The Almanac of Collapsing Records

The Golden Spike — Promontory Summit, 1869

The joining of the rails at Promontory Summit, in the high sage desert of Utah Territory

May 10, 1869 — the two railroads built from opposite coasts meeting at last in the Utah high desert, two locomotives drawn nose to nose over a single gap of unlaid track, a crowd of workers gathered in the sagebrush to see the continent joined

A single gap of rail between two oceans, and a crowd of the men who closed it. This breach reads the TRACK WORKER IN THE CROWD at Promontory: two locomotives nose to nose, one last tie of polished laurel laid in the roadbed, a golden spike set in a drilled hole so the hammer will not split it. The witness is read only in the crowd — the years of grading and rail-laying held softly behind, the moment itself all held breath as the wire is fastened to the spike so the whole country can hear the blow. The fragment is the subject's own: the finishing of a long thing built by hand, the standing shoulder to shoulder with the men who built it beside you — and the memory beneath it of a time you saw a long labor come to its end and stood among the people who made it.

From the record

on May 10, 1869 the rails of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific were joined at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory, completing the first transcontinental railroad
the two locomotives, one from each line, were drawn forward until they stood nose to nose over the last open length of track
a special tie of polished laurel wood was laid to receive the final ceremonial spikes
a golden spike was set into a pre-drilled hole so it would not be damaged by the hammer, and the event was wired to the telegraph so the blow could be signaled across the country
the word 'DONE' was sent over the telegraph line to mark the completion
after the ceremony the golden spike and the laurel tie were removed for keeping, and ordinary iron spikes and a plain tie put in their place

The era door

a rough plank door in a weathered boxcar wall, iron-strapped, the grain silvered by sun and dust, a spike-scarred handle cold in the morning air

PROMONTORY SUMMIT — MAY 10, 1869

Walk this day yourself — free

A guided walk with Wallace — you are placed inside the record as a witness, and you carry a memory of your own back out. Free, ~20 minutes.

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MEMORY IS RESISTANCE · IN SERVICE OF VELOCITY · YEAR 3037