Transcript

Transcontinental Railroad | The Golden Spike | American History Tellers | Podcast

From American History Tellers · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 40 min · 6,594 words · 43 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Transcontinental Railroad | The Golden Spike | American History Tellers | Podcast", an episode of American History Tellers published December 4, 2024 (40 min, about 6,594 words). It mentions 20 people, works and ideas, including Transcontinental Railroad, Will and Ariel Durant, Central Pacific Railroad, Grenville Dodge, Promontory Summit.

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the negotiations between the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad leaders in January 1869 as they strategize on a meeting point for the transcontinental railroad construction in Utah. Tensions rise as they navigate their competing interests, ultimately aiming to unify their efforts to complete this monumental project, which would connect the eastern and western United States.

Key takeaways

  • In 1869, rival railroads fought over Utah's coal riches; teamwork was the only track to progress.
  • Workers graded tracks near each other but executed a solo act in a crucial collaboration dance.
  • Corruption and competition drove the railroads; money can build bridges but also burn them.
  • Mormon laborers saved the Union Pacific—quiet, hardworking, and perhaps the real heroes of the tracks.
  • The race to connect coasts revealed a shocking truth: infrastructure often rests on a foundation of greed.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Central Pacific Railroad, Grenville Dodge, Weber Canyon, Transcontinental Railroad
  2. – 10:00: Will and Ariel Durant, 40 Mile Desert, Transcontinental Railroad, Central Pacific Railroad
  3. – 15:00: Will and Ariel Durant, Samuel Reed, Ogden, Great Salt Lake
  4. – 20:00: Will and Ariel Durant, Kalis Huntington, Grenville Dodge, Charles Crocker
  5. – 25:00: Humbolt Wells
  6. – 30:00: Promontory Summit, Grenville Dodge, Charles Crocker, Will and Ariel Durant
  7. – 35:00: Transcontinental Railroad, Will and Ariel Durant, Leland Stanford, Promontory Summit
  8. – 39:37: Transcontinental Railroad, Will and Ariel Durant, Chinese Historical Society of America

Notable quotes from "Transcontinental Railroad | The Golden Spike | American History Tellers | Podcast"

  • Raise your hand to knock the door swings open and before you stands kalus Huntington the vice president of your rival company the Central Pacific Railroad Huntington's black…
    about Central Pacific Railroad · at
  • Tellers our history your story in January 1869 Union Pacific President Oliver Ames and chief engineer Grenville Dodge met with Central Pacific vice president kalis Huntington in Washington DC for years the rail roads had been.
    about Grenville Dodge · at
  • Possible aware that mileage amounted to money in the form of land mineral rights and government bonds Thomas Durant and his fellow directors at the Union Pacific were…
    about Will and Ariel Durant · at
  • But news of their hiring rattled the big four directors at the Central Pacific the railroads president Leland Stanford set off for Salt Lake City at once desperate to make his…
    about Leland Stanford · at
  • The work for no others would have waited so long without disturbance but at last the massive corruption underlying the railroad came under scrutiny in January Charles Francis…
    about Credit Mobilier · at
  • But they were still 144 mies West of promontory Summit while the Union Pacific was only 66 Mi away the presumed meeting point at Promontory Summit was a flat circular Basin…
    about Promontory Summit · at
  • Determined to be the first to cross it in late April 1869 Charles Crocker decided that he was going to beat the Union Pacific to the Finish Line he told his crew boss James strobridge that he wanted to lay an unprecedented 10 miles.
    about Charles Crocker · at
  • Only the rail and not the golden spike but it made no difference the telegraph went out across the country the Transcontinental Railroad was complete and at last America was…
    about Transcontinental Railroad · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Will and Ariel Durant — Person · Referenced executive (Union Pacific) and antagonist figure · 14 mentions · first at
    Depicted as driving speed and costs, failing to pay Mormon laborers, and being tied to the Credit Mobilier corruption; also bets with Crocker on the 10-mile day.
  • Grenville Dodge — Person · Referenced executive engineer (Union Pacific) · 6 mentions · first at
    Union Pacific’s chief engineer who accompanies Oliver Ames in negotiations and later appears around the final push to Promontory; a key technical leader in the story.
  • Kalis Huntington — Person · Referenced executive (Central Pacific Railroad) · 3 mentions · first at
    Portrayed as the hard-nosed Central Pacific leader negotiating (and fighting over) the railroads' meeting point and mileage-based profits in Utah.
    Oliver Ames and chief engineer Grenville Dodge met with Central Pacific vice president kalis Huntington in Washington DC for years the rail roads had been advancing toward each…
  • Leland Stanford — Person · Referenced executive (Central Pacific President) · 2 mentions · first at
    One of the Central Pacific ‘Big Four’; negotiates Mormon labor, pushes Crocker/Hopkins to accelerate, and ceremonially drives (and misses) the golden spike.
  • Charles Crocker — Person · Referenced construction leader (Central Pacific) · 4 mentions · first at
    Central Pacific construction chief who drives the 10-mile day plan and is linked to the railroad’s contractor structure; central to the final construction sprint.
  • Oliver Ames — Person · Referenced executive (Union Pacific President) · 2 mentions · first at
    Union Pacific’s president who confronts Huntington over the meeting point; his stance reflects the high-stakes mileage and resource fight in Utah.
    Tellers our history your story in January 1869 Union Pacific President Oliver Ames and chief engineer Grenville Dodge met with Central Pacific vice president kalis Huntington in Washington DC for years the rail roads had been.
  • Oaks Ames — Person · Referenced politician/investor (Credit Mobilier scandal figure) · 2 mentions · first at
    Named as a congressman receiving Credit Mobilier dividends and later interrogated in the scandal investigation; illustrates corruption underpinning the project.
    Promise to anyone nor demanded one in return wouldn't dream of it I'm sure you wouldn't you make a note of ames's words trying your best not to betray your frustration AES…
  • Mark Hopkins — Person · Referenced executive (Central Pacific treasurer) · 1 mention · first at
    Central Pacific ‘Big Four’ member referenced via Stanford’s directive to accelerate construction and secure labor and resources.
    Necessary to secure what labor is required to push the road to its utmost anything less then the most that can be done will very likely end in defeat but despite Stanford's…
  • Samuel Reed — Person · Referenced engineer (Union Pacific site) · 2 mentions · first at
    Appears in the dramatized scene with Brigham Young as an engineer caught between Mormon laborers and Union Pacific leadership over unpaid wages.
    You're the only one who can give me answers well I don't know what to say I don't know anything about it I don't believe you're Durant's right-hand man aren't you if I were a…

