Visited Old Sacramento and the
Train museum with another Boy Scout troop. The docent had some good information to share. Apparently there were a number of complications at the spike driving ceremony. My idealistic recollection has the folks meeting up, and driving the stake and taking a photo. I learned a few things about behind the scenes though:
- The gentlemen attempting to drive the stakes were delayed. Workers blocked the train from the east for two days, demanding payment for back wages. The workers seemed to figure they wouldn't get paid... This wasn't known in New York and San Francisco where celebrations of the Track completion took place two days before the actual stake driving ceremony.
- The gentlemen driving the stake were probably drunk, with the partying going on at the site. This would explain why the first three gentlemen were unable to hit the spike.
- The meeting point wasn't the point at which the east and west track layers met. The greedy railway barons, who were being paid for every mile of track being laid continued PAST their initial meeting place for 250 MILES....
Other trivia: The Chinese workers, drinking tea and eating a more nutritious diet which included vegetables, had much less problems with cholera and dysentery than the eastern workers.
If you're ever in Sacramento and have kids, or are a kid at heart, I'd strongly recommend visiting the Train Museum.
