Golden Spike National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake in east-central Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The nearest city is Corinne, approximately east-southeast of the site.

It commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the first Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869. The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial golden spike.

Background

thumb|[[National Park Service map of Golden Spike National Historical Park|200x200px]]

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.

Although the line was abandoned in 1904 (bypassed by the Lucin Cutoff) 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.

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 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.

It was authorized for federal ownership and administration by an act of Congress 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 Center had just been completed. That year, the railroad grade was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

In March 2019 the site was redesignated as Golden Spike National Historical Park.

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 and the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson.

thumb|alt=memorializes workers who lost their lives building the nations first transcontinental railroad|Transcontinental Railroad Memorial - memorializes workers who lost their lives building the nation's first transcontinental railroad

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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 Golden Spike (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 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)

File:Diesel shuttle 2016-10-14 2582.jpg| The General Electric 25-ton switcher used for moving No. 119 and Jupiter when they're not under power

</gallery>

See also

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Box Elder County, Utah
  • Jupiter (locomotive)
  • Union Pacific No. 119
  • List of heritage railroads in the United States
  • List of transport museums
  • Promontory, Utah
  • Northern Pacific Railway Completion Site, 1883

References

  • ThemeTrains.com - The Golden Spike Centennial Limited