sied that some day a granite statue of Columbus would be erected on the highest peak of the Rocky mountains pointing westward, denoting this as the great route across the continent. You have made that prophecy this day. Accept this as the way to India." Mr. Tuttle, from Nevada, presented a silver spike on behalf of the citizens of that state, with the following remarks: "To the iron of the East and the gold of the West, Nevada adds her link of silver, to span the continent and wed the oceans.” Thereupon, Superintendent Coe, in behalf of the Pacific Union express, presented the silver hammer, or sledge, with which to drive the last spike.

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Governor Stanford and Vice-President Durant advanced, took in hand the sledge, and drove the spike, while the multitude stood silent. Mr. Miles, of Sacramento, who was chairman of the meeting, announced the great work done! The silence of the multitude was now broken, and a prolonged shout went forth, which, while it yet quivered on the gladdened air, was caught up by the willing lightning, and borne to the uttermost parts of the earth. Cheer followed cheer for the union of the Atlantic and Pacific, the two Pacific railroad companies and their officers, the president of the United States, the Star Spangled Banner, the laborers, etc. A | telegram announcing the grand consummation was sent at once to President Grant, and one to the associated newspaper press immediately followed, worded thus:

"The last rail is laid! The last spike driven ! The Pacific Railroad is completed ! The point of junction is 1,086 miles west of the Missouri river, and 690 miles east of Sacramento City."

There was a great deal of interest and excitement in Washington, and a large crowd assembled at the telegraph office, as soon as it was known that the driving of the last spike would be announced by the wires. Mr. Tinker, the manager, fixed a magnetic ball in a conspicuous place, where all present could witness the performance, and connected the same with

the main lines, notifying the various offices throughout the country, that he was ready. New Orleans, New York and Boston, instantly answered that they were ready. Soon afterward, many of the offices in different parts of the country began to make all sorts of inquiries of the office at Omaha, from which point the cir cuit was to be started. That office replied:

"To everybody: Keep quiet. When the last spike is driven at Promontory Point, we will say "Done." Don't break the circuit, but watch for the signals of the blows of the hammer."

After some little delay, the instruments were all adjusted, and 2.27, in the afternoon, Promontory Point said to the people congregated in the various telegraph offices—“ Almost ready. Hats off; prayer is being offered." A silence for the prayer ensued. At 2.40 the bell tapped again, and the office at the Point said-" We have got done praying. The spike is about to be presented." Chicago replied "We understand. All are ready in the East."

Promontory Point-"All ready now. The spike will soon be driven. The signal will be three dots for the commencement of the blows."

For a moment the instrument was silent, and then the hammer of the magnet tapped the bell, one, two, three-the signal. Another pause of a few seconds, and the lightning came flashing eastward, vibrating two thousand four hundred miles, between the junction of the two roads and Washington, and the blows of the hammer upon the spike were delivered instantly, in telegraphic accents, on the bell in Washington. At 2.47, in the afternoon, Promontory Point gave the signal, "DONE!"-the announcement that the continent was spanned with iron. The time of the event in San Francisco was 11.45, in the forenoon. A telegraph wire had been attached to a fifteen-inch gun, and as the first stroke on the last spike was telegraphed from Promontory Point, the gun was fired by electricity, and by the same agent all the fire-bells in the city were rung.

The news of the completion of the road, created, of course, great enthusiasm in all the cities of California. In San Francisco, the event was celebrated in a manner long to be remembered. The day was ushered in by a salute of one hundred guns, and congratulatory messages were transmitted to the directors of the Central and Union roads by the "California Pioneers." All the Federal forts in the harbor fired salutes, the bells being rung and the steam whistles blown at the same time. Business was suspended, nearly every citizen exhibiting a hearty interest in the demonstrations. The procession was the largest and most imposing ever witnessed in San Francisco. In addition to the state militia, all the available United States troops participated in the pageant, while the civic societies turned out with full ranks. The shipping was dressed in fine styleboth the city and harbor, indeed, presenting a magnificent sight. During the day, the principal buildings were festooned with the banners of every nation, and the streets were thronged with an excited and joyous people. At night, the whole city was brilliantly illuminated.

At Sacramento, the event was observed with marked demonstrations. The city was crowded with a multitude of people from all parts of the state and Nevada, to participate in or witness the festivities, particularly the grand odd-fellows' procession. The lines of travel to and from Sacramento were thrown open to the public free, and an immense number of people took advantage of this arrangement and flocked thither. The Central Pacific company had thirty locomotives gaily decked, and as the signal gun was fired announcing the driving of the last spike of the road, the locomotives opened an overpowering chorus of whistles, all the bells and steam whistles of the city immediately joining in the deafening exhibition.

In Chicago, the celebration was the most successful affair of the kind that ever took place in that city, and, probably, in the West, although it was almost entirely impromptu. The procession was

unique in appearance and immense in length, being, at the lowest estimate, four miles, and representing all classes, associations and trades. During the moving of the procession, Vice-President Colfax, who was visiting the city, received the following dispatch, dated at Promontory Point: "The rails were connected to-day. The prophecy of Benton is a fact. This is the way to India." A very interesting feature in the procession was an array of mailwagons with post-office employes, and several tons of mail matter in bags, labeled and marked as if bound for some of the large cities both on this side and beyond the Pacific ocean. Some of these were marked as follows: 'Victoria, Australia;' Washington, Oregon (G. D. P.-O.);' 'Yeddo, Japan;' 'Pekin, China (G. D. P.-O.);' 'Golden City, Colorado;' 'Denver, Colorado;' 'Santa Fe, New Mexico;' Hong Kong, China, via Chicago;' 'Yokohama, Japan.' In the evening, VicePresident Colfax, Lieut. Gov. Bross, and others, addressed a vast assembly, speaking eloquently of the great era in American history ushered in by the event of the day. The marine display was also very

fine.

