Editing First transcontinental railroad (section)

===The "Last Spike" ceremony===
{{Main|Golden spike}}

[[File:The Last Spike 1869.jpg|thumb|left|''The Last Spike'' by Thomas Hill (1881) is on display at the [[California State Railroad Museum]] in Sacramento, California.]] [[File:Az-gold-spike.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.45|Golden spike, one of four ceremonial spikes driven at the completion]]

Six years after the groundbreaking, laborers of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at [[Promontory Summit]], Utah Territory. On the Union Pacific side was Union Pacific No 119, an 1868 4-4-0 type. Thrusting westward, the last two rails were laid by Irishmen. On the Central Pacific side was their Central Pacific No 60 Jupiter, another 1868 4-4-0 type. Thrusting eastward, the last two rails were laid by the Chinese.<ref name="dobie" />{{rp|85}}
[[File:A111, Golden Spike National Historic Site, Utah, USA, 2004.jpg|thumb|left|Operating steam engines are in the [[Golden Spike National Historical Park|Golden Spike National Historic Park]] at Promontory Summit, Utah.]]

It was at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869, that the two engines met. Leland Stanford drove ''The Last Spike'' (or [[golden spike]]) that joined the rails of the transcontinental railroad. The spike is now on display at the [[Cantor Arts Center]] at [[Stanford University]], while a second "Last" Golden Spike is also on display at the [[California State Railroad Museum]] in Sacramento.<ref>[http://www.csrmf.org/events-exhibits/whats-new/see-the-golden-lost-spike-at-the-museum "See the "Lost" Golden Spike at the Museum"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120724003437/http://www.csrmf.org/events-exhibits/whats-new/see-the-golden-lost-spike-at-the-museum |date=July 24, 2012 }} California State Railroad Museum.</ref> In perhaps the world's first live [[mass-media]] event, the hammers and spike were wired to the [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] line so that each hammer stroke would be heard as a click at telegraph stations nationwide—the hammer strokes were missed, so the clicks were sent by the telegraph operator. As soon as the ceremonial "Last Spike" had been replaced by an ordinary iron spike, a message was transmitted to both the East Coast and West Coast that simply read, "DONE". Travel from coast to coast was reduced from six months or more to just one week.