The rails of America’s first transcontinental railroad were joined at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869.
The ceremony took place in Utah Territory, where the Union Pacific Railroad, building westward, met the Central Pacific Railroad, building eastward from Sacramento. Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific drove the ceremonial golden spike, often called the Last Spike, to mark the connection.
The completed line linked the existing eastern railroad network with the Pacific Coast and made long-distance travel across the country much faster. The railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 with substantial federal land grants and government-backed financing. Chinese laborers formed a major part of the Central Pacific workforce, while Irish immigrants and other workers built much of the Union Pacific route.
The Promontory ceremony did not create a completely uninterrupted rail journey from an Atlantic seaport to the Pacific. Connections and extensions were completed afterward, including the final link to the San Francisco Bay area later in 1869. Nevertheless, May 10 is the standard date associated with the railroad’s completion.