On the announcement of the completion of the road in New York, the mayor ordered a salute of one hundred guns, and himself saluted the mayor of San Francisco with a dispatch conceived in the most jubilant spirit,-informing him that "our flags are now flying, our cannon are now booming, and in old Trinity a Te Deum imparts thankful harmonies to the busy hum about her church walls." The Chambers of Commerce of the two cities also exchanged congratulations, the New York chamber recognizing in the new highway an agent that would not only "develop the resources, extend the commerce, increase the power, exalt the dignity and perpetuate the unity of our republic, but in its broader relations, as the segment of a world-embracing circle, directly connecting the nations of Europe with those of Asia, would materially facilitate the enlightened and advancing civil

ization of our age." The services in Trinity were conducted with great solemnity, in the presence of a crowded congregation. After prayer, and the reading of a portion of the Episcopal service, the organ pealed forth in its grandest fullness and majesty, and, as the assembly dispersed, the church chimes added to the joyousness of the occasion by ringing out "Old Hundred," the "Ascension Carol," and the national airs.

In Philadelphia, the authorities improvised a celebration so suddenly, that the ringing of the bells on Independence Hall, and at the various fire stations, was mistaken for a general alarm of fire, till the news was announced. The sudden flocking of the people to the state-house resembled that which followed the reception of the news of Lee's surrender to Grant. In many other towns and cities throughout the union, the event was celebrated with great spirit. Even as far east as Springfield, Mass., the jubilee spirit was carried out. The entire force of workmen of Wason's car manufactory in that city formed a procession, headed by a band and accompanied by a battery, and marched from the shops of the company through the principal streets, each man bearing some tool or implement of his trade. Banners bearing 'Our cars unite the Atlantic and Pacific,' 'Four hundred car builders celebrate the opening of the Pacific Railroad,'' For San Francisco, connecting with ferry to China,' etc., were conspicuous.

Returning to the scenes at Omaha, that interesting and important point on this. trans-continental highway, the day was there observed by such an outpouring of the people as had never before been equaled. The morning trains from the west brought the fire companies and the masonic fraternity from Fremont, and large delegations from towns and settlements as far west as North Platte. Before noon, the streets were filled with a multitude anxiously awaiting the signal from Capitol hill, where a park of artillery was stationed in the neighborhood of the observatory, to enable it to fire a salute the moment the telegraphic signals an

nounced that the last spike had been driven. A grand procession was one of the marked features of the day; and, at about half-past one, the booming of one hundred guns, the ringing of bells, and the shrieking of the whistles of steamers and locomotives, proclaimed that Omaha and Sacramento were forever united by iron bands, and that now had been opened a highway from the gates of the east to the realms of sunset itself.

Thus, in the consummation of this mightiest work of utility ever undertaken by man, a journey around the world became a tour both easy and brief. The city of San Francisco could be reached from New York, in less than seven days, running time. Arrived there, the finest ocean steamers in the world, each one of some four or five thousand tons, awaited the traveler, to take him, in twenty-one days, or less, to Yokohama, and thence, in six days more, to any part of China. From Hong Kong to Calcutta required some fourteen days by several lines of steamers touching at Singapore, Ceylon, Madras, or ports on the coast of Burmah. From Calcutta, a railroad runs far up into the north of India, on the borders of Cashmere and Affghanistan, and running through northern India, Benares, Allahabad, etc. Another road intersects at Allahabad, more than six hundred miles above Calcutta, running some six hundred miles to Bombay, where it connects with the overland route to and from Egypt, in twelve or thirteen days by steamer and rail from Bombay to Cairo. From Cairo, almost any port in Europe on the Mediterranean could be reached in from three to five days, and home again in twelve days more, making the actual traveling time around the world only seventy-eight days.

More wonderful still, a trans-continental train, which left New York early on the morning of June 1st, 1876, reached San Francisco at twenty-five minutes past nine, June 4th, in the morning; thus accomplishing the journey in eighty-three hours and twenty minutes, without stoppages and without accident.

experienced when passing through a beautiful country on the top of a well-horsed coach in fine weather. The many incidents and adventures that gave variety to the journey were, it is true, pleasant enough for a short distance; but two days and a night on the top of a coach, exposed to cold and rain, or cramped up inside, with no room to stir the body or the legs, was accompanied with an amount of sufering which those who have experienced it would willingly exchange for a seat, even in a second or third-class railway car. In a business as well as a social point of view, also, railways have made a powerful mark, -tending, as they do, to equalize the value of land throughout immense regions, by bringing distant sources of supply nearer the points of demand; giving extraordinary impetus to manufacturing industry; and connecting all parts of a country more closely together:-in these

have contributed so vastly to its success. Thus, tunnels, of a size never before contemplated, have penetrated for miles through hard rocks, or through shifting clays and sands; embankments and viaducts have been raised and erected, on a scale of magnitude surpassing any former similar works; bridges of stupendous proportions and of wonderfully ingenious adaptation, have been constructed to meet special exigencies, in some cases carrying railways over straits of the sea, or other waters, through gigantic tubesor, in other cases,, across rivers, suspended from rods supported by curiously devised piers and girders; &c., &c.

That the history of railways shows what grand results may have their origin in small beginnings, is no less true than that the power of capital is seen in this as in all other great material enterprises. In evidence of the former truth, Dr. Lyell