A visit to Promontory Summit

Time to talk about the railroad.  I've been working on preparing classes I'll be teaching online, so the blog has had to take a back seat.  I promise to try to write a little every day.

We did visit the Golden Spike National Monument arriving on the first day the engines (or at least one of them) were given an outing for the summer.  We got to see the coal drive Union Pacific locomotive number 119, which participated in the last spike ceremony with the Central Pacific's wood burning "Jupiter".  The reason for the difference in fuels is geographical.  The UP was based in the east, where coal is plentiful, which the CP had build through the foests on the Sierra Nevada mountains, where of course trees grow in abundance.  Jupiter will join her neighbor later this summer, when she gets new tires!

We learned a lot from ranger Lucas, including that neither of these engines was supposed to be there.  The Central Pacific President's "Special" was pulled by the "Antelope".  This train closely followed a regularly scheduled train pulled by the Jupiter. Passing through a logging area, the Antelope was struck by a felled tree.  The woodmen hadn't known that 2 trains were coming through.  So the Jupiter took over and entered history.

No. 119 replaced an engine which was hijacked by a group of unpaid railroad employees who kidnapped UP Vice President Thomas Durant on his way to the ceremony to demand the wages they were owed.  They did get paid and released him, but meanwhile a flood had washed away some of the supports on the Devils Gate bridge.  The engineer refused to risk the heavy engine on the bridge, but did push the lighter passenger cars over.  So they had to find a replacement, and number 119 was stationed in Ogden, Utah.

The flag flying over the Golden Spike site has 20 stars, as did the flag actually used for the famous photograph.  The only problem with this is that the US Flag has not had 20 stars since  Illinois became the 21st State in 1818. The railroad was completed in 1869, at which time the flag had 37 flags.  (Nebraska, number 27, had been admitted 2 years previously.)

It seems nobody had thought of bringing a flag to the ceremony, but one of the people found a flag in his backpack.  That flag had 20 stars, and the National Park Service has continued the tradition!  By the way, the "Golden Spike" on display is merely god plated.  The original golden spike was removed after the ceremony.  Probably a good idea as it would otherwise have become somebody's souvenir.

It was commissioned by David Hewes, brother 9n law of Central Pacific president Leland Stanford.  Mr. Hewes took it back to California and eventually donated it to Stanford University, where it still resides.

The locomotives are brightly pained and faithful to the original photograph, although of course the actual colors are not known.  We got to see No. 119 steam along the track and stop at the spot where it would have faced Jupiter.  We plan on returning later this summer to see both locomotives.

Definitely recommended, especially if you're a railroad buff.  By the way, both original locomotives were scrapped in the early 20th Century.  But the replicas do work!