Competition, 1869

Congress paid the two railroads by the mile and never said exactly where they should meet — so they didn't. Racing for every federal dollar, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific graded roadbed clean past each other, laying parallel grade across some 250 miles of Utah desert that would never carry a single rail. Only when the waste grew impossible to ignore did the government fix the meeting point at Promontory Summit, where the two lines were finally joined on May 10, 1869. Traces of those abandoned grades still run across the flats.

What the plaque says

Lacking precise instructions from Congress as to where to meet, and spurred by financial rewards for building grade, both railroad companies prepared railbed past each other for 250 miles. No parallel track was ever laid. Promontory Summit was chosen as the point for the joining of the rails.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Golden Spike National Historical Park — steps away
  Where East met West — the spot that connected America by rail
• Spiral Jetty — 14 mi
  Robert Smithsons iconic land art masterpiece on the Great Salt Lake

More markers nearby

• Promontory Monument (4) Markers — steps away
• Stephan Mather Marker — steps away
• Golden Spike - Joining of the Rails — steps away
• Sagwitch Timbimboo, Shoshone Chief — 28 mi