The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-11-30
in RAILWAY CIRCLES.
Two Pictures that Recall an
Important Day.
THE SCENES AT PRoMoNToRY.
The Railway People Deny that any Local
Offices are to be Abolished
Here

Two pictures illustrating one of the most
important events in the history of the
United States are on exhibition in the win
doWs OF Savage's art gallery.
One shows group of persons-the
greater portion of whom represent the
typical westerners of twenty years ago.
among them, however, are scattered
several people whose dress and general air
tell of lives lived in other lands than the
one ON which they are standing-the de-
sert near Promontory, on the north end of
the Great Salt Lake. A section of rail
and few ties are shown, and command
ing figure is in the act of bringing down a
sledge hammer upon spike that is already
partially embedded in the tie. Near by
Is an lmprovised telegraph table, and the
operator is ready to send the news flash
lng-as he did-to all sections of the civil
lied world that the last spike on the Union
Paclf1c and Central Pacific railways has
been driven-that the continent from
ocean to ocean is connected by the iron
bands. This was on the 29th of May, 1869.
The other picture shows the meeting of
the engines On that memorable day. On
the lett is the huge smoke. stack which in
dlcates the western wood burning engine
and on the right is the eastern engine with
the slim stack, indicative of the use of coal
On the engines in every space where they
can cling are men, and in the front of each
stand two with arms outstretched
holding bottles Of wine, which were finally
broken. This is the picture from which
Bert Harte gained his inspiration for his
famous poem, 1.-The Meeting of the En-
gines," and which is as follows:
Said the engine from the west:
Il am from Sierra'S crest;
And, If attitudes a test,
why, reckon it's confessed
mat We done my level BEST
Said the engine from the east:
They who work best talk the least.
S'poSe you whistle down your brakes;
what you've done is no great shakes
Pretty fair-but let our meeting
Be different kind of greeting.
Let these folks with champagne stuff1ng,
Not their engines, do the pulling
Listen! Where Atlantic beats
Shores of snow and summer heats;
Where the Indian Autumn ski IS
| Paint the woods with wampum dyes.
! have chased the flying sun.
| Seeing all he looked upon,
Blessing all that he has blessed
| Nursing in my iron breast
Ali his vlvifying heat
All his clouds about my CREST
| And before my flying feet
Every shadow must retreat"
| Said the western engine, "Phew"
| And long, low whistle blew.
! Come now, really that's the oldest
| Talk for one SO very modest
| You brag OF your east! You do?
| Why, bring the east to you
All the Orient, all Cathay,
| Find through me the shortest way,
And the sun you follow here
| Rises in my hemisphere!
Really,-f one must be rude
| Length, my friend, amt longitude
| Said the Union, Don't reflect, or
| I'll run over some director
| Said the Central, I'm Pacific
| But when riled, I'm quite terrific
| Yet to-day we shall not quarrel
Just to show these folks This moral
| How two engineS-in their vision
| Once have meet without collision
| That is what the engines said,
| Unreported and unread;
| Spoken slightly through the nose,
| With whistle at the close.
The pictures were taken by Savage. ani
were sent far and wide at the time. Mr.
| E. l.. LomaX, of the Union Pacific, desired
that such valuable memento should no
be lost, so he ordered the two now on exhi
bition. They were first enlarged to thei
present size and then turned over to Arts
Ottinger, who has finished them up in oil
They will be on exhibition but a few DAYS
when they will be forwarded to the owner
They will create sensation in Omaha.