Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-05-18
FIFTY YEARS AGO In THE STAR

The last spike in the transconti-
| mental railway system was driven
nfty years ago, on the 10th
The last Of May. 1869. In The Star
-, of that date Is the follow
SpAAe' ing description Of that
historical event:
AT 2:20 this afternoon. Washington
| time, all the telegraph offices in the
country were notified by the Omaha
telegraph office to be ready to receive
the signals corresponding to the
| blows of the hammer that drove the
| last spike in the last rail that united
New York and San Francisco with q
band Of iron. Accordingly Mr.. Tinker.
manager of the Western Union teie-
graph office in this city. placed a mag
netic bell sounder in the public office
of that company, corner Of 18th street
! and the Avenue. connecting the same
with the main lines. and notified the
various offices that he was ready. New
Orleans instantly responded. the an
swer being read from the bell taps.
New York did the same. At 2:27 Offices
over the country began to make all
| sorts Of inquiries of Omaha. to which
| that Office replied. To everybody:
Keep quiet; when the last spike is
driven at Promontory Point they will
| say, Done" Don't break the circuit.
but watch for the signals Of the blows
of the hammer
after some little trouble in the
Chicago office and the closing of a cir
| cult west of Buffalo, the instrument
here was agitated and at 2:37 pm.
Promontory Point. 2.400 miles west of
Washington, sent to the people that
congregated in the various telegraph
| offices: Almost ready: hats off: pray
prayer ensued. At $40 the bell tap
| ped again and the office at the Point
| said: We have got done praying: the
| spike is about to be presented Chi
| cago replied: We understand: all are
| ready in the east Promontory
| Point: All ready now; the spike will
| be driven: the signal will be three
dots for the commencement of the
blows
For a moment the instrument was
silent. then the hammer of the mag
| net tapped the bell-one. two, three
the signal! Another pause Of a few
seconds. and the lightning came fash
| ms cas- Wdru, vibrating over Z,40O
miles between the junction of the two
roads and Washington-andt the blows
Of the hammer upon the spike were
measured instantly in telegraphic ac-
cents upon the bell here. At 2:47 pm.
Promontory Point gave the signal,
| Done, and continent was spanned
with iron"
In The Star Of May II. 1859. is the
announcement of the gift to the peo-
pie of Washing
Gift of Corcoran ton Of the Cor
Gallery of Art. s art =, fa,,ews. Oh
"Mr. W. w. Corcoran today exc
cuted a deed transferring to a board
Of nine trustees the spacious and
beautiful building on the corner of
Pennsylvania avenue and 18th street
for an art depository. together with
the ground upon which it is situated,
and all the back rents due on ac-
count OF its use and occupancy by the
governme to be held by them in
perpetuity as a Free Picture Gallery
for the City of Washington. He has
also, in the same generous spirit
which prompted the above gift, do
mated his large and splendid collec-
| ton of paintings and works of art,
| valued at many thousands of dollars,
to be placed in the building as a nu-
cleus, it Is to be hoped. for a still
more extensive collection. which can
hardly fail to grow up under such ia
vorable auspices.
THE gentlemen named as trustees
are Messrs. James NJ Carlisle, DR.. j.
c. Hall. George w. Riggs, Anthony
! Hyde, James c. MCGUIRE, James G..
Berret, James c. Berret, James c.
Kennedy and Henry D. Cooke of this
city, and William T. Walters of Bal
timore. The value of the property
| transferred to them as above is esti.
! mated to be worth at least 100000.
In addition to this we understand
Mr.. Corcoran has intimated that it
Is his intention to still further in
crease the gift by an endowment at
future day of 100000 in money, to be
devoted to purposes connected with
his present donation. We understand