- Settled: Temporary settlement for the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869
- Origin of Name: Taken from the large promontory, projecting south into Great Salt Lake
- Miles from San Francisco: 772.9
- Used by Railroad: 1869- 1942
- Railroad Function: Built near the site where the two tracks joined, it was just another temporary railroad camp until it was decided the railroad tracks would be joined there; then, things changed rapidly, practically overnight becoming a “Tent City”
- Historic Overview: From May until November, 1869, a city of tents stood at Promontory Summit, the home to a variety of businesses, railroad workers, and optimistic speculators hoping that this would become a major railroad junction city; however, the two railroads decided to relocate the terminus and transfer operations from Promontory to Ogden, Utah; when the first Central Pacific train scheduled for Ogden went through Promontory on December 6, 1869, the tent city was gone; behind the crowd gathered to witness the uniting of the railroads on May 10, 1869, stood a row of wall tents; all erected during the prior week; its first structures built were tents for the railroad crews and the telegraph agent, including a Wells Fargo office, which operated the overland stage line between the railheads and the Casement brothers’ construction camp; north of the tracks, saloons and restaurants opened to serve workers, travelers, and celebrants coming to watch the driving of the last spike; across the tracks from the row of “rum-holes,” were tents for the railroad workers; nearest the last spike site, telegraphers erected a tent and prepared to send news of driving the last spike throughout the country; by May 10, fourteen tents in two rows paralleled the tracks; inside the largest wall tent, the “grocery” of J. S. Conner served thirsty participants that day; Conner had moved his store from railroad camp to camp; he and other businesses at this junction of the Union and Central Pacific railroads hoped to make a new home at the Promontory; but when the railroads built transfer operations there, it fueled their optimism; however, within weeks of the May 10 ceremony, the instant community of “Promontory City” sprouted over thirty tents- some with wooden false fronts- besides the usual saloons and card rooms, “city” amenities included boarding houses for railroad workers, and fruit and novelty shops with supplies for travelers; beds were in such short supply that agents of the Western Union telegraph, express companies, and the post office usually slept in their office tents; the Central Pacific built a wood-frame telegraph and ticket office; in September, the Union Pacific opened a combined hotel/eating house, ticket and telegraph office, and home for the UP agent and his family; some 100 railroad workers lived around Promontory; a Chinese section crew lived in tents near the west yard; Chinese entrepreneurs operated a laundry; most of the engineers, brakemen, and conductors bunked in the tent city’s row of boarding houses; “travelers bought lunch or snacks, tea or coffee in the tents, and perhaps joined in card games and gambling in the tents;” then, it was gone; The Golden National Historical Site is now operated by the National Park Service.
- Railroad Function: Had several sidings and a railroad “wye,” replaced by a turntable in 1869
- Location: Five miles southeast of Kosmo on the Central Pacific route, south of the Great Salt Lake
- No Population estimates for this isolated, Northern Utah ghost town
