Cricket201909

(Lars) #1

fancy railroad cars, along with others filled
with people, have been waiting up the tracks,
not far away.
My father and seven other Chinese crewmen
are given new blue jackets. This means they have
been chosen to drive the final spikes in the cer-
emony! I swell with pride for my father.
A fancy locomotive brings Mr. Leland
Stanford, president of the Central Pacific
Railroad. Two special engines have also come.
Now, they move forward from east and west
until they nearly touch. Mr. Stanford makes a
speech. He holds up a special railroad spike made
of gold. The Golden Spike shines in the sun.


At a signal,myfatherandtheothersdrive
in the lastspikes.ThenMr.Stanfordstepsup
and swingsa maultohittheGoldenSpike.
But he misses!
The crowdcheersandhollersand
stamps theirfeetanyway.Whilehatsflyup
into the airanda bandplays,myfatherqui-
etly finishesdrivinginthespike.It’struly
all done!
Afterward,myfatherandI standtogether,
watching therestofthecelebration.I stand
tall and proud.I amLiMinWei,andmy
name meansclever,andalsopowerful.I think
that now,I ama littleofboth.

AUTHOR’S NOTE Linking the vast American con-
tinent by rail from the Atlantic to the Pacif ic Oceans
was a remarkable engineering feat. It called for join-
ing up existing rail lines coming from east and west.
In 1863, the Central Pacif ic Railroad broke ground in
Sacramento, California, and moved east. The Union
Pacif icbegannearOmaha,Nebraska,andmovedwest.
Hard-working immigrants built most of the trans-
continental railroad. In all, the Central Pacif ic hired
11,000 Chinese workers, as well as 2,000 Irish. The
Union Pacif ic hired several thousand men, including
Irish, Dutch, Polish, and German immigrants. All per-
formed backbreaking tasks by hand, using pickaxes,
sledgehammers,andpuremuscle.
It took the crews six years to lay a total of 1,800
miles of track across vast plains and over mountains.
Finally,thetworaillinesmetinUtahforthehistoricGoldenSpikeceremonyonMay10,1869.
You can visit the Golden Spike National Historic Site at PromontorySummit,Utah,butyouwon’t
f ind the Golden Spike there. The original spike is in Palo Alto, California,intheCantorArtsCenter
at the Stanford University Museum. Davis Hewes, a San Francisco contractorandfriendofCentral
Pacif ic Railroad President Leland Stanford, had the spike made for theLastSpikeceremonyusing
$400 dollars’ worth of his own gold. After the ceremony took place in1869,theGoldenSpikewas
returned to Hewes. In 1892, he donated the spike to the museum.


Workers andrailroadexecutivescelebratedrivingthe
Golden SpikeatPromontorySummit,Utah,onMay10,1869.

UM. WEREN’T UH-OH!
WE SUPPOSED TO
MEET? OOPS.

MY MEASUREMENTSWEREGOOD!SOMEBUGGY DIDN’T FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS!
DON’T WORRY, I’LL KEEP THIS GOLDEN BEAUTY SAFE.
MEWY SIGH.
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