The Golden Spike

Shortly after my last update I had two other adventures, which until now I have simply not had the time to describe properly. With pressure mounting from my readers, and time ever marching onwards, I now undertake to relate those events.

The first adventure, which will be described herein, is the visit to the Golden Spike National Historic Site near Promontory Summit in northern Utah.


I arrived in the morning around 10 AM. Imagine my surprise to find that I was the only visitor to this site. The cold chill and dismal weather appeared to have frightened away all other travelers.


I braved on though. The front of the site seemed simple enough with a white, stunted obelisk. It seemed fitting to me. The British had spanned their country 20 years earlier, and Panama had a transcontinental railroad 10 years prior. Thus I felt the diminutive monument properly recorded the import of the day.


The scale of the achievement I did not fully realize until Ranger Kilton shed some light on the matter.


Employing over 15,000 workers who labored from both extremes, and costing almost $100 million at the time. That is almost £950 million in today's currency. An extremely healthy sum for any project, and a huge percentage of the entire countries GDP at the time.


The original last tie, and the gold and silver spikes "driven" into it were removed immediately after the ceremony installing them. Today, a finished replica tie has been installed, though replica golden spikes are strikingly absent.


Overall, the site was very pleasant to visit, and provided a wealth of historical information. I am very excited to visit it again this summer with my wonderful friends from Oregon when they come out to visit me.