. Bell telephone magazine . , andthe picturesque ceremony of drivingthe last spike bore witness thatAmericas first transcontinental rail-road was an accomplished fact. In dealing with the transcontinentalrailway as an instrumentality of com-munication, it is natural to think ofit, first of all, as a carrier of report of the Postmaster Generalfor 1869 shows that a contract withWells, Fargo & Company for thetransportation of the mails betweenthe western terminus of the Union Pa-cific and the eastern terminus of theCentral Pacific came to an end, underits own provisions, when the two ra
. Bell telephone magazine . , andthe picturesque ceremony of drivingthe last spike bore witness thatAmericas first transcontinental rail-road was an accomplished fact. In dealing with the transcontinentalrailway as an instrumentality of com-munication, it is natural to think ofit, first of all, as a carrier of report of the Postmaster Generalfor 1869 shows that a contract withWells, Fargo & Company for thetransportation of the mails betweenthe western terminus of the Union Pa-cific and the eastern terminus of theCentral Pacific came to an end, underits own provisions, when the two rail-roads met on May 9, and were re-ported to be ready to carry the following day. It would ap-pear that the historic ceremony ofdriving the golden spike was imme-diately followed by the far more im-portant event of the actual transporta-tion of mails, passengers, and freightover the newly opened line. In a broader sense of the term, com-munication may be considered as in- 19^0 The Conquest of a Continent 297. THE GOLDEN SPIKE IS DRIVEN That historic ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah, has been completed, the locomotives from East and West have approached each other, and notables and spectators pose for their photograph. {From the Union Pacific collection) eluding not only the carrying of mes-sages, but the carrying of passengers,freight, express, etc.—the meeting ofany needs, in other words, which ariseout of the fact that two or more per-sons, who have relations with eachother, are separated by the barriers oftime and distance. Measured interms of volume and of receipts frompayments for their transportation,mails play an almost insignificant partin the service performed by suchtransportation instrumentalities asrailways. This fact, which still holds truein spite of the enormous increase inthe amount of postal matter handled,is well illustrated by a summary of earnings of the Union Pacific for1870, the first full year of its opera-tion. In round numbers, these wer
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