One of the largest commercial enterprises of the 19th Century in the United States was the completion of the first rail line across the continent from east to west and west to east. The key event was the meeting of the two rail lines in Promentory, Utah on May 10, 1869. For Utah, this ended the "pioneer era" or the time when people had to take wagons or walk across the plains.
The Great Salt Lake is currently shrinking rapidly from the extensive drought in the Western United States. The original path of the railroad went around the northern part of the lake but later a causeway was built across the lake cutting it into two parts. The actual connection was at Promontory Summit. Here is a map of that location.
Later, the main rail line was built across the lake on a causeway that can be seen as a faint line across the lake. You can see from the photo that is is a rather desolate area.
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