46 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM HISTORY down the tracks long-prayed for event has at last transpired, and San Francisco and San Jose are bound together in iron bands,” Dame proclaims with pride. “This is a day of general rejoicing over the most important event that has ever occurred in this valley, or perhaps may ever occur again. ... The iron horse is here—see it, hear it, ye who doubt!” After a parade of dignitaries and military men, thousands feast on lamb, pork and beef roasted on six-foot iron rods over trenches piled with oak wood. Lager flows liberally from large barrels. But all too soon, it’s time to head home. “Away sped the three black monsters,” reports The Daily Alta California, “dragging with increasing speed the long line of cars, and filling the atmosphere with smoke and sparks.” It’s 1864, just 14 years after California has become a state, and eager throngs gather to commemorate another pivotal beginning: the grand opening of the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad (SF&SJ). The day starts civilly enough. The first train has come and gone from the San Francisco station, and many, preferring seats to standing room, choose to wait for the second. But as the crowd continues to swell, folks grow restless. On the next train’s arrival, “A general scramble ensued,” reports The Daily Alta California of the scene, “which resulted in most all the ladies being crammed into three or four cars, leaving several hundred of the male passengers out in the cold.” Unwilling to be left behind on this momentous day in history, the menfolk pile into the baggage, gravel and cattle cars. A collective cheer arises as the locomotive lumbers down the track. Not everyone is so lucky. Would-be riders at the Redwood City and Mountain View stations frantically flag down the jam-packed train in vain as it barrels past on its way to the San Jose station. Disembarking passengers are welcomed by a booming cannon and a 13-gun salute by Bluxome’s Battery, then ushered into the brick depot festooned with flags and evergreen boughs to listen to speeches from the mayor and the railroad’s president Judge Timothy Dame. “The {punchline} PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY words by JOHANNA HARLOW ABOVE: Loved ones send off World War I draftees on a train headed for camp circa 1917.
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