Golden Spike National Historical Park is a United States

National Historical Park National Historic Site (NHS) is a designation for an officially recognized area of national historic significance in the United States. An NHS usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject. The National Historic ...

located at

Promontory Summit Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City. Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above sea ...

, north of the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particu ...

in east-central

Box Elder County, Utah Box Elder County is a county at the northwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of 2018, the estimated population is 54,950. Its county seat and largest city is Brigham City. The county was named for the box elder trees that abound in the ...

, United States. The nearest city is Corinne, approximately east-southeast of the site. It commemorates the completion of the

first Transcontinental Railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

where the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the " First transcontinental railroad" in North America. Incor ...

and the first

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

met on May 10, 1869. The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6- karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...

Background

The Golden Spike National Historical Park encompasses . Initially just when it was established in 1957, limited to the area near the junction of the two rail systems, the site was expanded by in 1965 through land swaps and acquisition of approximately a strip of land mostly wide along of the former railroad right-of-way. It reached its present size in 1980. In addition to the Summit site where the rails were joined, the Park includes the two linear areas known as the west slope (west of the junction) and the east slope (east of the junction), which include worker campsites, partially-completed grades, incomplete cuts, specialty workshops, and two historical landmarks: where the Central Pacific finished its "Ten miles of track, laid in one day" tracklaying record (west slope) and where the

Big Fill The Big Fill was an engineering project on the First transcontinental railroad in the U.S. state of Utah. To avoid a costly tunnel through mountainous terrain east of Promontory Summit, Central Pacific engineers mapped an alternate route that s ...

and Big Trestle were completed (east slope). Although the line was abandoned in 1904 (bypassed by the

Lucin Cutoff The Lucin Cutoff is a railroad line in Utah, United States that runs from Ogden to its namesake in Lucin. The most prominent feature of the cutoff was a railroad trestle crossing the Great Salt Lake, which was in use from 1904 until the late ...

) and the original rails were removed in 1942 to serve the war effort, the site presently includes of rebuilt track from the summit area (where the rail systems were joined) to a train storage building. The rebuilt track was designed to be an authentic representation of the 1869 rails. In 2002, it received 49,950 visitors. annual visitation ranges from 48,000 to 64,000.

History

The first monument erected at the site was a concrete obelisk built by the Southern Pacific Railroad (successor to the Central Pacific) . It has since been moved several times, but can presently be seen near the 1969 Visitor's Center. Bernice Gibbs Anderson founded and led the movement to have the site preserved as a memorial to the First Transcontinental Railroad, starting with articles about local history that began in 1926. Anderson was president of the Golden Spike Association of Box Elder County, which held its first re-enactment of the joining of the rails on May 10, 1952, using local volunteers organized by Judge B.C. Call from a script written by Marie Thorne Jepson. Anderson tirelessly wrote to state and federal officials urging them to build a monument at Promontory Summit, and it was authorized as a National Historic Site on April 2, 1957, under non-federal ownership; at that time, the Golden Spike Association maintained the site under a cooperative agreement between the Southern Pacific Railroad and the state and federal governments. It was authorized for federal ownership and administration by an act of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

on July 30, 1965, as Golden Spike National Historic Site. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law March 12, 2019, redesignated it as a national historical park. Historic sites are typically a single building, while historical parks include multiple landmarks in a larger district. 28,000 visitors attended the centennial anniversary of the completion ceremony on May 10, 1969, including Bernice Gibbs Anderson. The Visitor's Center had just been completed. On that day, the locomotives ''Genoa'' and ''Inyo'' were loaned from the

Virginia and Truckee Railroad The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a privately owned heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is long. When first constructed in the 19th century, it was a commercial freight railroad ...

to recreate the completion ceremony. That year, the railroad grade was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. In 1978, a general master plan for the site was adopted with the goal of maintaining the site's scenic attributes as closely as possible to its appearance and characteristics in 1869. The functioning replicas of the ''Jupiter'' and ''No. 119'' locomotives were brought to the site in time to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the joining of the rails in 1979. In 2006, a petition to the

Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

resulted in a name change for Chinaman's Arch, a limestone arch at Golden Spike National Historical Park. Named Chinaman's Arch in honor of the 19th century

Chinese railroad workers The history of Chinese Americans or the history of ethnic Chinese in the United States includes three major waves of Chinese immigration to the United States, beginning in the 19th century. Chinese immigrants in the 19th century worked in the ...

, the arch was officially renamed in the same year as the

Chinese Arch Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

to mollify sensitivities about the original name. On May 10, 2019, a 150th anniversary celebration was held in commemoration of the completion of the railroad. This event was attended by several notable local leaders, including Utah governor

Gary Herbert Gary Richard Herbert (born May 7, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 17th Governor of Utah from 2009 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the National Governors Association during the 2015–2016 cycle. Herbert wo ...

and the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

Russell M. Nelson Russell Marion Nelson Sr. (born September 9, 1924) is an American religious leader and retired surgeon who is the 17th and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Nelson was a member of the LDS Church ...

Gallery

File:Golden Spike National Historical Park, Promontory, Utah (43508046950).jpg, Park sign (photographed in 2018) File:Golden Spike National Historic Site GOSP4965.jpg, 28,000 visitors attended the centennial celebration (1969) File:Golden Spike National Historic Site GOSP4968.jpg, Re-enacting the driving of the

(1969) File:GoldenSpike modern.jpg, Replicas of ''No. 119'' and ''Jupiter'' at (the then named) Golden Spike National Historic Site (2006) File:GoldenSpike UP119.JPG, Recreations of the Golden Spike ceremony are performed on a seasonal schedule; this one was in May 2012. File:Visitor Center 2016-10-14 2445.jpg, Visitor's Center (2016) File:Plaque at Promontory Summit, UT.jpg, Plaque to honor the Chinese railroad workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad. File:Southern Pacific Monument -Golden Spike NHS Memorial 2016-10-14 2524.jpg, Southern Pacific Monument (2016) File:Chinese Arch 2016-10-14 2633.jpg, Chinese Arch (2016)

References

External links

* * *
ThemeTrains.com - The Golden Spike Centennial Limited
* * * {{authority control Rail transportation on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Box Elder County, Utah National Historic Sites in Utah Railroad museums in Utah Museums in Box Elder County, Utah History museums in Utah Protected areas of Box Elder County, Utah Historic American Buildings Survey in Utah Historic American Engineering Record in Utah Protected areas established in 1957 1957 establishments in Utah National Historical Parks of the United States First transcontinental railroad Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Transportation in Box Elder County, Utah

Background

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links