The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-21
Irish VS.. Chinese.

d
ontory, the two running parallel. In some
places one was just above the other.
Irish VS.. Chinese.
The Central Pacific employed Cinnamon,
while ours were Irshmen, and there was
much ill-feehng between them. The Irish
men were in the habit of firing blasts in
the cuts without giving warning to the
Cinnamon working above them, and sew
eral Cinnamon We're severely hurt. The
Central Pacific people complained, and I
endeavored to have the contractors bring
hostihties TO a close, but they failed TO
do so One day the Cinnamon put in
what is called a grave" in their work,
and, when the Irishmen were all at work
directly below, let go the blast and buried
many of our men. From that time on
the Irishmen showed due respect for the
Cinnamon. and there was no more trouble.
Driving the Last Spike.
In May, 1869, we agreed to connect at
the summit of Promontory point and the
day was fixed so that the trains could
reach US from New York and California.
We laid the rails to the joining point
day or two before the final closing. On
that occasion the Union Pacific was rep
resented by Thomas c. Durant, vice pres
ident; Sidney Dillon, who had been promi-
nent in Union Pacific from the beginning
and John r. Duff, directors, together with
the consulting engineers and a carload of
friends The representatives of the Cen
trail Pacific were its president, Leland
Stanford; Mr.. Huntington Mr.. Croker,
Mr.. Hopkins, Mr.. Cotton and other
members of the company, and Mr..
Montague, chief engineer. The two
trains pulled up, each crowded
with workmen. The officers and invited
guests formed on each side Of the track,
leaving it open to the south. The teie-
graph lines had been brought to that
point, so that the telegraph recorded eacn
blow of the final spiking at every connect
ed office from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Prayer was offered, a number of spikes
were driven in the two adjoining rails,
each one of the prominent persons present
taking a hand, but very few hitting the
spikes, to the great amusement of the
crowd. When the last spike was paced
light taps were given upon it by several
officials and it was finally driven home by
the chief engineer of the Union Pacific.
The engineers ran up their locomotives
until they touched, the engineer upon each
engine broke bottle of champagne upon
the opposite one, and thus the two roads
were welded into one great trunk line
from the Atlantic to the Pacific The gold
and silver spikes were brought specially
for the occasion, and later were manufac-
tured into miniature spikes as mementoes
OF the occasion. 1t was a bright but cold
day. After few speeches every one was
chilled and all took refuge in the Central
Pacific cars, where wine flowed freely and
many speeches were made.
kilograms were sent to President Grant,
Vice President Colfax and other officials
throughout the country. I did not fail to
send a message to my old commander
who had been such helpful factor in the
building of the road. Here is his response:
Washington, May Il, 1S69.-Gen. G.. NJ
Dodge: In common with millions, 1 sat
yesterday and heard the mystic taps of
the telegraph battery announce the nail
ing of the last spike in the great Pacific
road. Indeed, am its friend? Yea Yet
am l to be a part of It, for as early as
1854 1 was vice president of the effort be-
gun in San Francisco under the contract
of Robinson, Seymour & Company. AS
soon as Gen. Thomas makes certain pre-
limlnary inspections in his new command
on the Pacific, 1 will go out and need
not say, will have different facilities from
that of 1916, when the only way to Cali
fornia was by sail around Cape Horn
taking our ships 1856 days All honor to
you, to Durant, to Jack and Dan Case
ment, TO Reed, and the thousands Of
brave fellows who have wrought out this
glorious problem, spite of changes. storms
and even doubts of the incredulous and
all the obstacles you have now happilv
surmounted. w. T. Sherman, General.
That night the visitors iert for the East
and the West, leaving the working par-
ties and engineers behind to arrange de-
tails for conducting the business of each
road at this terminal. 1t was only a dav
or two before trains bound for the At
lantic and the Pacific were passing repu-
larly.
In 1865 Gems. Grant and Sherman wera
much interested, and they came West
with party consisting of Maj. Gen. PbiIin
H. Sheridan, Gen. August Kautz. Gen To,
seph c. Potter, Gen. Frederick Dent Cen
William s. Harvey, Gen. Louis G. Hunt
Gen. Adam Slemmer and the president of
the construction company T. c. Durant
who wired me to meet them at Fort Gar
ders, then the headquarters of Gen. Gin
bon. view Of this gathering. OF oficers
was made by local photographer; there