Books & papers

  • North American Review — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at
    A publication that exposed the corruption in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
    Charles Francis Adams Jr the great-grandson of former President John Adams broke the story in the respected North American review in an article headlined the Pacific Railroad…

Companies & orgs

  • Central Pacific Railroad — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at
    One of the two major companies involved in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, competing with the Union Pacific Railroad.
  • Credit Mobilier — Company · Case study · 4 mentions
    A construction company involved in the Union Pacific Railroad, known for its corruption and fraud.
  • Chinese Historical Society of America — Company · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    An organization that preserves the history of Chinese immigrants, including those who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad.
    Our four-part series Transcontinental Railroad from American history tellers on the next episode I'll speak with Sue Lee historian and former executive director of the Chinese…

Concepts & topics

  • Transcontinental Railroad — Concept · Core topic · 6 mentions · first at
    Central theme of the episode, discussing the construction and impact of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Places & events

  • Promontory Summit — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at
    The meeting point where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads were joined, marking the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
  • Ogden — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    A town in Utah that was a key location in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
    Prepared in eastern Utah but the big four had no intention of giving up Utah to their Rivals they wanted to own the tracks in the town of Ogden 40 m north of Salt Lake City…
  • Great Salt Lake — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at
    A geographical feature near the construction route of the Transcontinental Railroad.
    From Humbolt Wells Nevada to Monument point in Utah's Promontory mountains just north of the Great Salt Lake the new contract was welcome news for young and his Mormon workers…
  • Weber Canyon — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at
    A location in Utah that was a point of contention between the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads.
    Nowhere near Weber and what about the months of grading our crews have completed west of there you think after all that work all that money I'm going to let you walk off with a…
  • 40 Mile Desert — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    A challenging terrain that the Central Pacific Railroad had to cross during construction.
    Further east in Nevada in July the Central Pacific pushed into Nevada's notorious 40 mile desert a Barren expanse long dreaded by Pioneers traveling to California by wagon Mark…
  • Humbolt Wells — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    A location in Nevada where the Central Pacific Railroad conducted grading work.
    Averaged 1 and2 miles of track a day around that same time Stanford reached to deal with Brigham Yong young agreed to supply workers to grade 100 m of road from Humbolt Wells…

Full transcript with timestamps

Wonder imagine it's January 1869 in Washington DC and you're walking through a corridor in the Willard Hotel you're the president of the Union Pacific Railroad and you've come here today with your chief engineer Grenville Dodge you glance at him as you approach the door of a hotel suite tightness around his eyes mirrors your own weariness as you raise your hand to knock the door swings open and before you stands kalus Huntington the vice president of your rival company the Central Pacific Railroad Huntington's black hair is as unruly as ever and his penetrating eyes darkart between you and Dodge he steps aside to let you both in you glance at the maps and letters littered across the table Huntington doesn't offer you a seat and you don't bother waiting for one I'll get straight to the point kalis it's time we put an end to this wasteful business of having our men grade past each other in Utah

