PROMONTORY SUMMIT, Utah — A day after Union Pacific officials used “#DONE” to memorialize the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, a U.S. presidential historian says the railroad’s completion should conjure a different four-letter word: H-O-P-E.
Thousands of people from around the world have gathered to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad with music, dance, speeches, and a slightly more elaborate rendition of the Last Spike re-enactment performed often here at the National Historic Park.
It was 150 years ago, on May 10, 1869, that Central Pacific and Union Pacific officials and railroad workers paused with a ceremony to lay last rails, a last tie, and drive the Last Spike — made of gold — to finish a 1,776-mile route between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Sacramento, Calif.
Gates to the Golden Spike National Historic Park opened to the public about 8 a.m. Friday, with replica 4-4-0 locomotives Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific Jupiter arriving on scene soon after.
Prime ceremonies began at 11 a.m. with introductions and speeches from Utah politicians, the National Park Service, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz, and Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints President Russell M. Nelson.
Noted presidential historian Jon Meacham gave the keynote address and quoted such historic figures as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Saint Augustine.
Meacham called on the thousands gathered at the historic park today to place the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in context as a great act and as a lesson for today. He said, that if, in the midst of American Civil War, the nation could conceive of building a massive engineering feat, it should give modern Americans hope for our time.
He said he’d rather deal with the problems posed by Facebook, rather than those from Fort Sumpter — the site of the beginning of the Civil War.
Meacham says that Americans should not give up on hope, but should look to the Transcontinental Railroad, and its completion at Promontory Summit, as a reminder that a nation of imperfect and flawed people can join to achieve great feats in the face of daunting odds. Also, that Americans’ predecessors should neither be idolized or vilified, but seen “eye-to-eye” as the people working to make the United States more perfect, as each generation does.
Utah officials drove a new “copper spike” for the ceremony forged from copper mined in the state. There were also presentations from Chinese-American groups, the Republic of Ireland’s ambassador to the U.S. and a Native American group, which offered blessings to the crowd.
Perhaps the highlight of the event was an approximately half-hour musical “As One” depicting the events of the Transcontinental Railroad in song and dance.
Festivities at the national historic park were to continue through 7 p.m. Friday.
to Carl Fowler, I had a ground map printed off months ago from Spike 150 site, I had signed up for email notifications from them and one was the map. It was a big help figuring out where stuff was. We drove there with parking pass so had no bus problems, we bought folding chairs with us as suggested and a friend went to get our food from the trucks. Only other place we did visit was the Hell on Wheels site, we had plenty of space to put up chairs and see the Jumbotron and a huge row of portapotties were nearby. It is very hard to handle crowds of this size and things do happen. Sorry you did not know about the map and had bus problems.
I sat there and listened to all the presenters. Was thrilled to hear Irish ambassador came, as many of his countrymen helped build the railroaders, including my great-grandpa with the Frisco. I also listened to the musical as One and could see what was happening on the Jumbotron.
My impressions sadly are more mixed. The formal program was superb and the musical review, performed by children, sweet, but painfully overmiked. The crowd situation was not so good.
Understandably with 10000 people and many buses present things could not be normal. But no maps were offered and this created much confusion.
For example we were told to board our bus after the show in Zone 2, But there was no signage designating where that was in a line that at one point had eight buses boarding. Rangers and police at one point were insisting (perhaps sensibly) that groups board at the end of the bus line, which at least in some cases was far from the point of arrival or the supposedly assigned departure point.
Coming in, the food trucks had apparently not yet settled into their assigned spot, as they had confusingly switched sides of the road during the ceremony. The Visitors Center was closed, to avoid excess toilet use, and crowding, but that cut visitors out of enjoying the core NPS interpretive displays. In the event there were historical panels out in the open fields, but given that no maps of the festival were provided, most of the folks I spoke to missed them.
Finally, as at Ogden the day before (I was there at the Promentory site on the key May 10 day and in Ogden for the formal UP program), tv and VIP stands blocked all of the best event view. At the last minute the NPS made chairs available for groups, but in that area you could barely see the locomotives’ stacks. In the end most watched the event on very large screen video monitors.
Of course it was wonderful to be there. Again the program, as pseen on the monitors was outstanding. The majority of the problems sited could have been solved by making grounds maps available. In their absence I encountered visitors so lost that they were actually in tears.
I understand that big events are often this way. It is a real challenge to create a good experience combined with safety and crowd control. The NPS and the Golden Spike 150 producers put on a genuinely outstanding presentation that sadly many attendees only kind of saw.
I’m still so glad and grateful to have been there and as I would be 97 I doubt I will have to worry about the 175fh anniversary show.