What are some common incorrect rumors, errors, or myths about the Central Pacific Railroad?
The rails were joined on May 10, 1869 (not May 8th as engraved on the golden spike) at Promontory Summit, Utah, north of the Great Salt Lake, NOT at Promontory Point, but correcting this may be a lost cause as Promontory Summit was often called Promontory or Promontory Point in 1869. (Promontory Point at the southern rocky tip of a peninsula jutting southward into the lake from its northern shore, 30 miles farther south [ … and the confusion gets worse! – with the Lucin cutoff, the railroad was moved South decades later to go through Promontory Point and across the Great Salt Lake on a causeway, not North around the Lake through Promontory Summit as it originally did – and early maps show yet a third abandoned route South around the Lake as originally planned, but not as built]). There were several gold and silver ceremonial spikes that would have been squashed if hit with a sledgehammer (and matching laurel wood last tie with predrilled holes for these spikes), but the actual last s
Flying Spaghetti MonsterThe rails were joined on May 10, 1869 (not May 8th as engraved on the golden spike) at Promontory Summit, Utah, north of the Great Salt Lake, NOT at Promontory Point, but correcting this may be a lost cause as Promontory Summit was often called Promontory or Promontory Point in 1869. (Promontory Point at the southern rocky tip of a peninsula jutting southward into the lake from its northern shore, 30 miles farther south [ … and the confusion gets worse! – with the Lucin cutoff, the railroad was moved South decades later to go through Promontory Point and across the Great Salt Lake on a causeway, not North around the Lake through Promontory Summit as it originally did – and early maps show yet a third abandoned route South around the Lake as originally planned, but not as built]). There were several gold and silver ceremonial spikes that would have been squashed if hit with a sledgehammer (and matching laurel wood last tie with predrilled holes for these spikes
