Train - Civil - The champagne photo 1869 Postcard
Colorized photo from 1869 May 10th Original Title: East and West shaking hands at the laying of the last rail, Union Pacific Railroad Location: Promontory Summit, UT Andrew J. Russell, was an early photographer that hauled heavy gear out into the wilderness to capture moments like these. In order to take the picture he would uncover the lens and then cover it again because they didn't have shutters like we do now. Everyone would have to stand very still in order to not be blurred. The photo would end up on a 10x13" glass plate which he and his assistant would then develop the image right there and then. This particular image is one of the ones that mad him famous. This is the moment in time when they just drove the golden spike in. It connected the western and eastern side of the tracks together. A little later, they brought both trains together nose to nose, and champagne was handed out. The locomotive on the left was the Central Pacific's Jupiter, and on the right is the Union Pacific Rogers no 119. The men passing the bottles were the trains engineers. George Booth (left), Sam Bradford (right). Each one broke a bottle over the other one's locomotive. The men shaking hands were the Chief engineers of the track building, Samuel S Montague and Grenville M Dodge. The shook hands to symbolize the end of the race to build the first transcontinental railroad. The trains were left there for a while, and then later sold as scrap. Today there are trains that replace them, but they aren't exact matches. But the spot still exists and its a tourist attraction.
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