Shoals was the connecting point of the main east-west railroad line laid westward from Cincinnati, Ohio, by the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company and eastward from St. Louis, Missouri, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, which was a major stockholder of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company. On April 15, 1857, work trains met in Shoals, where workmen drove the Golden Spike in the ties. The celebrity train arrived in Shoals on July 4, 1857, carrying notables including the Honorable Lewis Cash, Secretary of State. A band played, flags waved, and drinks flowed freely as people rejoiced at the coming of the iron Horse. After the tracks were completed, Shoals became the site of a train station, a water storage tank for steam engines, and a pump station that drew water from the East Fork of the White River to fill the tank.