the workers are all exhausted and I know I am too Huntington raises an eyebrow and and I say we should put our heads together and fix a meeting point oh what do you have in mind we'll take the distance remaining between the two lines and meet in the middle that'll put the Rendevous just west of the Promontory mountains Huntington Huffs with a look of disbelief you really think I'm going to give you the promontories well yes it's the fairest option this way you can focus your crews in Nevada and western Utah Huntington takes a step forward his expression darkening well I'll see you damned first H what's your alternative then the mouth of the Weber Canyon east of the Great Salt Lake you glance at Dodge and he shrugs and shakes his head you turn back to Huntington you're deluding yourself your tracks are nowhere near Weber and what about the months of grading our crews have completed west of there you think after

all that work all that money I'm going to let you walk off with a prime stretch of land I don't care how much ground you've covered we meet at Weber canion or we don't meet at all then I guess we don't meet at all you turn on your heels and storm out the door Dodge follows close behind anger CHS in your chest as you march down the hole you're in the final stretch of completing the Transcontinental Railroad a project that has taken years claimed hundreds of lives and could trans form the nation but none of that matters if you can't agree on a meeting point you're starting to think it all may be for not unless you can convince your Rivals to reach a

compromise from wondery I'm Lindsey Graham and this is American history tellers our history your story in January 1869 Union Pacific President Oliver Ames and chief engineer Grenville Dodge met with Central Pacific vice president kalis Huntington in Washington DC for years the rail roads had been advancing toward each other without a defined location for their tracks to meet now now their grading Crews were working within sight of each other in Utah but when the executives tried to finally select a meeting point the discussion quickly descended into a shouting match Huntington and Ames knew that vast sums of money hung in the balance the more miles they racked up the more government bonds and land grants they would collect and both wanted to control the valuable coal mines in Utah's Weber Canyon and traffic in and out of Salt Lake City in the final year of their Race Across the continent both companies pushed their

workers harder than ever before but their frenzied Advance toward a disputed Finish Line spawned accidents and shoddy work and resulted in soaring costs these companies had spearheaded one of America's greatest engineering Marvels but it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide the fact that the tracks destined to unite the nation were built on a foundation of corruption and fraud this is episode four the Golden Spike in the spring of 1868 the Central Pacific began laying track Eastward in Nevada while the Union Pacific was advancing Westward across Wyoming but leaders at both companies were already focused on Utah and their race to build as many miles of track in that state is possible aware that mileage amounted to money in the form of land mineral rights and government bonds Thomas Durant and his fellow directors at the Union Pacific were determined to claim Utah for themselves but they knew that if

they were going to beat their Rivals they would need as many laborers as possible to grade the roadbed and it just so happened that Utah was full of able-bodied men in need of work Salt Lake City was founded in the late 1840s by Mormon pioneers fleeing persecution their leader Brigham Young was a longtime supporter of the Transcontinental Railroad back in 1863 he was one of a handful of initial investors in the Union Pacific when it first started selling shares so in May 1868 Durant wired young and offered the Mormons a contract to grade roughly 50 mil in Eko Canyon and Weaver Canyon on the Eastern side of the Great Salt Lake Durant told young that he would pay any price he named the offer came at an ideal time a plague of grasshoppers had recently destroyed crops in several communities leaving Utah with a surplus of young men in need of work young and Durant soon negotiated a deal at the

start of June 1868 8 5,000 Mormon laborers began work they graded the roaded cut timber and built Bridges and they began blasting four tunnels in the mountains of Eastern Utah the tunnels were a first for the Union Pacific after 3 years and hundreds of miles of construction the Mormon workers used nitroglycerin the same temperamental explosive the central Pacific's Chinese laborers used in California and experienced the same efficient results chief engineer Grenville Dodge was thrilled with the new hires the Mormon workers were quiet and hardworking they didn't drink or Gamble and they ended each day with communal prayers and songs but news of their hiring rattled the big four directors at the Central Pacific the railroads president Leland Stanford set off for Salt Lake City at once desperate to make his own deal with Brigham Young although the Central Pacific tracks were still 500 miles to

the West Stanford was intent on starting grading work in Utah as soon as possible and he wanted the best laborers he could get and while Stanford was busy negotiating an agreement with young he wired marching orders to Treasurer Mark Hopkins declaring have Charlie Crocker double his energy and do what is necessary to secure what labor is required to push the road to its utmost anything less then the most that can be done will very likely end in defeat but despite Stanford's concern he also had a reason to celebrate on June 18th the Central Pacific ran its first passenger train from Sacramento California to Reen Nevada a distance of 154 Mi a San Francisco reporter on board applauded the accomplishment writing the Chinese workers have broken down the Great Barrier at last and opened over it the greatest highway yet created for the March of civilization but keeping the Line open for continuous passenger service and the

