Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-09-10
THE GOLDEN SPIKE.
Formal Completion 0fthe Northern
Pacific.
The Last Act of Work Done by the
Willard Party in the Mountains
Of Montana.

COLD SPIKE, NJ. T, September S.-Tte
ceremony OF driving the golden spike,
which sgnalizes the completion of the
Northern Pacific Railway, was observed at
precisely $3.50 this afternoon amid the
plaudits OF a great multitude and the boom
ing of cannon.
President Willard made an address in
which he said: Work on the main line
was first resumed on the west bank Of the
Missouri river in the spring of 1879, and at
the confluence OF the Columbia and Snake
rivers in the fall of the same year. The
distance betwean the two starting points
was l,2l2 miles. The 2l7 miles from the
completed in June, 1881; the
225 miles from the Columbia to
Lake Pend d'Oreille in November, 1881.
The completion OF the $40 miles miles
of the road in the Yellowstone Valley
took seventeen months The l9i miles up
the eorges of Clark's Fork to Missoula,
nineteen months; from the head of the
Yellowstone Valley to Helena, and thence
to this junction nine months Thus the
first 442 mileage of the total mileage TO be
cOmpleted-that is the Missouri and Pend
years and eight months, while the other 2sO
miles we're completed in less than two
years. In this time the great structure OF
the Bismarck Bridge was also erected. The
continuation of the main line down the
Columbia for length of 2l0 more miles by
another company TO Portland, and thou.
sand additional miles Of lines Of branch
and allied companies were finished.
These Figures are Easily Quoted,
and apparently speak very simple Ian
Jage. But their true meaning goes far
beyond the mere space Of time and mileage
of completed road they indicate. They
form great sum OF human patience ana
perseverance, energy and bravery, hard.
ship and privalion. They express long aud
hard tests of the power of human ingenuity
and endurance in mighty struggle OF me
ChanjCal and manua, force against the
direct obstacles Of primitive nature. Tney
mean painful record Of bodily suffering
and loCs of life by disease and accident.
You have seen enough Of the work to form
an idea of lis difficulty, its vastness, it,
Ccsrliress. You have the testimony OF
your own eyes that this highway had 10 b.
carved, as it were,
Ont Of n Very wilderness
where we found nothing to help us-nO
labor, no food, no habitations, no material,
no means OF transportation. You see theevi-
dence Of triumph over every hindrance. But
you perceive only finished results; the
dramatic incidents Of their achievement
are not disclosed to you. Rolling along
smoothly, merrily and luxuriously over
the line, how can you know that the
bridges over which we pass were built
while the subdued rivers were hidden in
ice or swollen to perilous depth and tur
bulence?-that defiance was hidden to the
seasons, and the pick and shovel kept fly.
ing, though the way had to be cleared
through thick crusts OF snow and on fro
zen ground thawed by fires? have not
said
All this in q BOsstfuI spirit.
but solely in order to give proper credit
where it belongs for the great dee now
we'll nigh done and thus discharge, by this
public acknowledgment, as much as posi-
bic, the heavy debt OF gratitude that
weighs upon me-"
Addresses were also made by eH sscre-
tary of State Evarts and ex-President Fred.
erick Billings.