Who was Thomas Durant?

Who was Thomas Durant?

No discussion of the building of the transcontinental railroad should omit the mention of Thomas Durant and his contribution to getting that monumental project completed. Not without controversy, he stirred up both friends and foes along the way while pursuing his dream of joining both coasts by rail. 

Born in 1820 to a wealthy family in Massachusetts, he entered medical school at 20 where he graduated magna cum laude and became a surgeon. He went on to work for his uncle in the grain business where he first became acquainted with railroads as a means to improve the transport of grain. His love for the railroad propelled him into forming the Mississippi and Missouri railroad. The chief achievement of the new company was the building of the first bridge over the Mississippi River. This accomplishment came with its own problems. After a riverboat hit the bridge, Durant's company was sued to tear down the structure. Durant hired no other than one Abraham Lincoln to represent him in the legal proceedings which turned in his favor. This new relationship had other benefits when in 1862 then President Lincoln selected Durant's Union Pacific company to begin the construction of the transcontinental railroad in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Durant was on his way.

A savvy businessman, he was very creative in raising capital for the transcontinental railroad through various stock schemes, Congressional funding, and many other questionable dealings. Despite or perhaps in spite of his financial machinations, he managed the Union Pacific's part of the transcontinental railroad from its beginnings in Iowa through to Promontory Point, Utah where it met the Central Pacific and the historic golden spike. 

His later years were not so kind to Thomas Durant. He lost vast sums of money in the Great Panic of 1873 and spent his last years until his death in 1885 fighting lawsuits from disgruntled investors.  

150th Anniversary of the Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

Golden Spike Ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah 

On May 10th 2019, my husband and I were two of 20,000 people who celebrated at Promontory Summit, Utah the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, marking the achievement of the railroads and railroad workers who risked everything to make the Transcontinental Railroad a reality.

The parking tickets sold out quickly and we bought ours online immediately when we heard that we couldn't join in on the festivities unless we showed the permit on our dashboards.  Traffic signs warned of delays because of this "Major Event", as the city officials called it.  The traffic was heavy, but once we pulled in to the dusty "parking lot", which was, in reality, a dusty field, I felt a lump in my throat when we saw the train from the west and the one from the east facing each other, with men recreating the famous picture of two men celebrating with champagne and toasting each other. 

My husband and I brought along folding chairs to listen to the speeches by the dignitaries, including the governor of Utah, the Heads of the US Departments of Transportation and Interior, Mitt Romney, an actor from the series, Hell on Wheels, the ambassador of Ireland, and descendants of those who worked on the railroad. My favorite part of the day was listening to the keynote speaker, Jon Meacham, a historian, and author.  His eloquence brought tears to my eyes: “We should not sentimentalize the American experience,” Meacham said. “The nation has been morally flawed, often egregiously so, from the beginning. We must be honest about that.”

He went on to say, “If the men and women of the past, with all of their flaws and limitations and ambitions and appetites, could press on through ignorance and superstition and racism and sexism, through selfishness and greed, to form a more perfect union, then perhaps we too can right wrongs and leave things better than we found them.” 

Elaine L. Chao was my second favorite speaker of the day.  She reminded us that within three years of its completion, trains could travel from New York City to San Francisco in just one week.  Prior to that, travelers endured up to 6 months or more of dangerous travel by ship or covered wagon to cross the continent.

The transcontinental railroad was built by Civil war veterans from both the North and the South who worked together, along with Mormon settlers, African-Americans, Native Americans, and, Chinese laborers. Building from the West, the Central Pacific Railroad hired 15,000 workers, of whom 12,000 or more were Chinese immigrants. These are the men whose jobs were to blast through the granite of the imposing Sierra Nevada mountains. It was dangerous work using explosives and many lost their lives.

The governor, wearing a top hat, joined a few other men to recreate the pounding of the "golden" spike, which was actually a copper spike, made especially for the anniversary.  After the speeches and recreations were over, fireworks lit up the afternoon sky and a flyover of four planes in formation, saluted this grand achievement--the most important engineering feat of the 19th century and the symbol of the east and west joining together making the United States one connected nation, filled with many ethnicities who worked with each other to get the job done.