Golden Spike Ceremony, May 10, 1994

The "Golden Spike" ceremony was held at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1994. During this celebration, 10,000 people were expected to attend. I spent the previous days photographing and taping the events which took place in nearby Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah. These are just a few photographs of the Promontory Summit area.

The Spike(s)

The photo on the left is a picture (looking east) of the "tie" where the golden spike was placed. Actually, there were five spikes used in the original ceremony:

There were two solid gold spikes from California.
One solid silver spike from Nevada
One iron spike with silver placed on the shaft and gold plating on the head (with elaborate engraving) from Arizona (pictured)
a regular iron spike which was actually driven into the tie

Three of the gold/silver spikes exist today. The gold/silver spikes were never "driven" into a tie. Instead, they were temporarily placed in holes in a specially made tie. What you see here is only a replica of that tie (obviously). The last rail laid was also pulled up after the original ceremonies and sliced into several sections. At least one of those sections survives today (in private possession). There is more information available on the spikes.

The Cut

The tracks through Promontory Summit were removed during World War II. This is a portion of the CP grade as it winds through the mountains. Both the CP and the UP prepared grades some twenty miles past each other prior to the selection of Promontory Summit as the meeting point. The reason they did this was simple because the workers were being paid by the mile and until a meeting point was selected, they want to keep making money. Both of these grades can easily be seen winding between Promontory Summit and Ogden. Cars can even drive on portions of the original grade (as seen in the photo).

Central Pacific's Jupiter

This is CP's #60 "Jupiter" in its original paint scheme. With 10,000 people attending, it was extremely difficult to get a photograph without all sorts of people in my view of the locomotive. I stood at this spot, waiting a very long time for a split-second moment when no one (except for one person) was in my view. I was able to get this split second shot.

This is not the original CP 60 Jupiter. The original was scrapped long ago. Both the Jupiter and the 119 were constructed in 1980 for the National Park Service by Chadwell O'Connor Engineering Laboratories of Costa Mesa, CA. Built with $1.5 million in federal funds, these were the first steam engines constructed in the United States in twenty-five years. They were painted and lettered by Disney employees and are incredibly accurate replicas of the originals. They both were built as gas burners were the wood in the tender served only to hide the natural gas tank. In 1991 both the CP Jupiter and UP 119 were converted to burn their original fuels, wood for the Jupiter and Coal for the 119.

This shot was used on the CD cover of The Celestial Railroad by Artemus Trine. Go to his web site and then select "Albums" to see the amazing work that was done to this photo.

Union Pacific's 119

This is UP's #119 in its original paint scheme as it approached the "Golden Spike Ceremony" from its storage shed.

More Photos

Jupiter at 2000 Ceremony (Photo courtesy Dave Sanders)
Westinghouse Air Brake on (probably) CPRR Jupiter (Photo courtesy Shuji Maeda, Sept. 13, 1998)
UPRR 119 is coming down the track (Photo courtesy Shuji Maeda, Sept. 13, 1998)
119 with a blue wagon (Photo courtesy Shuji Maeda, Sept. 13, 1998)
Jupiter seen from the rear (Photo courtesy Shuji Maeda, Sept. 13, 1998)
119(left) and Jupiter(right) meeting at the historic site (Photo courtesy Shuji Maeda, Sept. 13, 1998)

Web Sites Relating to the Golden Spike Historic Site

Golden Spike National Historic Site, UT
Golden Spike National Historic Site (Official Site)
Central Pacific Railroad
Driving the Last Spike
Driving the Last Spike (Four Spikes)
The Trestlewood Furniture Story