Track Nails

[E7]

One small fly in the ointment.....they are nailing complete sections of track, not rails. I suppose the most important thing is that the dang stuff is fastened so it doesn't move about. There is always more than one way to skin a feline!

PS: MY BAD for typing track instead of rails!

[Wolf]

Go ahead E7... oh, and the, "Golden Spike" is not proof because it is just the name appled to one gold plated railroad nail.

Wow! Here I always thought that "THE Golden Spike" was a 17.6-carat gold spike commissioned by David Hewes of San Francisco to be
"driven" (actually dropped into a pre-drilled hole) by Stanford at the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Point in 1969. Currently on display
at Stanford University. Didn't know it was only gold-plated---like all those ones you can buy at the Tourist Trap lines??

[HONDO74]

Most people assume that there was one single golden spike that was driven into the last tie when the trans-continental railroad was completed. This is not the case. There were actually six spikes that had something to do with the original ceremony:

Hewes Golden spike number 1 from California
Hewes Golden spike number 2 from California
San Francisco News Letter Golden spike 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 to the right)
A regular iron spike ("Lemon Spike") which was the only spike driven into the tie

The gold and silver spikes were never "driven" into a tie. Instead, they were temporarily placed in holes in a laurelwood tie specially made for the original ceremony. The last rail laid was also pulled up after the original ceremony and sliced into several sections. At least one of those sections survives today (in private possession). Four of the five gold/silver spikes are known to exist today.

Hewes Golden Spike #1 (Hewes Stanford Gold Spike)
David Hewes had two gold spikes cast in 1869. The first one was quickly engraved and sent with Leland Stanford for use at the ceremony at Promontory. After the original ceremony, the first of the two golden spikes from California traveled back to California in the laurelwood tie aboard Stanford's coach. En route, a group of Army Officers riding with Stanford attempted to "drive" the spike into the tie with the pommels of their swords, which accounts for several small round indentations on the spike's head.

The large sprue attached to this golden spike had been removed shortly before the Ceremony. David Hewes took the sprue and had it made into four small rings and seven, one inch long watch fobs. The rings were presented to Leland Stanford, Oakes Ames (Union Pacific President), President U. S. Grant, and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Several dignitaries and Hewes relatives were presented watchfobs, including nephew Tilden G. Abbott, whose fob is on display at Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Following a brief time on display, this golden spike was returned to David Hewes. Hewes kept it until 1892, when he donated his extensive rare art collection, including the golden spike, to the museum of the newly built Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto, CA.

Hewes Golden Spike #2 (Keepsake Gold Spike)
David Hewes had two gold spikes cast in 1869. This, the second one did not make the trip to Promontory Summit for the ceremony (at least there is no record of it doing so) and was not engraved until after the ceremony. It also remained with the sprue intact. This spike remained with the Hewes family for over 100 years. In 2005 it was discovered that this second golden spike had been held for 136 years by the Hewes family and descendants. It is now on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento

[E7]

Didn't know it was only gold-plated---like all those ones you can buy at the Tourist Trap lines??

Considering the size of a spike (nail), seems like even plating would require a fair amount of AU!

I wonder if they (the tourist pieces) are just done with gilt paint?

Rich

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Most people assume that there was one single golden spike that was driven into the last tie when the trans-continental railroad was completed. This is not the case. There were actually six spikes that had something to do with the original ceremony....

If you've ever witnessed or attended a ground breaking ceremony, you'll find that something similar takes place - many ceremonial shovels to symbolically turn over or break the ground for the new building.

Had to be pre-drilled; can't imagine either a gold or silver spike surviving a couple of good on target blows from a driving hammer,

[webenda]

Most people assume that there was one single golden spike that was driven into the last tie when the trans-continental railroad was completed. This is not the case. There were actually six spikes that had something to do with the original ceremony:

Thank you for the story on the plethora of golden (and not so golden) spikes Hondo74.

