150 years ago this May, the First Transcontinental Railroad was joined together, connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads together. There was a ceremony where a Golden Spike was used to officially complete the railroad at Promontory Point, Utah. Not only is this an amazing piece of history for our country, but it's always held special significance to our family because my Great-Great-Great Grandpa Richard Todd Brown was in attendance at the Golden Spike Ceremony. #familyhistory He's in the lower half on the far left side raising his hat. He was a baker/cook for the Union Pacific Railroad near Ogden for (and received the nickname "Baker Brown" there). I've always been proud of this little bit of heritage.
An excerpt from his family history says "[Richard and Helen] lived the first winter [after crossing the plains] in Salt Lake City. Richard Todd cooked for 6 months for the men who were building the railroad near Ogden. It was in the winter months and the weather was bitter cold. He said there was many mornings when he couldn't get the fire started. He would put bacon on the logs to get them to burn." (Afterwards, they moved to Payson and eventually Koosharem (he died in Richfield) Utah.)
I don't know why a cook from Salt Lake City made it into this most famous photograph, especially when there were so many others who spent years of their lives working on the railroad who did NOT make it into the photograph. But instead of feeling guilty for that, I'll just keep this neat bit of history that connects me to my ancestors. Richard Todd Brown was pretty cool, but his wife Helen was amazing! Just a few highlights: She crossed the ocean from Scotland to America (for the second time) when her baby was only three days old, despite doctors telling her she would die and be thrown overboard. She crossed the plains from Nebraska to Utah with a group of Latter Day Saints by Ox Team where she was placed in a different company than her husband and she had to tend her own camp with all of her children on her own. She defended her families food from an Indian who came into her home and wanted to take the very last of her bread. She stood her ground because she didn't know how else she would feed her family. Those are pretty amazing things. I hope to be as brave and determined as she.
Another excerpt from their history says "Richard Todd and Helen lived very useful lives, knowing all the hardships of the pioneers. Their courage and determination never faltered. Their religious faith was most outstanding and carried them through all their hardships. They did well everything they had planned to do in life." That's a pretty amazing legacy.
SO...
Because this year was the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike they had an exhibit at the Utah State Capitol. My mom had said that she wanted to get as many of us kids as we could and go see it together - so I had some prep time beforehand. It worked out perfectly because we were just starting our Utah Unit in homeschool. So we learned about Utah and all its symbols and I incorporated a mini-unit about the transcontinental railroad. It was SO fun and both Lydia and I (and hopefully Austin) learned a lot.
When it was finally the day we got to go to the exhibit, we gave Lydia/the kids an old digital camera and told her to take pictures of all the state symbols she saw at the Capitol building. (So many beehives!) It was fun for her and fun for me to walk through the exhibit about the railroads with my family.
Plus Melissa took some family pictures of everyone on the big steps and they turned out really nice.
And, because my family loves a good pun - we took Jacob out to eat at the Golden Corral for his 23rd birthday (which also happened to be his golden birthday - 23 on the 23rd). It was so fun that it worked out to be such a Golden weekend.
