It's time to make our way towards Yellowstone so we leave Salt Lake City towards Idaho, we take a deviation from our route to visit the Golden Spike National Historic site at Promontory, this is the actual location where the Central & Union Pacific Railways were forced to join, originally they had passed each other as they were being paid by the US government for each mile of track laid.
The two trains used for the ceremony in 1869 have been reproduced in their original splendour with much fine detail.
A plaque mounted on the final tie commemorates the occasion that joined the east & West coast of America for the first time.
In the small museum they also have the sign which commemorates the day in 1868 when 10 miles of track was laid in a day, quite a feat of engineering which I believe has never been beaten.
This area is very remote & close to the railway site is the ATK rocket facility, they manufacture solid fuel rocket stages including for the space shuttle & have a display at the front of their offices.
Another National Monument is also on route with 'Craters of The Moon' being a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones & sagebrush.
This really is a weird & scenic landscape but it's even more astounding to think that the early pioneers crossed this area with their horse & carts, talk about difficult & many wagons were lost.
Our stop for the night is Arco, this small town is known as Atomic City as in 1955 it was the first place in the worlds to have electricity supplied from a nuclear reactor at the nearby National Reactor Testing Station.
The two trains used for the ceremony in 1869 have been reproduced in their original splendour with much fine detail.
A plaque mounted on the final tie commemorates the occasion that joined the east & West coast of America for the first time.
In the small museum they also have the sign which commemorates the day in 1868 when 10 miles of track was laid in a day, quite a feat of engineering which I believe has never been beaten.
This area is very remote & close to the railway site is the ATK rocket facility, they manufacture solid fuel rocket stages including for the space shuttle & have a display at the front of their offices.
Another National Monument is also on route with 'Craters of The Moon' being a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones & sagebrush.
This really is a weird & scenic landscape but it's even more astounding to think that the early pioneers crossed this area with their horse & carts, talk about difficult & many wagons were lost.
Our stop for the night is Arco, this small town is known as Atomic City as in 1955 it was the first place in the worlds to have electricity supplied from a nuclear reactor at the nearby National Reactor Testing Station.
No comments:
Post a Comment