SAN FRANCISCO, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The California capital of Sacramento Wednesday held a series of festive activities to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first American Transcontinental Railroad that shaped the United States and put it on a path to economic prosperity.
The celebrations started with a huge procession in the area of Old Sacramento City re-creating a historic moment that took place on May 8, 1869, when the railroad was completed.
The revelers wore colorful costumes, with some of them playing history characters in period attire such as the Big Four major investors of the 19th century rail project.
They walked in the procession starting from the California State Railroad Museum, marched along the streets of Old Sacramento City, and ended at the railway station near Front and K Streets.
Players from the Sacramento Vintage Base Ball Club also played lively music to the cheers of hundreds of spectators, including elementary school students, to mark the sesquicentennial of the railroad's completion.
With key local and state dignitaries in attendance, an official public ceremony was held to unveil a new granite monument and bronze plaque at "Mile Marker Zero" at the western terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad located at Front and K Streets.
Ty Smith, director of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, said at an event Wednesday that the American Transcontinental Railroad built by the Chinese workers 150 years ago changed everything forever in the United States in the 19th century.
The Chinese immigrants have been in Sacramento since the Gold Rush, and they "toiled, worked and gave their blood, sweat and tears..." Smith noted.
"The Central Pacific Railroad and the ability to get over the Sierra Nevada mountains would not have happened without the Chinese workers' experience," he said, giving his salute to the Chinese migrant railroad workers and their descendants.
He said his museum has cooperated with the Chinese American community in both Sacramento and San Francisco to add new exhibits on the story of Chinese workers in the museum to keep the history in the memory of the American people.
"This history of building the Transcontinental Railroad is a Chinese story as well as a United States' story ... it's a wonderful contribution. It's part of the United States' history, it's part of the world history," Smith told Xinhua shortly after the celebrations ceremony.
Cheryl Marcell, president and CEO of the California State Railroad Museum Foundation, said the transcontinental railroad was a "great miracle" more than a century ago.
"150 years ago, dignitaries and local citizens gathered here to recognize a truly remarkable feat. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad is the single largest, greatest technological accomplishment of the 19th century," she said.
The Transcontinental Railroad helped to connect the country, shape the nation and put the United States on a path to economic success, said Lisa Mangat, director of California State Parks.
The Gold Rush represented the largest human migration in the history of the world, and Sacramento has evolved into a thriving destination where entrepreneurs, farmers, culinary masters, academics and other pioneers can make their ideas come to life, said Mike Testa, president and CEO of Visit Sacramento, a culture and leisure arm of Sacramento that promotes tourism and travel in the city.
The Sacramento Railroad Museum opened free to the public during Wednesday's celebrations, which was warmly welcomed by a group of elementary school students who were given an opportunity to learn about the history of California railroad and the touching stories of unyielding Chinese workers.
Smith said the role of the Chinese rail workers had been neglected for a long time in American history, but his museum has just finished installation of a new exhibit that talked about not only the Chinese work, but also told a larger story of Chinese immigration and the long connection between China and the United States.
Also on Wednesday, community members of Sacramento had the pleasure of enjoying complimentary excursion train rides aboard the Sacramento Southern Railroad, which allowed the riders to experience the unique travel on board a steam locomotive that mimicked the life in the 19th century.
Last month, Stanford University held a photo exhibition to honor the Chinese immigrant workers.
The program revealed for the first time many findings of the Chinese railroad workers whose contributions to one of the most ambitious American engineering projects had long been left in oblivion in U.S. history.
Gordon Chang, co-director of the project and professor of history of the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford, said the Transcontinental Railroad would not have been possible without the Chinese migrants.
