The Rail Chains Final Link

A continuous chain of rails from Atlantic to Pacific, long a vision of pioneer railroaders and frontier-tamers, became reality at 3:00 P.M. on August 15, 1870, at a point 3,812 ft. east of the depot in what now is Strasburg, Colorado. Near Comanche Crossing, named for a usually dry, sometimes rampaging creek, the last rails were spiked by Kansas Pacific Railroad crews driving west from Kansas and east from Denver to give the nation its first truly continuous coast-to-coast railroad. On the final day the crews laid a record-breaking 10 1/2 miles of track in 9 hours to win a barrel of whiskey which canny formen had placed midway in the final gap.

Strasburg, Colorado · United States