[HONDO74]

Most people assume that there was one single golden spike that was driven into the last tie when the trans-continental railroad was completed. This is not the case. There were actually six spikes that had something to do with the original ceremony:

Thank you for the story on the plethora of golden (and not so golden) spikes Hondo74.

Wayne, here is the rest of the information.

San Francisco News Letter Golden Spike
The whereabouts of this gold spike is unknown. It was present at the ceremony. It had been speculated that the spike was given to one of the Union Pacific dignitaries, but there was no mention of the spike in any of their memoirs. It was also possible that the spike was returned to the San Francisco News Letter newspaper. If so, its fate is most likely the same as the newspaper company, when, in 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed the News Letter Building. The fate of this spike remains a mystery.

Nevada Silver Spike
Nevada's silver spike was temporarily returned to Virginia City jewelers: Nye & Co., where it was brightly polished and engraved on one side: To Leland Stanford President of the Central Pacific Railroad. To the iron of the East and the gold of the West Nevada adds her link of silver to span the continent and wed the oceans. The spike was then delivered to Stanford and eventually placed along with the first golden spike in the Stanford University Museum.

Arizona Iron/Silver Spike
It is unclear what happened to Arizona Territory's spike immediately following the Ceremony. It is assumed that the Arizona spike was given to Union Pacific official Sidney Dillon (a Director, and later President of the UP). A photo at Promontory by Central Pacific photographer Alfred A. Hart (#356) shows Dillon holding up a spike - presumably the Arizona spike. Standing in front of him in the photo is Arizona Territorial Governor Anson P. K. Safford, a Nevada politician and just appointed Arizona Governor, who commissioned the spike before he had ever set foot in Arizona. It is unclear whether the spike was made in Virginia City or Carson City, Nevada, or in San Francisco.

Decades later, it became part of the Museum of the City of New York's collection when the granddaughter of Sidney Dillon, Mrs. Arthur Whitney (Florence Dillon Wyckoff Whitney), gave the spike to the Museum in 1943. The Museum then loaned it to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, IA (the official starting point of the transcontinental railroad) for a time.

Iron "Lemon" Spike
The only spike actually driven into a tie at the ceremony was a "normal" iron spike. It is not entirely clear if this spike was the last one driven before the ceremonial spikes or if this spike was the last one driven after replacing the ceremonial tie (and spikes). In any case it is sometimes referred to as the "Lemon Spike" because of the name of the Union Pacific fireman (David Lemon) on the UP 119. This spike was also saved and is now at the Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto, CA.

The silver plated spike maul was also given to Leland Stanford and became part of the collection at Stanford University museum. The famous laurelwood tie remained on display in Sacramento until 1890. By then, Central Pacific had been reorganized into Southern Pacific, and the tie was taken to the railroad's San Francisco offices at 4th and Townsend Streets. Unfortunately, the building and tie also fell victim to the great earthquake and fire of 1906.

[webenda]

Thank you again Hondo74,

When you start one of these threads you just never know where it is going to go.

Three of the spikes are travelling.

Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE: October 6, 2018 – January 6, 2019

"Highlighting the Joslyn installation will be the three original ceremonial railroad spikes that were presented during the festivities at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. Reunited for the first time in 150 years, the Gold Spike, the Silver Spike, and the Arizona Spike were given to railroad officials to celebrate the laying of the last rail and have not been displayed together since that day. Two of the spikes, the Gold Spike and the Silver Spike, are in the collection of the Cantor Museum at Stanford University, and the Arizona Spike* is part of the collections of the Museum of the City of New York. This spike has been on display since 2003, at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa."

*The Arizona Spike has been on display in the UP Museum since it opened in 2003 on a permanent loan from the New York museum.

Reference: https://www.up.com/media/releases/18071 ... bition.htm
http://www.uprrmuseum.org/museum/exhibi ... ntal.shtml
https://www.nonpareilonline.com/news/lo ... 81343.html