Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above sea level, it lies to the north of the Promontory Mountains and the Great Salt Lake.

[2] It is notable as the location of Promontory Summit, where the first transcontinental railroad in the United States, from Sacramento to Omaha, was officially completed on May 10, 1869.

[3] A specially-chosen Chinese and Irish crew had taken only 12 hours to lay the final 10 mi (16 km) of track in time for the ceremony.

Vice-President Thomas Durant's dignitary railcar to a siding in Piedmont, Wyoming, until he wired for money to pay them.

The engineer would not take his locomotive, whose number is lost to history, across the rickety structure, but he gave each of the passenger cars a hefty heave.

It is unknown how many people attended the event; estimates run from as low as 500 to as many as 3,000 government and railroad officials and track workers.

Historians opine that the lack of Chinese workers seen in the official portrait was due to racism,[citation needed] since anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States prevailed over many decades including the late 1860s.

[4]Three of the eight Chinese workers who brought up the last rail were guests of honor at the Promontory Summit's golden anniversary celebrations in Ogden, Utah in May 1919.

In the meantime, the first uninterrupted coast-to-coast railroad was established in August 1870 at Strasburg, Colorado, with the completion of the Denver extension of the Kansas Pacific Railway.

[12] In January 1870, the train crews from the CP and UP had been relocated to Ogden, Utah, where Union Station had effectively become the meeting point of the two railroads.

It also gained extensive support facilities for railroad workers, including an eating car, engine helper station, and quarters for the Chinese section crew.

Although Union Pacific engineers had initially considered a direct route across the Great Salt Lake, cost and schedule constraints forced them to opt for the surveyed line through Promontory.

[13] As trains became longer and heavier, additional engines were often required to pull them along the winding curves and up steep grades to the Promontory summit.

[14] When the Great Depression led to a dramatic fall in revenues from railroad traffic, the Southern Pacific decided to abandon the line when it failed to meet its operating costs.

Southern Pacific continued to maintain the wooden trestle as a backup for several decades, although its last significant rail traffic was in the early 1960s.

[12] On the 110th anniversary of the "Golden Spike" on May 10, 1979, two purpose-built replicas of the UP #119 and the Jupiter #60 were brought together on a specially relaid 1.5-mile section of track.

Several walking trails and audio driving tours allow visitors to see the old cuts along the permanent way, highlighting the effort needed to construct the railroad over Promontory Summit.

Records of the Chinese railroad workers had not been kept and it is believed thousands of people died laying those tracks due to the treacherous territory, including having to cut through the cold of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the heat of the desert.