The Last Spike Is Driven By Everett L. Cooley For Many Years the famous photograph of the joining of the rails at Promontory, Utah on May 10 1869, has been reproduced in scores of textbooks and en¬cyclopedias. The caption on the photo credits Charles R. Savage with capturing this historic scene. Recently, the authorship of the photograph has been called into question; or more properly speaking, the photo has now been attributed to another photographer — Andrew J. Russell, the official photographer of the Union Pacific Railroad. The identity of the creator of this famous photograph was discovered by Professor William D. Pattison, of the University of California at Los Angeles, while doing research in the iconographic collection of the American Geographical Society. THE ORIGINAL RUSSELL wet plate, glass negative was discovered, bearing Russell's title and negative number. Furthermore, the plate was cracked and the crack marks have been reproduced on most of the prints appearing in publications therebv providing unmistakable identification clues. Frequently, prints of the photograph show attempts have been made to re¬move the white lines produced by the cracking, but the retouching has failed to cover up all traces of lines resulting from the damaged negative. Other Russell pho¬tographs have also mistakenly been credited to Savage. Does this mean that Utah's famous Charles R. Sav¬age deserves no place in the history of the building of the transcontinental railroad and the events at Promon¬tory? No, indeed. Charles R. Savage was present at the joining of the rails, and he was busy making photo¬graphs and selling them as his diary testifies. It is entirely possible that some of his prints have been re¬produced in some books and periodicals and are proper¬ly credited to him. AND WHAT OF the work of a third photographer, Alfred A. Hart? He, too, was present at Promontory on May 10 as the official photographer of the Central Pacif¬ic. Surely he did not miss the opportunity to record, photographically, this great moment of history. Perhaps he, too, should be credited with some of the known pho¬tographs taken on that momentous occasion. If so, his work must wait rediscovery and identification such as (See Page 4