Q 01/05

In which year was the first transcontinental railroad completed?

A) 1883

B) 1876

C) 1872

D) 1869

Answer · why

D) 1869

The Central Pacific and Union Pacific met at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869, six years after ground was broken in Sacramento.

Q 02/05

At which Utah Territory location did the two railroads meet?

A) Ogden, Utah

B) Salt Lake City

C) Promontory Summit

D) Corinne, Utah

Answer · why

C) Promontory Summit

The site became Golden Spike National Historic Site in 1957 and was redesignated a National Historical Park in 2019.

Q 03/05

Who ceremonially drove the golden Last Spike?

A) Thomas Durant

B) Collis Huntington

C) Grenville Dodge

D) Leland Stanford

Answer · why

D) Leland Stanford

Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, tapped the spike with a silver hammer; accounts say he and David Hewes actually missed it.

Q 04/05

Which president signed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 into law?

A) James Buchanan

B) Andrew Johnson

C) Abraham Lincoln

D) Ulysses S. Grant

Answer · why

C) Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln signed it on July 1, 1862, once southern secession had removed the opposition that killed earlier bills.

Q 05/05

What one-word telegraph message announced the line's completion?

A) JOINED

B) FINISHED

C) UNITED

D) DONE

Answer · why

D) DONE

The hammers and spike were wired to the telegraph so each stroke would click at stations nationwide; operators ended up sending the clicks by hand.