On the recordMay 7, 2019
On May 10, 1869, a Salt Lake paper wrote that the people of Utah--the great pioneers of the Rocky Mountains--received with acclamation the glad news of the completion of the mighty work to which as a people they had contributed their part; and hand in hand with the great circle of States and territories, now rejoicing in union over the event, did thank God for its accomplishments. They were referencing the Golden Spike which had been driven completing the first transcontinental railroad. That date, May 10, will forever stand as a tribute to the men of vision who foresaw the potential of an empire stretching from coast to coast in the United States, bound together not only by iron rails but also by a common interest. From the time of the Civil War when this project started until three or four decades later when the railroad system was completed, America changed. In 1860, the United States was third in the world in production of wheat. When the railroad was completed, we were first. In 1860, England produced three times as much coal as the United States. When the railroad was complete, not only did we lead the world, we were producing 110 million tons of coal more than Great Britain. During the Civil War, England was producing six times as much steel as we were, but when the railroad was complete, 42 percent of all steel was being produced in the United States--much of that going to the railroad.…
