![]() ![]() īefore the last spike was driven, three other commemorative spikes, presented on behalf of the other three members of the Central Pacific's Big Four who did not attend the ceremony, had been driven in the pre-bored laurel tie: It is unknown how many people attended the event estimates run from as low as 500 to as many as 3,000 government and railroad officials and track workers were present to witness the event. 60 (better known as the Jupiter) locomotives were drawn up face-to-face on Promontory Summit. On May 10, in anticipation of the ceremony, Union Pacific No. The Last Spike, 1881 painting by Thomas Hill The ceremony was originally to be held on (the date actually engraved on the spike), but it was postponed two days because of bad weather and a labor dispute that delayed the arrival of the Union Pacific side of the rail line. A special tie of polished California laurel was chosen to complete the line where the spike would be driven. Two of the sides were engraved with the names of the railroad officers and directors. The spike had been manufactured earlier that year especially for the event by the William T. ![]() A full re-enactment of the original ceremony is held on May 10th each year but locomotives are in operation every day from May to September, and at other times can be viewed in the engine shed.See also: First Transcontinental Railroad § The "Last Spike" ceremonyĬompleting the last link in the transcontinental railroad with a spike of gold was the brainchild of David Hewes, a San Francisco financier and contractor. 119) were scrapped in the early 1900s so instead two brightly colored replicas, built in 1979, make the short journey from an engine shed just out of sight behind a nearby hill, to the track beside the center, where they meet at the exact completion spot, accompanied by workers in period costume. The original steam trains that first traveled on the completed line (Central Pacific Jupiter and Union Pacific No. The paved road ends at the Golden Spike visitor center, park headquarters and restored railway, near which are a few old wagons and pieces of machinery, but there isn't much original equipment on view apart from in the museum. The surroundings are grassy, empty though privately owned, used for cattle ranching a few side tracks branch off including one to remote Locomotive Springs, an important riparian area. On the far side of the highway, the CP line is used by the East Grade Auto Tour, a one-way, 2 mile section open to vehicles (no RVs).Īfter the Big Fill trailhead, the highway climbs a little more up to a wide plateau, becomes quite straight, and heads due west, parallel to the two sets of tracks. The UP line crossed the ravine via a 400 foot long wooden bridge (the Big Trestle), long since removed, but the abutments at each end can still be seen. Both railroad beds cross the same grassy hillside, past rocky outcrops, through several small cuts and over a few lesser fills. The path follows the upper line (Central Pacific) to the fill - a particularly large embankment over a wide ravine - then returns a short distance to the south along the thinner, more eroded Union Pacific line. The first point of interest in the National Historic Site is the 1.5 mile (loop) Big Fill Trail, which tours parts of both the competing rail lines, each clearly visible as they cross the road from north to south. The steep terrain slowed down traffic such that the 140 mile journey between Ogden and the Nevada stateline took 36 hours, hence it soon became clear that a flatter, more direct route was needed, and the line was in operation for only 35 years before being abandoned, replaced by the Lucin Cutoff to the south, a route still used by the present day Southern Pacific railroad. Twenty miles from I-15, a left turn leads to the NHS (see map), first passing another little-traveled side road to Promontory Point, then climbing a little into a seemingly benign range of low, grassy mountains, yet these were tall enough to provide a significant obstruction to the railway, requiring wide curves and steep grades, approaching the 2% maximum and necessitating use of helper engines, known as hogs, to push the trains uphill. Apart from the park, the only site receiving much traffic hereabouts is the ATK Aerospace Center (a rocket research facility) - otherwise, development is limited to a few scattered ranches. The main to approach Golden Spike NHS is from I-15 near Brigham City along Hwy 83, which heads west along the edge of the vast Great Salt Lake basin the land is flat, salty and marshy to the south, hilly to the north.
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