Building The Virginian Railway - Final Spike, Celebrations, Tragedy

Final Spike, Celebrations, Tragedy

The final spike in the Virginian Railway was driven on January 29, 1909, at the west side of the massive New River Bridge at Glen Lyn, near where the new railroad crossed the East River and the West Virginia-Virginia state line. The former Deepwater and Tidewater Railways were now physically connected. It was also Henry Rogers' sixty-ninth birthday,

In April, 1909, Henry Huttleston Rogers and Mark Twain, old friends, returned to Norfolk, Virginia together once again for a huge celebration of the new "Mountains to the Sea" railroad's completion.

They were met at the shore by a huge crowd of Norfolk citizens waiting with great excitement despite rain that day. While Rogers toured the railway’s new $2.5 million coal pier at Sewell's Point, Mark Twain spoke to groups of students at several local schools. That night, April 3, the city put on a long-planned grand banquet at the Monticello Hotel in downtown Norfolk. The city's civic leaders, Mark Twain, and other dignitaries made speeches. Finally, Henry Rogers himself rose and addresses the well-wishers. He said in part:

"It is a great honor, and I shall not deny a great pleasure, to be your guest on this occasion. I am not gifted with the art of oratory, and am forced to say my thanks in plain and homely words. Yet they are none the less heartfelt. I make no pretense that the building of the Virginian Railway was intended wholly as a public service, and it is a business enterprise. I have faith that the resources of this Old Dominion State, when properly developed, mean a great deal, not for you who live here alone, but for the whole country."

"And I have simply sought to bear what share I could in the development of these resources. You gentlemen of Virginia and I have a common interest. I shall endeavor to deal fairly by you and I am sure you propose doing the same by me. Again I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the honor you have conferred upon me."

Rogers and his party boarded a special train, and left the next day on his first (and only) tour of the newly completed railroad. He was greeted at points all along the route, and there was at least one additional banquet held to honor him at Roanoke. A now-famous photograph was taken of him of the rear platform of his personal railcar, which was named "Dixie."

Despite the relief of completing the "mountains-to-the sea" railroad, both his physician and mentor John D. Rockefeller had expressed continuing concerns about Henry Rogers' health and urged him to slow down. He was known as a man who just couldn't seem to "take it easy," at least not for very long. The following month, in May 1909, he took a pleasant weekend getaway trip to his hometown of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Afterward, he returned to New York City and his work. Three days later, on May 19, 1909, he awoke feeling very ill, and had numbness in his arm. By the time the doctor arrived in less than 30 minutes, he could not be saved. After his funeral in New York City, with Virginian Railway officials and his close friend Mark Twain serving as pallbearers, the old widowers' body was transported by train to Fairhaven, to be interred in Riverside Cemetery beside his childhood sweetheart, Abbie Gifford Rogers (1841–1894).