Golden Spike National Historic Site

Golden Spike is in northern Utah 8 miles east of the northeastern tip of the Great Salt Lake.  It is where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869 to complete the first transcontinental railroad.  There was not very much at the site, so only a few photos. It doesn't get many visitors either; averages about 51,000 per year.  It was still interesting. 

The famous photo commemorating the event.

They made a special tie for the last spike. After the ceremony, they removed the tie and put it a museum in San Francisco.  It was destroyed during the Great San Francisco earthquake in 1906.

This is an actual piece of one of the rails with replicas of the spikes.

This is a replica of the engine and coal car of the Union Pacific.  They happened to be running itthe day and time we were there.  The replica of the Central Pacific engine was in for maintenance.

Except for a few upgrades, such as more durable metal for the boiler, it is suppose to be as close to the original as it can get.


You can see part of a railroad bed just to the right of center.  It was abandoned when a better route was found.