The Big Fill was an engineering project on the
first transcontinental railroad
America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. To avoid a costly tunnel through mountainous terrain east of
Promontory Summit
Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City. Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above s ...
,
Central Pacific engineers mapped an alternate route that still needed to span the deep Spring Creek Ravine.
Events of 1869
In February 1869, the construction firm of Benson, Farr, & West began construction on a raised bed across the ravine. Over two months, 500 workers hauled more than of material to build the rail bed. At its completion on April 26,
the fill extended for and up to a depth of . The cuts for the Big Fill required 1,500 kegs of black powder.
[
]
Big Trestle
east of the Big Fill, the Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
line was also attempting to cross the same ravine.[ The Big Trestle was built in 36 days and was completed on May 5,][ only 5 days before the ]golden spike
The golden spike (also known as the last spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-Carat (purity), karat gold final Rail spike, spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting t ...
ceremony at Promontory Summit.[ ][
Since Union Pacific were responsible for the transcontinental route east of Promontory, the track was laid across the Big Trestle. However, shortly after completion, the trestle was faulted as weak; in addition, there was a grade across the trestle and a curve at one end.
]
Line moved
Because Congress had fixed the point of junction as Ogden, not Promontory, controversy over the control of the segment between Promontory and Ogden ensued, but the two companies eventually came to an agreement to move the junction to Ogden, with Central Pacific compensating Union Pacific for the cost of construction materials and labor.[ Six months after the completion ceremony, Central Pacific was awarded control of that segment. They opted to move the rail line from the poor-quality Big Trestle to the Big Fill,]
References
External links
National Park Service: Golden Spike National Historic Site
Part 1Part 2Part 3
*{{cite web , url=http://people.kzoo.edu/~rkoenig/ndi_public/ , author=Koenig, Richard , publisher=Kalamazoo College , title=Contemporary Views Along the First Transcontinental Railroad
Rail infrastructure in Utah
Southern Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad