The First Transcontinental Railroad Completed (1869)

Hello there. My name is Leland Stanford, and I had a very big idea a long, long time ago. Our country is so big. It stretches from one big blue ocean, the Atlantic, all the way to another shiny ocean, the Pacific. Traveling from one side to the other took such a long time. People had to ride in bumpy wagons that went jiggle-joggle over dusty roads for many, many months. It was so slow. I had a wonderful dream. I dreamed of building a long, strong track made of iron, a railroad, that would go all the way across our country. This railroad would help people and families visit each other much, much faster.

So, we started building the great track. It was a giant puzzle. We had two teams of wonderful helpers. One team started in the East, where the sun comes up. The other team started in the West, where the sun goes down. Every day, they worked together. You could hear them from far away. Clang, clang, clang went their hammers on the metal rails. Bang, bang, bang went the spikes into the wooden ties. They had to build over big rocky mountains that looked like sleeping giants and across hot, sandy deserts. But they worked as a team, laying down one piece of track after another, getting closer and closer every single day.

Then came the most exciting day of all. It was May 10th, 1869. After all that hard work, the two teams finally met in the middle. Two big steam trains faced each other on the track. Toot. Toot. They whistled hello. Everyone cheered. It was my special job to connect the very last piece. I held a special spike made of shiny, bright gold. I got to tap, tap, tap the Golden Spike right into place. Clink. We did it. The railroad was finished. Our country was now connected, like one big family holding hands from ocean to ocean.