On 10 May 1869, at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory, a golden spike was driven to join the Central Pacific Railroad, built eastwards from Sacramento mainly by Chinese immigrant labourers, and the Union Pacific, built westwards by Irish and civil-war veterans. The journey from New York to San Francisco, which took months by wagon or ship, was cut to about a week. The railroad opened the Great Plains to settlement, devastated the buffalo herds that the Plains nations depended on, and created standard time zones in 1883 to run the trains.
Before and after
- 8 March 1869Death of Hector Berlioz
- 18 March 1869Birth of Neville Chamberlain
- 20 March 1869Publication of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
- 6 April 1869Founding of American Museum of Natural History
- 10 May 1869The first US transcontinental railroad is completed
- 25 May 1869Construction of Vienna State Opera house
- 27 June 1869Birth of Emma Goldman
- 24 September 1869Black Friday
- 2 October 1869Birth of Mahatma Gandhi
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.