revenue it promised required the railroad to build miles of wooden snow sheds to shelter the track from heavy snowfall common in the sieras construction began that summer with six trains and roughly 2500 men dedicated solely to snowshed construction The Sheds protected the trains but there was also a downside they were major fire hazards as Sparks emitting from the locomotives sometimes set the wooden structures Al light and there were other dangers awaiting the crews working further east in Nevada in July the Central Pacific pushed into Nevada's notorious 40 mile desert a Barren expanse long dreaded by Pioneers traveling to California by wagon Mark Twain described The Bleak landscape writing from one extremity of this desert to the other the road was white with the bones of oxen and horses we could have walked the 40 miles and set our feet on a bone at every step the desert was one prodigious graveyard in

this Wasteland Crews had to labor through scorching heat there was no water no trees and nothing that could be used for construction the Central Pacific was forced to transport thousands of gallons of water to the crews and their livestock every day and speed was a constant challenge everything from locomotives to rails had to be built in the East sailed around the tip of South America to San Francisco sent up the Sacramento River then transported to the end of the Central Pacific Line frequent delays impeded any progress but the big four had no intention of slowing down on July 1st 1868 Callis Huntington told construction Chief Charles Crocker that he had sent 60,000 tons of iron r from New York on Fast ships declaring so work on as though Heaven were before you and Hell behind you so despite the harsh conditions Central Pacific Crews began to pick up speed through the flat terrain of Nevada now that the grading

work was easier than in the mountains crew boss James strobridge doubled the number of men laying track and spiking ties in July and August 1868 his workers averaged 1 and2 miles of track a day around that same time Stanford reached to deal with Brigham Yong young agreed to supply workers to grade 100 m of road from Humbolt Wells Nevada to Monument point in Utah's Promontory mountains just north of the Great Salt Lake the new contract was welcome news for young and his Mormon workers because by late summer it had become clear that Thomas Durant was failing to live up to his promises imagine it's September 1868 in Echo Canyon Utah the heat of the afternoon Sun beats down on you as you make your way through the Union Pacific work site you're the leader of the Mormon people here in Utah and hundreds of your men are scattered across this rugged landscape preparing the roaded for the coming railroad As you move

through a cloud of swirling dust you spot engineer Samuel Reed speaking with a colleague you call out Mr Reed Reed catches sight of you and frowns you steals a nervous glance at his colleague and forces A Smile as he turns to face you uh Mr Young I'm I'm a afraid I'm busy at the moment another time you're not leaving until you speak with me Reed's colleague walks off leaving him alone he sigh his shoulders slumping in resignation all right what is it the Union Pacific is behind on payments my men are getting anxious Thomas Durant isn't responding to my telegrams and you're the only one who can give me answers well I I don't know what to say I don't know anything about it I don't believe you you're Durant's right-hand man aren't you if I were a betting man and I'm not I'd wager that you know exactly what's going on my men have only been paid onethird of what they're owed for the last 3 months of work these men

have families to feed they're struggling Reed scratches his beard uncomfortably his eyes Dart across the work site searching for an escape look I'm sorry I'm sure Durant will pay you soon you know how hard it is to run a railroad he's a busy man soon isn't good enough I've been paying the men out of my own pocket to keep them going but I can't keep this up Forever Mr re need to look at this interrupting your conversation someone calls Reed's name from across the site he seizes the opportunity to escape giving you a Curt nod before rushing off hey I'm I'm sorry I have to go you stomp your foot in frustration you fear you've made a grave mistake getting into business with these men the railroad was supposed to bring prosperity to Salt Lake but it's beginning to feel like you've LED your community astray by putting their fate into the hands of liars and cheats after 3 months of work for the Union

Pacific many of the Mormon workers in Utah still had not been paid briam young sent a flurry of telegrams to Thomas Durant to no avail and by the fall of 1868 some of the men began walking off the job but most continued working a Wyoming reporter explained their obedience concluding brother Brigham holds the whip as well as the Reigns and whether he would drive they go but 500 Mi West in Nevada Central Pacific Cruise were in better shape they were laying track at an average of 4 mil a day one reporter set his watch and marveled as he watched the workers lay a half mile of track in just 28 minutes the crew ultimately laid six miles that day another journalist declared this is railroading on a scale surpassing anything ever before conceived but Union Pacific crew boss Jack casan heard about the Six Mile day at the Central Pacific and pushed his workers to go even faster on October 26th his men laid eight miles

in a single day and this unprecedented feat earned the workers triple pay by early November the Union Pacific tracks reached the Wyoming Utah border 890 Mi west of where they began in Omaha Nebraska now the Union Pacific track layers could begin laying track along the grade the Mormon workers had prepared in eastern Utah but the big four had no intention of giving up Utah to their Rivals they wanted to own the tracks in the town of Ogden 40 m north of Salt Lake City from there they could control traffic in and out of Salt Lake City as well as coal from the nearby mountains so that fall they convinced the US interior secretary to allow them to grade past the union Pacific's Utah roadbed company president Stanford made another agreement with Brigham Young and contracted local Mormons to do the work of grading 100 miles Eastward from Monument point to Ogden in light of his frustrations with Thomas Durant and the

