150th Golden Spike Anniversary

by admin on May.10, 2019, under Uncategorized

I joined who knows how many thousand (Spike150 estimated 38,000 people visited May 10-12) of my railroading friends today at Promontory Summit, UT to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike that marked the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869. (Unless you’re from Strasburg, CO which tends to argue the point; they’ll have their 150th at Comanche Crossing on August 15, 2020. That’s just up the road from us, so we’re going!)

As with yesterday’s fun at Union Station in Ogden, UT with the arrival of the Big Boy UP #4014 and her traveling companion, UP #844, there were so many people that I couldn’t get much in the way of great pictures of either the equipment or even what was happening on stage. So, the photos here give you a feel for what attending the event looked like. I’m sure there will be plenty of closeup shots on social media from those who were close up. All my pics from the day are here.

The ceremony turned out to have quite the list of dignitaries, including Utah Governor Herbert, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Secretary of Transportation (whom we worked with back when she was at Labor and I was with the California Space Authority), Mitt Romney, Rep. Bishop, Lance Fritz of the UPRR, the Irish ambassador to the U.S. (who offered a champagne toast!), the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. (by video), and more.

Part of the reason for so many dignitaries is that the Golden Spike National Historical Site recently was upgraded to a full-fledged National Historical Park.

The keynote was given by author Jon Meacham, and without a doubt, gave the best speech of the day. If a recording gets posted anywhere, I’ll hook it in here. My favorite quote, roughly, “a country is unified by its passion for what we love in common.”

Did you know that on that very day in 1869, the real last spike (not the golden ceremonial spikes) and rail were wired to the telegraph system so that the world could actually “hear” the completion of the railroad. #DONE

Interesting map showing why Promontory Summit is no longer on the existing rail line.

Did you notice that 5/10 (May 10th) and Spike150 share the same digits?