Fun Facts and Ways to Celebrate the 150 Year Anniversary of the Golden Spike


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On May 10, 1869, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads connected at Promontory Summit in Utah. To commemorate the event, several golden spikes were created. A special wooden tie was laid, and Leland Stanford drove one golden spike into it as onlookers cheered. The spike is now displayed in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University (Wikipedia). With the completion of the Intercontinental Railroad, Latter-day Saints stopped crossing the plains in wagons or pushing handcarts and simply took the train. This transformed the process of emigration to Utah and indeed made Utah and Salt Lake City "the crossroads of the west." The transcontinental railroad being finished with a spike of gold was the brainchild of David Hewes, a San Francisco financier and contractor. Two trains met at Promontory, Utah, to join the tracks being laid from east to west and west to east — Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific No. 60 (better known as the Jupiter). Between 500 and 3,000 people were there to witness the momentous event. In the United States, the event has come to be considered one of the...

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