In May, 1870, the first through train from the Atlantic to the Pacific crossed the continent, engaged for a special excursion by the Boston Board of Trade, many distinguished Bostonians being numbered among the passengers. During the trip a daily newspaper entitled the _Trans-Continental_ was published. In the issue of May 31, published on the sixth day out, as the train was crossing the summit of the Sierra Nevadas, an account is given of a meeting of the passengers in the smoking car, and resolutions passed by them were printed. The Hon. Alex H. Rice presided at the meeting, and the resolutions were offered by Frank H. Peabody, a Boston banker, and seconded by Robert B. Forbes, another Bostonian.
_Resolved_, That we, the passengers of the Boston Board of Trade Pullman excursion train, the first through train from the Atlantic to the Pacific, having now been a week _en route_ for San Francisco, and having had, during this period, ample opportunity to test the character and quality of the accommodations supplied for our journey, hereby express our entire satisfaction with the arrangements made by Mr. George M. Pullman, and our admiration of the skill and energy which have resulted in the construction, equipment and general management of this beautiful and commodious moving hotel.
_Resolved_, That we return our cordial thanks to Mr. Pullman for the very great pains taken by him beforehand to make the present journey safe and pleasurable; that we recognize the complete success which has followed all his efforts, and that we extend to him our sincere wishes for such a degree of prosperity to attend all his operations as will be proportionate to his merits as one of the most public-spirited, sagacious, and liberal railroad men of the present day.
_Resolved_, That we take pleasure in witnessing, as we journey from point to point, through all the Western States, the many evidences of Mr. Pullman's enterprise and the extent of his operations in the cars which we meet belonging to the Pullman Company, attached to the regular trains for the use of the public, or appropriated especially to private excursion parties, and we earnestly hope that there will be no delay in placing the elegant and homelike carriages upon the principal routes in the New England States, and we will do all in our power to accomplish this end.