1 The Northern Pacific Railway (NP) completed the third independent transcontinental railroad on August 22, 1883, linking Chicago with Seattle. 2  The Completion Ceremony was held on September 8, 1883, with former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant contributing to driving the Final Spike.
The average pay package last year was $22.6 million, up from $20.7 million in 2013, according to an analysis of companies' proxy disclosures by executive-compensation data firm Equilar. The average gain in total compensation for the 200 highest-paid U.S. CEOs worked out to 9.1 percent last year.
Average realized pay for CEOs at the top 350 firms as measured by revenue was up 3.9% between 2013 and 2014, and up by 54.3% since the recovery began in 2009.