Union Pacific young persuaded Stanford to make a cash down payment in advance of the work so now graders from the two railroads soon found themselves working within a stone's throw of each other along a long line from the Nevada border to Ogden they labored all day and all night continuing by the light of Sagebrush bonfires reporter observed we understand that the lines of the two companies are being run nearly parallel and everything now seems to indicate that there will be two grades if not two roads but while the two companies were leveling two separate lines only one company would be paid for its work but a meeting point had not yet been decided and in the meantime leaders at both companies resolved to build as much track as possible on December 10th the central Pacific's kis Huntington wrote that he prayed for one good storm to delay the union Pacific's track layers but his Rivals were just as determined

Jack casement reported that he was straining every nerve to get into Salt Lake Valley before heavy snows fall but it was not snow that slowed them down freezing temperatures ground work to a halt a Salt Lake City reported declared not withstanding the Herculean efforts made by both companies work may have to be suspended on a large portion yet to be done the elements are obstacles which even railroad Enterprise and energy sometimes cannot overcome by mid December the exhausted Crews of both railroads laid down their tools for the winter the grueling 1868 work season had come to an end but the job was not yet done and in the New Year the railroads would enter the final stretch of their long frantic race to the

Finish just into the new year of 1869 the Union Pacific Cruise restarted their work but the company was running out of money Thomas Durant's single-minded focus on speed had driven up costs it was impossible for the Union Pacific to sell enough stocks or collect enough government bonds to pay its bills and these expenses continued to ACR so that by the start of 1869 the company was $10 million in debt but while the Union Pacific sank deeper into the red the railroads construction arm credit mobiler was doing better than ever in 1868 alone credit mobiler paid out nearly $13 million in cash dividends to Der Congressman Oaks Ames and its other members but while these wealthy investors siphoned money from the road's construction the Morman workers in Utah were still working without pay by January 1869 Durant owed them $750,000 in back wages but he continued dodging Brigham Young's telegrams a

Union Pacific official told young it's a good thing for us that your people did the work for no others would have waited so long without disturbance but at last the massive corruption underlying the railroad came under scrutiny in January Charles Francis Adams Jr the great-grandson of former President John Adams broke the story in the respected North American review in an article headlined the Pacific Railroad ring Adams targeted credit mobiler shadowy inner workings writing the members of it are in Congress they are Trustees for the bond holders they are directors they are stockholders they are contractors in Washington they vote the subsidies in New York they receed them upon the planes they expend them and in the credit mobiler they divide them this article planted the seeds of what would eventually grow into a major Scandal the Central Pacific was no less corrupt their construction contractor Charles

Crocker and Company was similar to credit mobiler but while credit mobiler had 91 members all the stock in Crocker's company was secretly held by the big four alone and kalis Huntington often bribed government officials to keep scrutiny away but the fact that the two railroads were building past each other was too obvious to many underscoring the waste and greed at the core of the entire project So to avoid further scrutiny company leaders decided it was time to finally settle a meeting point in late January 1869 Grenville Dodge and Oliver Ames visited kalis Huntington in his hotel room in Washington DC Ames proposed the two railroads split the difference taking the distance between their ends of track and meeting halfway this suited the Union Pacific because it would put the meeting point west of the promontories but this suggestion infuriated Huntington he shouted I'll see you damned first and

then countered by naming Utah's Weber Canyon a point further east am stormed out of the room in anger and disbelief but there was good reason Huntington wanted to claim as many miles in Utah as he could he was struggling to sell enough of Central Pacific stock and collect enough government bonds to pay the bills and supply chain bottlenecks were preventing his workers from sec securing the materials they needed to finish the job the Central Pacific was awaiting the arrival of 35 ships Bound for San Francisco carrying iron rails spikes and 18 new locomotives in trucky California Sawmills worked Around the Clock preparing one million ties at the same time warehouses in Omaha were filled with Union Pacific ties awaiting shipment to the end of the line one order alone required 600 flat cars to travel 400 miles these delays spurred the companies to cut Corners when the Central Pacific ran out of iron spikes

it resorted to using half the number it needed to secure the rails to the ties winter weather also slowed progress in late January frigid temperatures in eastern Nevada and western Utah threaten to bring work to a standstill imagine it's an early mid January morning in 1869 in humbal Wells Nevada and you're a grading Foreman for the Central Pacific do gray clouds hang low in the sky and your breath turns to fog as you walk across the frigid work site for the past week temperatures have dropped as low as 18° below zero your crew is trying to break up the frozen ground to prepare way for the tracks but the work is proving impossible your boss James strobridge emerges from his tent a thick scarf bundled around his neck and a steaming cup of coffee in his hand he nods at you his single good eye as sharp as ever how the men holding up well they're not and I say we pack it in at least until this cold spell passes

strobridge sips his coffee and narrows his gaze well I thought the men of Central Pacific were made of tougher stuff than that you swallow a rising frustration it's not a question of toughness the ground is frozen nearly 2 ft deep picks and shovels don't do a thing it's no use work can't stop just because of a little cold Union Pacific is beating us and every day of work we lose puts us further behind well I've pushed them as hard as I can the men are at their break point I can feel it shovels and picks are no match for ground as hard as Granite suddenly strob Bridge's eyebrows raise in a look of sudden inspiration well then we'll use black powder to break up the ground black powder out here yeah if it's hard as Granite then we'll blast it just like we did to Tunnel through the sieras you frown your stomach churning at the memory of lost limbs and near misses strobridge himself lost his eye in a

