The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-05-21
ACROSS THE CONTINENT.
The Last Rail of the Pacific Railroad
History of the Project.

ACROSS THE CONTINENT
The Last Rail of the Pacific Railroa
History Of the Project.
The New York San of the Sth, an
ticipating the completion of the Pacifi
Railroad on that day, published the fol
lowing account of the undertaking from
its origin to its close. The laying Q
the final rail was postponed to the 10th
so that its reproduction in our column
is timely:
In one of the offices occupied by tb,
Union Pacific Railroad Company, il
Nassau street, stands a pick and shove
bearing these inscriptions:
"Pick that struck the first blow OF
the Union Pacific Railroad, Omaha
December ,, 1868. Pickers: Thomas
Acheson, Nelson L Williams, George
Francis Train, Peter A. Dey."
"Shovel used by Governor Saunder
to move the first earth in the Unior
Pacific Railroad. Omaha, Neb., Dec
2, 1868. Shovellers: Alvin Saunders
Governor of Nebraska; B. E. B. Ken
uedy, Mayor of Omaha; J. NJ. Palmer,
Mayor of Council Bluffs; Augustus
Kountze, Director U. P. R. R"
To-day at Promontory Point, eleven
hundred miles west of Omaha, Leland
Stanford, President of the Central Pa
ciic, T. c.. Durant, Vice President ot
the Union Pacific, and other officers Of
the two companies, will assist in laying
the last rail and driving home the last
spike upon the continental railway.
From to-day the Pacific Railroad is an
accomplished fact. A more stupendous
achievement has never been chronicled
in so short sentence.
Upon the first of July, 1853, "An
Act to aid in the construction of rail
road and telegraph line from the Mis-
souri, River to the Pacific Ocean, was
signed by Abraham Lincoln, Solomon
Foot, President pro tenn. of the Senate,
and Galusha A. Grow, Speaker of the
House of Representatives. This author
lied the formation of the Union Pacific
Railroad Company, and among the
names of the incorporators we note
those of Dean Richmond, Royal Phelps,
Azariah Boody, Ben. Holiday, and S. B.
Ruggles, of New York; s. c. Bushnell,
Of Connecticut; George W. Cass, of
Pennsylvania; S. s. L'Hommedieu,
John Brough, and William Dennisou,
Of Ohio; VIM. B. Ogden, of Illinois /;
George w. Collamer, of Vermont; (;
Thomas Swan, of Maryland; and others
likewise distinguished in finance, in pol
tics, or trade, The company was en-
powered to build a railroad and tele-
graph line from the initial point in Ne
braska to the western boundary of Ne
Tada, and there connect with the Cen
raj Pacific railroad of California, a
State organization, chartered by the
Legislature in 1861, to build a railroad
rom Sacramento towards and across
he Sierra Nevada. The whole line,
rom the Missouri to the navigable
waters of the Sacramento river, was to
De completed by July l, 1875, and the
Company first reaching the boundary
inc above named might proceed with
he work until the other should be met.
The nature of the aid and privileges
granted by Congress toward this work;
md their amount, are generally known.
They were liberal beyond precedent,
,ut the national benefit to be attained
" the completion of the road was also
Spite of Government help, men
loubted and capitalists held back. The
rhe project was declared wild and WIS.,
onary; the Rocky Mountains were i'm
,assable by rail; no railroad could be
operated through the Great Desert; i'll
railroad should by any chance be
,uilt, it would never pay; the Indians
would wage successful war against the
in Short the leaders in the
were insane, and those who
isked money in it were fools. The in
ane went to woak, however, and have
'uilt the road.
The first blow was struck in 1859, |
,ut that was about all. Money was
ard to get, and no contractor would
ouch the work until August, 1854. |
hen, one chilly day in the fall of that
ear, a few of the State, city, and rail
Dad officials put some boards across |
irt car, spread buffalo robes across
hem and rode out from Omaha to the
rossing of the Papillon river, and |
rank a bottle of champagne in honor
f the opening of twelve miles of the
'acifc Railroad In the next year
S65-twenty- EIGHT miles were built, |
laking forty miles in year and half |
was one thousand miles to Salt Lake |
alley. At that rate, how long would |
take to get there's It-was-a a sum in
nipple division, with an unpleasant
uotient of thirty-seven years. That
rould never do. Government might |
uthorize them to issue bonds, but who
ould buy the notes of railroad feebly |
rawling thirty miles a year into the
Rapid work was the es-
sntial, The fast coach takes the pas
the man of nerve and dash
as the sympathy of the crowd. There
as a waking up.
To do rapid work where every step
as under difficulties, which builders
Eastern railroads know nothing of,
,ok money-piles of it. Dillon, Du-
ant Bushnell, Alley, the Ameses,
.artled their Bankers with the magni-
lde and frequency of their checks for
acific Railroad expenditures. Durant
as made general manager, with
hole set of instructions in two words.
Push things" Hepushed them as no
lilroad builder had ever done before,