Meeting of the Central Pacific and the Union Rail

A large crowd of Union Pacific and Central Pacific railway workers and officials gather around the ceremonial “Golden Spike” site at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, on 10 May 1869. In the centre, two men—Leland Stanford for the Central Pacific and Thomas Durant for the Union Pacific—shake hands over the last section of rail, while locomotives of each company stand poised on the newly joined track. Workers, many still in grime‑caked clothes and caps, perch atop engines and line the embankment, celebrating the first continuous rail link between America’s east and west coasts.

**Historical context:**
The driving of the Golden Spike marked the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad, transforming national travel and commerce. Where journeys once took months by wagon or stagecoach, trains could now traverse the continent in under a week. This iron artery accelerated settlement of the American West, opened remote territories to mining and agriculture, and bound the nation together during the post‑Civil War era.

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