The Stanford University Course Bulletin of 1891, for instance, references the courses As further evidence of the connection, the ceremonial Gold Spike became part of the university’s archival treasures. It was a ruthlessly competitive business – and that was not unique to the Associates.”Jones said that Stanford approached every venture – business or otherwise – with a commitment to improvement. As the morning of 7 November dawned, these officials — along with some of the workers who had completed the track only the night before — gathered at the western entrance to the mountain pass, at a spot Van Horne called
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Students came from across the country to study railroad engineering. Much of their remaining fortunes were invested in philanthropic gifts. It is blamed for the near eradication of the Native Americans of the Great Plains, the decimation of the buffalo and the exploitation of Chinese railroad workers.Either way, Stanford is forever linked to the First Transcontinental Railroad through its founders, who built the university memorializing their son using the fortune they had earned from the Central Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad.“There is no question that this is truly a transformative event, not only for Stanford University, but also for the nation,” said “This story has Leland Stanford right in the middle of it,” she said.In addition to the Stanford Historical Society, departments across campus have sponsored lectures, book celebrations, exhibitions and performances noting the anniversary to shed light on the railroad’s legacy and show how institutions can reconcile problems of the past with the values of today.People worldwide can now view the route Theodore Judah proposed for the Central Pacific Railroad branch of the First Transcontinental Railroad, thanks to the efforts of the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford.On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford tapped the ceremonial Gold Spike into a pre-drilled hole to link the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, creating the First Transcontinental Railroad. That approach can be seen in the California vineyards he created, the racehorses he raised and the Palo Alto farm he nurtured and – ultimately – the university he founded.For many years, Jones said, the university was deeply associated with the railroad. The official train carrying Van Horne and the other dignitaries steamed across the newly laid track on its way down to
The hammering of the Last Spike is regarded as one of Canada’s most symbolic events. That event has forever linked the university with the good and the bad the railroad represents.Just about every California school kid knows the story of the First Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the Eastern Seaboard with the Pacific Coast and was completed 150 years ago this week.Leaders of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad lines meet and shake hands in this iconic photograph taken by Andrew J. Russell on May 10, 1869.The story goes that on May 10, 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad’s tracks from the west were connected to the Union Pacific Railroad’s tracks from the east in Promontory Summit, Utah. The Last Spike ceremony seen from the Jupiter train (public domain photo) On April 10, 1869, the United States Congress informed the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad Companies that they would meet at Promontory Summit, a barren spot just north of the Promontory Range in Utah Territory. May 8, 2019 First Transcontinental Railroad and Stanford forever linked. Explore the Exhibit Online The ceremony marked the completion of the transcontinental CPR and was a muted affair at which a group of company officials and labourers gathered at Craigellachie near Eagle Pass in the interior of British Columbia. The driving of the last spike may have been the great symbolic act of Canada’s first century, but it was actually a gloomy spectacle. There are actually four Last Spikes. The Last Spike was the final and ceremonial railway spike driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) track by company director Donald Smith on the morning of 7 November 1885. “You cannot deny that there were some sharp business practices. Besides Stanford University, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino has its origins in the railroad. The Golden Spike of the first transcontinental railroad was but one of millions in the nearly 2,000-mile route between Sacramento, Calif., and Omaha, Neb. Collectively, the Big Four also established the Sacramento Library Association.“Had their children lived, the institutions probably would not have been created,” White said.Since 2012, the university’s connection to the railroad has been revitalized as Stanford researchers have led a remarkable international and interdisciplinary effort to tell the story of the Chinese migrants who constructed the First Transcontinental Railroad.An early April event debuted two newly published books resulting from the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project: The project has revealed that the Chinese workers, many of whom subsequently went to build the Canadian Pacific Railroad, Another Stanford program associated with the 150th anniversary of the First Transcontinental Railroad is a Stanford Historical Society and the Bill Lane Center will also sponsor a reception at the Stanford historian Clayborne Carson reflects on a career dedicated to studying and preserving the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.French ban on headscarves in public schools hindered Muslim girls’ ability to finish school.To conform to recent guidance from the State of California, effective Sept. 1 the university is creating a temporary campus zones program designed to maintain a safer and healthier academic environment, while preserving opportunities for the public to interact with campus lands. For instance, some cheeky students in the 1970s voted to name Stanford University’s athletic teams the Robber Barons.But it’s important to recognize another – more positive – side to the Big Four, and especially Stanford, according to Jones.Stanford, she said, was a visionary who believed in the promise of California. Celebrating this historic event, four special spikes were tapped in a railroad tie – the last spike was almost solid gold. Take an audio tour of the Spencer Fox Eccles Treasure of the Transcontinental Railroad Exhibition and explore from start to finish the 1862 Pacific Railway Act to the 1869 last spikes at Promontory Summit.