Black Powder accident I don't know powder is going to cause more trouble than it'll solve and if we keep up with this and build tracks over Frozen Earth what happens when the ground thaws in the spring it'll shift we'll be setting ourselves up for disaster but strobridge just shrugs then they'll just have to be rebuilt but right now we need to keep going get your men ready I want them to start blasting by noon strobridge returns to his tent giving you no choice but to trudge back to your exhausted men who continue to swing their tools uselessly against frozen ground this short-sighted obsession with speed is defying all common sense when the temperatures dropped in January 1869 Central Pacific graders resorted to using black powder to break up the frozen ground into large pieces but that meant that once the grade thawed in the spring the tracks would become unstable Crocker later recalled

how when warm weather arrived this all melted and down went the track it was almost impossible to get a train over it without getting off the track but winter weather also threatened the Union Pacific Line in February a severe snowstorm shut down over 90 Mi of track in Wyoming for 3 weeks more than 800 passengers were left stranded including several Americans traveling East for the inauguration of President ulyses srant the railroad's vulnerability to snow caused many to wonder if it would ever truly be viable 50 of the stranded passengers signed a letter to the Chicago Tribune describing how the Union Pacific workmen had refused to help them because they had not been paid for 3 months they wrote that the railroad was simply an elongated human slaughterous and accidents on the lines were also common there were no Wayside signals or air brakes in 1869 Brak men had to manually tighten the brakes on each car

by hand a process that took a half mile or more and The Brak men were prone to Falling as they jumped between cars spaced 5 or 6 fet apart severe weather and shoty work further compounded the dangers in one instance a Central Pacific construction train became uncoupled as it was going down the long grade out of the mountains into Reno the back half gained enough momentum to slam into the front half crushing two breakmen then in February a Union Pacific engine was struggling to plow through snow when its boiler exploded killing four crewmen and three Union Pacific Bridges collapsed under their own weight before a single train passed over them but despite these delays and accidents the Furious pace of construction continued on the Eastern side of Utah's Promontory mountains the union Pacific's Irish graders and the central Pacific's Chinese graders often found themselves working within a few

feet of each other tensions escalated when the Irish Crews tried to intimidate the Chinese by tossing Frozen clouds of Earth at them when the Chinese refused to respond the Irish attacked them with pickaxes and explosives then the Chinese retaliated with their own blasts causing an avalanche that buried alive several Union Pacific workers the escalating violence stopped the feud there but their competition continued by the end of February only 200 miles of finished track separated the two lines and as a potential meeting point both companies had set their sights on Promontory Summit located to the north of the Promontory Mountains and the Great Salt Lake the Central Pacific track had almost reached the Nevada Utah border but they were still 144 mies West of promontory Summit while the Union Pacific was only 66 Mi away the presumed meeting point at Promontory Summit was a flat circular Basin more than a mile in

width although the terrain of the summit itself presented no challenges the Eastern Slope contained deep ravines that would require the greaters to create fields or construct Bridges the biggest Ravine was 170 ft deep and 500 ft long and so in February 1869 the Central Pacific put 500 Mormon and Chinese graders and 250 horses to work hauling 10,000 cubic yards of Earth into the gorge creating what was known as the big Phill but almost simultaneously Union Pacific graders had begun building a parallel Bridge known as the big Trestle the big Trestle and the big fil span the same Ravine just 150 yard apart once completed the bridge was 400 ft long and 85 ft High one reporter predicted that The Trestle will shake the nerves of the stoutest hearts of railroad Travelers when they see that a few feet of round Timber and 7in spikes are expected to uphold a train in motion to anyone paying attention it was clear

that the two projects were redundant and by the spring of 1869 the overlapping work in Utah began to draw attention from Congress legislators started discussing cutting off funds to the railroad until a meeting point had been settled and this threat of losing funds finally spurred the railroad Executives into action on April 9th 1869 Grenville Dodge met again with kis Huntington in Washington they agreed that the town of Ogden would serve as the Terminus for the central Pacific's line from Sacramento and the union pacifics line from Omaha but the initial meeting of the two lines would take place at Promontory Summit roughly 50 miles to the Northwest the Central Pacific would then buy the union Pacific's track between Promontory and Ogden for its own use that evening Congress made it official with a joint resolution Charles Crocker was at the end of the Central Pacific Line when Huntington wired him

