The Portland daily press., 1883-09-10
New Bond Between the Atlantic
and Pacific States.

and Pacific States.
The Event Celebrated by Cannon and
Eloquence.
History of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, and Extracts from
the Speeches.
| GOLD SPIKE, Mont, Sept. 8.-To-day the
completion of the Northern Pacific railroa
was celebrated at this point, t,where the working
| parties from Lake Superior and from the Pa
cifc at last csme together A short switch
| was built around the gap Wednesday, Aug 30,
| to accommodate construction trains but the
last rail on the main line was laid to-day, and
| the last spike, an ingot of gold, was driven by
President Wizards daughter, with a silver
hammer, in the presence of a distinguished
company At every stroke of the hammer, a
cannon was discharged.
Over 800 guests had been invited to witness
the ceremony, and passed on to the Pacific
coast over the completed track. Gen. Grant,
the Hon. William NJ. Evarts, Secretary Teller
and Herr Won Brun, the German minister,
were among the most distinguished guests, but
many other famous names are to be found on
the roll of the party.
The rendezvous was at Minneapolis, and the
guests arrived there Saturday night, coming
In three divisions over the Pennsylvania, Erie
and New York Central roads. A grand recep
tion was given by the citizens OF Minneapolis
and ST. Paul on Monday, and much rivalry
was displayed by the two cities. Monday evsn-
ing the party met President Arthur at Minne-
tonks, on his return from the Yellowstone
country.
Tuesday the expedition started westward
on the Northern Pacific, bound for the Pacific
coast. During the whole trip out and back the
railroad company entertained its guests on
board the cars. The party moved in four di-
| visions, the trains following each other at in
| tervals OF half an hour. Last night the first
and second sections moved up to the end of the
road. The third and fourth sections remained
at Helena.
The ceremony this morning was appointed
at 10 O'Clock. The spike was connected by
wire with st. Paul, Chicago and New York,
and the completion of the work was instantly
announced in those cities.
Upon the completion of the work President
| Willard spoke substantially as follows:
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WILLARD.
| 1t is my agreeable duty and very great
1 feaO Offa hnar rfr n
| tinguished assemblage on this memorable oc-
| casion and in these remarkable surroundings
| To you, the Representatives of Foreign Ma
| tions, the Members of the Executive, Legisla.
| tive and Judicial Branches of the United
| States Government, the Governors of States
| and Territories, the Representatives OF the
| European and American Press, and our guests
| from abroad and at homo generally, to you
| one and all, beg to offer, in the name of the
| Northern Pacific Railroad Company, profound
thanks for your kind presence and participa.
| ton in this, the most important event OF our
! corporate existence. Our work means the
| conquest of new fields for general commerce
| and industry. It creates new highway be.
| tween Europe, America and Asia. The pop
| ulation of the States and Territories traversed
| by our road is largely made up from the Euro
| pean nationalties represented here. We
deemed it fit and proper. therefore, to bid, SC
| to speak, both the old and the new world tC
this celebration, or, in other words, to arrange
|
| have crossed the ocean, and all have Travelled
| great distances, in order to be with us to-day
| Be pleased to accept my assurance that We
| gratefully appreciate your sacrifice of time asd
| comfort. In return, we earnestly wish to dc
| our guests all possible honor and to give them
| all possible pleasure, and We trust that JhiE
| transcontineLtal journey has been and will BIZ
| an unalloyed enjoyment to them. We hope
| moreover, that as in this hour a new and i'll
| dssolube bond will be formed between the
1 4<4 4ho md tn If
| Rocky Mountains, this gathering may asC
strengthen the ties OF good will and friendship
between the Republic of North America and
the parent countries Of Europe.
| Ex-President Frederick Billings was the
| next speaker, who said:
| ADDRESS BY Ex-PREsIDENT FREDERICK Bill
| LINGs ON THE OPENING OF THE NORTHERN
PACIFIC RAILROAD.
There were brave L1en before Agamemnon
| There have been transeoDtinental roads before
| this one. There have been last spikes and last
| spikes, but there never was more significant
| last spike driven on the continent than this
| one; never one which had more work and
faith behind it; uever one with greater fu-
| ture before it. 1t has been long way up to 1t
1t is more than forty years-a longer period
than the children of Israel were wandering in
| the Wilderness before reaching their Promised
Land-since I heard Asa Whitney discourse
| ON Pacific railroad before the Legislature oi
| vermont. LII III tulFly years bluCo OOngrob
authorized surveys for practicable and econ
omical railroad route from the Mississippi tc
the Pacific Ocean. 1t Is more than quarter
of century since Z heard Governor Stevens
discuss this identical Northern Pacific route
before an audience In San Francisco. 1t IL
nearly score of years since this road wai
chartered 1t is thirteen years since its first
| spike was driven. And this long way has al
times been very dark one. 1t was gigantic
undertaking, and had peculiar difficulties.
The Union and Central Pacific was child
| of the war. In that crisis public sentiment de-
manded that the Eastern and Western part
| of our country should no longer be connected
simply by way of Cape Horn or the Isthmus
but by railway right across and right
through the heart of our own territory, And
that line had almost the Government Treasury
behind it, and it followed well-known trai
across the continent, and ended In the rich
California at the Golden Gate.
The Atlantic and Pacific route on the thirty
fifth parallel by Santa Fe was familiar tc
| emigration, and had been advocated by Senator
Benton and others for years The Texas Pac
| tc, on the thirty second parallel, was the one
recommended in 1856 by the then Secretary Of
War, Jefferson Davis, who claimed it to be
the best of all routes according to his interpre
tation OF the government surveys
The poor Northern Pacific had no such lodg
ment In the public thought. There was NJ
trail across the continent here. Emigrants tC
Oregon, even, vent by the Central route. This
| WAS chllSu q region Oh 0SSOlaLlOn. IL was III
| everlasting bondage to snow and ice and ster
ility II belonged TO the widest of Indians
and the North Pole. Though it started from
Lake Superior, how few thought anything ol
Lake Superior. 1t was out OF the world How
| brief a time is it since Proctor Knott convuseC
continent by deriding Duluth as the zenith
of the unsalted seas. And though the road
went to Puget Sound, the magnificent North
ern Mediterranean sea, what was Puge
Sound? Why, will you believe it--it is said
that but for the marvellous trip of the mission
airy Whitman across the continent, and his ap
pearance in the State Department at Wash
ington to make known that imperial Pacific
Northwest-all that region north of the Co
lumba river might have been lost to this coun
| try in the Ashburton treaty.
With all this dense ignorance of this north.
ern belt, and denser prejudice, and hardly any
human beings on the line save fierce Indians
and here and there few soldiers shut up In
forts. and with no government subsidy-hoW
was this road to be built? To be sure It had 9