I just read something hilarious: When the transcontinental railway was being built, the Western company (Central Pacific) and the Eastern company(Union Pacific) were offered incentives for laying track from Sacramento and Omaha. Congress never specified where they should meet, to make it competitive. So they both kept on going and laid about 250 miles of tracks in parallel, never meeting! Finally, the issue was settled, and they ran tracks to meet at Promontory Summit, Utah and drove the Golden Spike.

The Golden Spike was of course removed after the ceremony, and is now on display at Stanford University, founded by Leland Stanford, one of the original investors in Central Pacific. There was a LOT of skullduggery involved with both companies, common for those times. And the incentives were huge: 6,400 acres of land (later doubled to 12,800) and $48,000 in government bonds for every mile of track built. Kind of unfair that the Western guys had to get through the Sierras, so the Eastern guys laid a lot more miles.

Interesting fact: The bill authorizing it was signed by Abraham Lincoln. Almost all the Eastern workers were Irish immigrants and Civil War vets. Almost all the Western workers were Chinese immigrants. The head guys of each company took a swing at The Spike, and missed, probably because they were both hung over from the previous night's party. Railway workers had to drive it in, and later pull it out.