the news he had been suffering from insomnia for months but he declared that that night he went to bed and slept like a child a few days later the Union Pacific stopped grading west of promontory and the Central Pacific stopped grading east of the summit officially the race was over but workers on both lines were not about to give up their long bitter rivalry now there was a Finish Line and both sides were determined to be the first to cross it

in late April 1869 Charles Crocker decided that he was going to beat the Union Pacific to the Finish Line he told his crew boss James strobridge that he wanted to lay an unprecedented 10 miles of track in a single day strobridge knew it would require careful staging of supplies and a complicated dance between the various work groups they waited until April 27th when the Central Pacific was 14 miles west of promontory Summit and the Union Pacific was 9 miles east of the summit laying a mile a day the Union Pacific Crews were also occupied with rock cutting and the difficult job of completing the big Trestle so if the Central Pacific crew succeeded in building 10 mil a day the Union Pacific would not have enough mileage left to try to beat the record Crocker Stak $10,000 on it in a bet with Thomas Durant but on this scheduled day a train ran off the track after Crews laid just two miles forcing them to

postpone the big push until the next day April 28th and Before Dawn that morning a group of Union Pacific officials including Durant Grenville Dodge and the caseman brothers arrived on the scene eager to watch their Rivals fail when the sun rose at 7:15 a.m. the work began 1,000 men labored in perfect Unison an army official grabbed Crocker's arm and said I never saw such organ ization is this it is just like an army marching across over the ground and leaving a track built behind them by lunchtime they had completed six miles when strobridge tried to bring in fresh track layers the elite team of eight who started work that morning refused to stop working pushed on by the urge to win finally at 700 p.m. a train whistle blew and the workers laid down their Tools in one 12-hour day the men had laid just over 10 Mi of track it took more than 25,000 ties 3500 iron rails 28,000 spikes and 14,000 bolts but the

record was set and a 10- mile day would never again be repeated when the work was done Jack caseman congratulated his counterpart James strobridge but Durant never paid Crocker the $10,000 he lost in their bet after setting their record the Central Pacific had just four miles left to go they reached the end of their line on April 30th the Union Pacific still had to finish their Rock cutting before they could lay their final track and in the meantime both railroads downsized their workforces laying off most of their men at last on the bright and clear morning of May 10th 1869 politicians Executives and Spectators gathered on Promontory Summit for a ceremony to celebrate the meeting of the lines two large train engines faced each other one had traveled 690 Mi Eastward from Sacramento the other 1,86 Mi Westward from Omaha there were speeches and music and then came the long anticipated moment the

driving of the final Spike that would link the two railroads together the ceremonial Spike was fashioned out of solid gold with the inscription may God continue the unity of our country as this railroad United the two great oceans a telegraph wire was attached to the golden spike so that once it was tapped in Telegraph lines would alert the entire nation at once winning an argument with Durant Central Pacific president Leland Stanford received the honors when he swung he missed striking only the rail and not the golden spike but it made no difference the telegraph went out across the country the Transcontinental Railroad was complete and at last America was United from coast to coast celebrations broke out across the country San Francisco set off 200 Cannon blasts to Mark the occasion Chicago staged a parade that stretched for seven miles Americans compared the achievement with a declaration of

Independence and the end of slavery but no one at the Utah ceremony had bothered to invite the Widow of the man who had done more than anyone to turn the dream of the railroad into a reality May 10th 1869 happened to be Anna and Theodore judah's 20th wedding anniversary nearly a decade had passed since Judah first charted the route through the Sierra Nevada mountains and lobbied the nation's leaders to authoriz the Transcontinental Railroad Anna spent the day in silence at her home in Massachusetts she reflected it seemed as though the spirit of my Brave husband descended upon me and together we were there unseen unheard of by man after the ceremony the two companies immediately got started on repairs Shoring up rickety Bridges and hastily built tracks and on May 15th 1869 regular passenger service opened for business the trip from New York to Sacramento which once took up to six months and cost $1,000

could now be done in as little as a week for just $150 this new continuous railroad service transformed the nation's economy opening up new markets in the west and expanding American Agriculture and Mining within a decade the two companies were hauling $50 million of freight every year and the railroad carried ideas and Innovation from coast to coast as well it helped create a continent wide culture in which mail magazines and books could easily travel from east to west but the truth remains the railroad was financed through a complex Maze of corporate fraud and government corruption and during the election of 1872 a bombshell investigation by the New York Sun exposed the operations of credit mobiler giving birth to one of the Century's most explosive scandals imagine it's a late afternoon in January 1873 and you're in Washington DC sitting in a committee room in Congress you're the chairman of this

