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Post by markm on Jul 11, 2018 19:13:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2018 2:34:21 GMT -5
As far as I can remember, the same thing was shown when the two companies who built the first transcontinental railroad met, and the last nail fixing the track was "gold" colour ; I hope it was not massive, othrewise it would have been stolen very quickly !
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Post by markm on Jul 12, 2018 9:44:26 GMT -5
Demonstrations such as this were common at fairs in the 19th and early 20th centuries until a couple resulted in spraying the onlookers with hot metal and embers. They were ultimately replaced with the automobile demolition derby with are common at fairs even today. In the case of the meeting of the transcontinental railroad, the locomotives merely touched noses. As for the "golden spike" there are a number of versions for what happened at Promontory Utah. My preference is the story told to me by the late Walter Gray, former director of the state railroad museum, who spent some time researching the event. There were three golden spikes: one gold colored iron and two 18Kt gold commemorative spikes cast by the son-in-law of Leland Stanford. A one of the gold spikes and a silver headed hammer were wired to the telegraph system to broadcast live the event to the nation. The hammer was to be tapped to the spike. Unfortunately the participants were too drunk to hit the spike and the telegraph operator on site "simulated" the strike. This is probably the first instance of nationally broadcast fake news in the U.S. The rail was finally spiked with the gold colored spike. The ceremonial spike used eventually went to the museum at Stanford University. The second gold spike was held by the descendants of Stanford who sold the spike to the California Railroad Museum and is on display there.
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