Photos: The Transcontinental Railroad's Golden Spike

According to a National Park Service ranger at the Golden Spike site, the workers from the Central Pacific used a superior quality tie to that of their counterparts with the Union Pacific.

Here, you can see the meeting of the two railroads and the different kinds of ties used. The theory is that the ties from the West were superior due to the prevalence there of saw mills and abundant lumber.

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Photo by Daniel Terdiman/CNET