The
site of the connection of the railroad line between San Francisco
and Los Angeles, this place memorializes an important moment in
Western history. In 1876 the first railroad line was completed linking
northern and southern California and forever changing the state’s
history. As it neared completion, a contest was held to see whether
the northern or southern workers would complete the last 500 yards
first. The Los Angeles team won. Upon completion of the track, Charles
Crocker drove a gold spike into the track, with scarce acknowledgement
of the laborers who had actually completed the work or the thousands
who had died in the process. Although many ethnic groups worked
on the railroads, in the Western US the Chinese were a crucial part
of the workforce and endured inhumane and discriminatory conditions
as they laid tracks and dynamited mountains in an effort to link
the various parts of the US. In 2001 Metrolink officials drove a
spike into the track commemorating the thousands of Chinese who
built the railroad. |
