On July 1, 1862, the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 was signed into law by President Lincoln. This act provided government support for the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The task of completing the railroad was granted to an existing California railroad and a new railroad chartered soon after the act. The two companies began laying track from opposite ends of the country, meeting in Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869. On that day, officials drove the “Golden Spike” uniting the eastward and westward lines of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
