wished to cover as many miles as possible because each mile of rails laid down meant ten square miles of land and $16,000 of bonds. The western company started first, breaking ground February 22, 1863, and before the close of the year 1867 its line projected east of the Sierras. The Union Pacific delayed until 1865, but the nature of the ground enabled it to build westward from Omaha at a high rate of speed which however could not be maintained on reaching the Rocky Mountains. Meantime the Central Pacific, having overcome its chief geographical obstacles early in the work, and being fortunate in its control of a steady and adequate supply of Chinese coolie labour, gained in speed from year to year so that, instead of meeting the Union Pacific in the foothills of the Sierras as the latter expected, the two companies actually met at Promontory Point, Utah, where the ceremony of "Driving the Golden Spike "occurred on May 10, 1869, in the presence of throngs of visitors from both coasts and from many interior points. From Sacramento the road was extended to San Francisco Bay, which was the real terminus in the west.
A railroad for Oregon. To have an overland railway, like the Central Railway, meant much in every way to the Pacific Northwest, although its benefits to that region fell correspondingly far below those conferred upon the more fortunate south. The line only touched the Oregon country at the southeast corner and did not furnish direct service