fiveman committee charged with investigating credit mobiler you and the other members are interviewing Congressman Oaks Ames who sits on the other side of a long polished wooden table the Setting Sun streams Rays through the window casting him in Shadow you hold up a piece of paper for him to see now I hold here a list of 14 senators and congressmen who Stand Accused of purchasing shares in credit mobiler Congressman Ames did you sell shares to these men you slide the paper across the table and am glances down to scan it yes I did and did you sell these shares at Insider prices yes but the transactions were completely honest and honorable did you sell the shares to your colleagues in congress with the purpose of influencing their votes aim straightens up in his chair a wounded look on his face no of course not the sales were simply kind gestures to friends of the railroad bribes are something you do for men who are opposed

to you it's impossible to bribe someone who's already your friend you rais your eyebrows at the colleagues beside you before turning back to Ames I'm afraid I don't follow your logic did you or did you not sell stock to your colleagues in exchange for their votes I never made a promise to anyone nor demanded one in return wouldn't dream of it I'm sure you wouldn't you make a note of ames's words trying your best not to betray your frustration AES crosses his arms his expression stoic you must understand that when no one else would fund the railroad I stake my reputation and fortune on an Enterprise of immeasurable benefit to this government yes I have friends some of them in congress with whom I have shared opportunities of investment I have here today and elsewhere told the truth and concealed nothing yet I alone am offered up as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of others you breathe a long sigh and pinch

the bridge of your nose you may have help fun the railroad but you have also tainted congress with your corruption done irreparable damage to the public trust in government I think we've heard enough committee is adjourned and will resume at 10:00 tomorrow the other committee members stand to begin to file out of the room but you're still thinking of Ames you're stunned by his lack of remorse and the extent of the corruption that has taken place within these hallowed Halls despite a congressional investigation the major players at credit mobiler escaped unscathed including Thomas Durant who had resigned from the Union Pacific shortly after the railroad was completed Congressman Oaks aims was the Lone scapegoat and he received a censure from Congress and then died soon after and although legislators investigated the Central Pacific too they turned up no evidence of corruption most of the records had

been burned and in the years that followed the big four continued building railroads in California including a line from Sacramento to San Francisco which brought the railroad to the Pacific Ocean they became enormously wealthy and spent their fortunes lavishly but their wealth would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts of the thousands of Chinese immigrants whose hands actually built the railroad many of these men went on to help build new lines in the west but their crucial role would soon be forgotten because beginning in 1882 Congress enacted a series of laws Banning Chinese immigration they were not the only group who suffered the railroad quickly became the preferred mode of Transport for migrants moving west of the Missouri River and it helped facilitate the settlement of some 200 million Acres amid this massive influx of white settlers the US government consigned

virtually all Plains Indians to reservations by the mid1 1880s in violation of numerous treaties the Buffalo herds these tribes depended upon were nearly eradicated by settlers and carloads of sports hunters and by the end of the 19th century only 1,000 Buffalo remained of the tens of million I that once roam the PLS in the end the Transcontinental Railroad was a staggering achievement of engineering and a testament to American grit and Ingenuity it conquered time and space United a nation and opened vast new markets but it also Unleashed unprecedented corporate and political graft and left a trail of environmental and human destruction in its wake when the final tie was spiked it marked the end of one era and the dawn of another an exhilarating new age of speed progress and profit from W this is episode four of our four-part series Transcontinental Railroad from American history tellers

on the next episode I'll speak with Sue Lee historian and former executive director of the Chinese Historical Society of America about the experience of Chinese railroad workers we'll also hear from a descendant of one of those workers

American history tellers is hosted edited and produced by Me Lindsey Graham for Airship audio editing by Mohammad shazib sound designed by Molly Bach music by Lindsey Graham this episode is written by Ellie Stanton edited by Dorian Marina produced by Ala rosanski managing producers are Desi block and Matt Gant senior managing producer Ryan lore senior producer Andy Herman and executive producers are Jenny low Beckman Marshall Louie and Aon oity for wondering la

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Transcontinental Railroad | The Golden Spike | American History Tellers | Podcast"?

Lindsey Graham (Host), Grenville Dodge (Guest), Kalis Huntington (Guest), Oliver Ames (Guest), Brigham Young (Guest), Charles Crocker (Guest), Thomas Durant (Guest), Sue Lee (Guest).

What is "Transcontinental Railroad | The Golden Spike | American History Tellers | Podcast" about?

The discussion centers on the negotiations between the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad leaders in January 1869 as they strategize on a meeting point for the transcontinental railroad construction in Utah. Tensions rise as they navigate their competing interests, ultimately aiming to unify their efforts to complete this monumental project, which would connect the eastern and…

What is mentioned in this American History Tellers episode?

20 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Transcontinental Railroad, Will and Ariel Durant, Central Pacific Railroad, Grenville Dodge, Promontory Summit, Kalis Huntington. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Transcontinental Railroad | The Golden Spike | American History Tellers | Podcast"?

The episode runs 40 min; the transcript is about 6,594 words in 43 timestamped sections.

More from American History Tellers

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.