From the Homestead Act and Transcontinental Railroad to Chinese Exclusion, Sherman Antitrust, Plessy v. Ferguson, and 1898.
Golden rules (General American pronunciation): vowels and silent or glide letters (w, h, y) carry no digit · silent letters are ignored (knife /naɪf/ → 28) · doubled letters count once (bell → 95, hammer → 34) · sound, never spelling, decides.
| Date | Event | Peg word | IPA | Digits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1862 | Homestead Act grants western public land to settlers; Morrill Land-Grant Act funds public universities | chain /ˈtʃeɪn/ | /ˈtʃeɪn/ | 62 |
| 1869 | Transcontinental Railroad joined at Promontory Summit, Utah | sheep /ˈʃiːp/ | /ˈʃiːp/ | 69 |
| 1876 | Battle of the Little Bighorn; Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone | cage /keɪdʒ/ | /keɪdʒ/ | 76 |
| 1882 | Chinese Exclusion Act becomes the first major federal law restricting immigration by nationality | fan /fæn/ | /fæn/ | 82 |
| 1886 | Haymarket affair in Chicago and founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) | fish /fɪʃ/ | /fɪʃ/ | 86 |
| 1887 | Interstate Commerce Act regulates railroads; Dawes Act divides Native American tribal reservations into individual allotments | hive +cow /haɪv/ + /kaʊ/ | /haɪv/ + /kaʊ/ | 87 |
| 1890 | Sherman Antitrust Act enacted; Census Bureau declares the frontier closed; Wounded Knee Massacre | peas /piːz/ | /piːz/ | 90 |
| 1894 | Pullman Strike halts national railway traffic and triggers federal labor injunction | bear /bɛɚ/ | /bɛɚ/ | 94 |
| 1896 | Plessy v. Ferguson upholds racial segregation ("separate but equal"); William Jennings Bryan delivers "Cross of Gold" speech | peach /ˈpiːtʃ/ | /ˈpiːtʃ/ | 96 |
| 1898 | Spanish-American War ends with Treaty of Paris: U.S. acquires Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines | pie +wave /paɪ/ + /weɪv/ | /paɪ/ + /weɪv/ | 98 |
1862 — Across freshly plowed prairie soil, a heavy iron surveyor's chain links a settler's homestead plot to a distant red-brick college hall as the Homestead Act and Morrill Land-Grant Act open western lands and fund public universities. (tʃ·n → 62)
1869 — At Promontory Summit in Utah, a woolly white sheep steps calmly across the wooden railroad ties right where the eastern and western iron rails join to complete the Transcontinental Railroad. (ʃ·p → 69)
1876 — Out on the Montana plains near the Little Bighorn, a heavy wrought-iron cage stands empty on the prairie grass while word races east along the lines of Alexander Graham Bell's newly patented telephone. (k·dʒ → 76)
1882 — On the weathered planks of a Pacific port pier, a pleated silk folding fan stands open in an arc along a closed wooden dock barrier when the Chinese Exclusion Act becomes the first major federal law restricting immigration by nationality. (f·n → 82)
1886 — On the wet cobblestones of Chicago's Haymarket Square, a gleaming silver fish gleams beside a workers' speaker stand in the tense year of the Haymarket affair and the founding of the AFL. (f·ʃ → 86)
1887 — Beside a western rail embankment, a golden straw hive hums on the left while a black-and-white dairy cow stands across split-rail allotment fences on the right, marking both the Interstate Commerce Act and the Dawes Act. (v → 8 · k → 7)
1890 — At the edge of the western frontier, an open green pod displays five round green peas beside a boundary fence post in the year Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Census Bureau declares the frontier closed, and tragedy strikes at Wounded Knee. (p·z → 90)
1894 — Outside the Chicago rail yard, a massive brown bear blocks the iron tracks in front of idle Pullman passenger cars, halting national rail traffic during the Pullman Strike until a federal labor injunction breaks the standstill. (b·ɚ → 94)
1896 — On the stone steps of a southern courthouse, a golden-blush peach rests squarely in the summer sun as Plessy v. Ferguson upholds "separate but equal" segregation and William Jennings Bryan delivers his fiery "Cross of Gold" speech. (p·tʃ → 96)
1898 — On a sunny harbor jetty, a golden lattice-crust pie cools on the left while a curling ocean wave rises on the right as the Spanish-American War ends with the Treaty of Paris, bringing Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines under United States rule. (p → 9 · v → 8)