Day 6—The Golden Spike

Road to the middle of nowhere.

Today was all about rail!

May of 1869, over 100 years before Theresa was born (merely 99 before Bill), The Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads were joined at Promontory Point, Utah, thereby joining East and the West.  It all happened about 20 miles or so north of Ogden (some 30 or so miles north of SLC).  So, we trekked up there to see the sight!  It was a desolate drive to seemingly nowhere.

The Flag as it looked in May 1869.

The Jupiter on its way!

At 10AM, the “Jupiter” from the Central Pacific Railroad, a wood burning steam locomotive, stoked up and headed to the spot.  We all took pictures, looked around, and Bill talked with the “Fireman” (who was a woman in her sixties) on the engine about some of the mechanics of it. 

It's amazing the detail they had on a "work machine"!

Here comes 119!  It was actually a freight loco.

At 10:30, the “119” from the Union Pacific Railroad, a coal burning steam loco, stoked up and headed to join us.  Actually, it takes about 6 hours to go from cold to ready, so they were probably stoking up for some time!  Anyway, when it arrived, everyone clamored about for their special shots of the two locomotives nose to nose, reliving that moment from over 150 years.  Actually, both locomotives were sold for scrap for $1000 back in the early 1900s, so these were both replicas, but built to spec with very few modern upgrades (like air brakes, instead of turning a crank to pull a chain).  It was a fun little show.

Jupiter

119

The spot where the Golden Spike was driven.  (then removed in the 1940s)

Two Engines and one Engineer!

The controls for the 119.

The Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake.
(Yeah, it's a 9.) 

Afterwards, we headed out to do the driving tours.  But, we went off on a tangent first.  There in an “art work” some 10 miles away called “The Spiral Jetty”, which jutted out “into” the Great Salt Lake.  Well, since the lake is so shallow, as it goes up or down by a few feet, the water edge moves hundreds of feet.  So, at some times of the year it is submerged, but right now it is on hard dry (salty) ground.

The Great Salt Lake from the North West side.

Driving along the former rail bed (grade).

We headed back to our driving tour.  The West tour was a route on the Central Pacific “grade”.  Actually, this drive was very educational, despite having very little in the way of signs or displays.  But driving along the raised and smoothed surface on which the old rail used to run, gave us a much better sense of what actually needed to happen to get these rails laid.  Building up soil to make a rail bed, or cutting through the hills and rocks in the way, really has a different sense when standing up close and being there.

Just to give some scale.

One of the "cuts".

On the East Tour, we saw the “Final Cut”, the last place the Union Pacific had to cut through to keep the slope of the rail to specifications.  Unfortunately, as the two rail companies were paid (handsomely) for each mile of track, both raced ahead with surveying, and prepping, to make ready for the rail itself.  In the process, they prepared 200 miles of surface parallel to each other, hoping to get their track down first.  So, this “final cut” never actually saw tracks laid in it.  Bill went down to see it better, and decided to walk through it.  It was striking standing there, thinking of the dozens (or hundreds?) of people who toiled in that spot to clear rock out of the way…for nothing.

An amazing feat!!

Normally, they could lay about 2 miles of track per day.  But, one day the Union Pacific managed about 6.5 miles in a day.  They bet the Central Pacific $10,000 that the record could not be beat.  With about a month left in the project, they managed a record of over 10 miles in one day.  

We both enjoyed the trip, although it was probably more time driving than anything else.  But it was a good time!