The Days of a Man 



Ci8 93 



The last 

 spike 



United 



States 



Senator 



the point of division. Many obstructions, politi- 

 cal and financial, were from the outset encountered 

 by both companies, 1 but the transcontinental line 

 was at last finished in May, 1869. A picturesque 

 incident, the driving of a golden spike at Promon- 

 tory, the original junction, celebrated the great 

 achievement. 2 



From the generous earnings and the sale of bonds 

 (not stocks) of the Central Pacific, Stanford and his 

 associates afterward built the Southern Pacific 

 from New Orleans to San Francisco and Portland. 

 The Central Pacific was then leased to the Southern 

 Pacific and virtually absorbed by it, the ownership 

 of the two remaining the same. 



In 1885, toward the close of his active business 

 career, Mr. Stanford returned to political life as 

 United States Senator from California; in this 

 capacity he was still serving at the time of his death. 

 At Washington his activities were characterized 

 by an interest in general agricultural welfare and a 

 wholesome degree of independence in party affairs, 



1 One capitalist who was invited to join Stanford in the venture told me 

 that he himself "would not have touched it with a ten-foot pole," so slight 

 seemed the chances of success. As a matter of fact, the promoters were obliged 

 at times to pay 12 per cent monthly interest. 



2 Mr. Charles B. Turrell, an early agent of the Central Pacific, explains 

 that none of the four builders had at the outset any thought of carrying 

 through alone the great work undertaken by them. As citizens of Sacramento, 

 interested in the welfare of town and state, they proposed merely to start 

 the project, hoping that some wealthier corporation would complete it. But 

 as time went on, they found that they themselves must cross the Sierra to 

 meet the Union Pacific or lose all they had put in. Checked from time to 

 time in the foothills about Dutch Flat by lack of resources, "the Dutch Flat 

 Swindle," as it was often derisively called, struggled on month after month. 

 Finally, under the direction of Theodore Judah, a highly competent engineer, 

 the work was carried to triumphant completion. One cause of success lay 

 in the fact that whatever else suffered the workmen were regularly paid, even 

 though at times the families of the partners may have had to do without 

 ordinary comforts of life, not to speak of luxuries. 



C 482 3 



