This cartoon was created by a staff cartoonist for the popular weekly news and literary publication Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, later renamed Leslie’s Weekly.

Does Not Such a Meeting Make Amends?

On July 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railway Act, which provided federal support to construct a railway system that would extend from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Such a system, when combined with the existing railroads operating in the East, would create the first transcontinental railroad. Construction by the Union Pacific Railroad began in Iowa and worked its way west, while the Central Pacific Railroad started in San Francisco and proceeded east. On May 10, 1869, rails of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways were joined at Promontory Point, Utah, thus connecting the nation from coast to coast. A ceremony was held to drive in the Golden Spike, a symbol of completion. The wood engraving shown here appeared on May 29, 1869.