Anna Bates, Great-Granddaughter of Samuel B. Reed, After the Unveiling of the Samuel B. Reed Monument in Joliet, Illinois, October 10, 1922

This is a photograph of Anna Bates, the great-granddaughter of Samuel B. Reed, just after the unveiling of the Samuel B. Reed monument in Joliet, Illinois on October 10, 1922. The monument is still located on the grounds of the Joliet, Illinois Will County Court House, approximately 75 feet from the northeast corner of the building. It reads: "On this spot in 1850 Samuel Benedict Reed, Civil Engineer, pioneer railroad builder, citizen of Joliet, began the survey for the present Chicago Rock Island and Pacific, the first railroad to reach and bridge the Mississippi River. The first train into Joliet reached this initial point October 10, 1852. As Chief Engineer of Construction he directed the building of the Union Pacific, the first trans-continental railroad, the completion of which in 1869 realized the dream of Columbus: a westward trade route to the Indies. This rock from the summit of the Continental Divide on the line of the Union Pacific was placed here through the cooperation of these two railroads and dedicated October 10, 1922."

Anna Bates, the great-granddaughter of Samuel B. Reed, just after the unveiling of the Samuel B. Reed monument in Joliet, Illinois on October 10, 1922. Ann Bates, grand-daughter [sic] of Samuel B. Reed, just after unveiling monument Octo. 10, 1922. This grainte [sic] boulder, was "picked up by L.O. Leonard, at that time, Historian of Union Pacific Railroad, near the "Devil's Slide" in Weber Canyon, Utah, and brought to Joliet on flat car, through courtesy of both Union Pacific and Rock Island Railroads. The boulder weighs 17 tons.

L.O. Leonard