication!

Imagine you are in Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869.

You have traveled a long way to witness the completion of the nation’s first Transcontinental Railroad.

With almost 1,000 people there, you cannot see anything over all these adults.

You really want to see what is going on, so you climb on top of the Union Pacific’s locomotive, No. 119. Be careful, though, that boiler is pretty hot. Find a safe place where you can see everyone.

Click the link on the next page and read the sentences that describe what happened at the Gold Spike Ceremony. Unfortunately, they are mixed up. You need to place them in the order in which they happened.

Here are a few hints to help you:

• Look for dates and times to see which events happened first.
• Speeches were made before the tapping of the spikes.​
• You can always come back to this page if you get stuck.

Test your Memory

When you figure out the correct order, what do the letters in parenthesis ( ) spell?