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Visitor Center hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. It is closed New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. Outside attractions are open during daylight hours. If you plan to spend several hours visiting, bring food and drink – visitor center only has water and cookies to purchase. Golden Spike is in the Mountain Time zone and does change to daylight savings time. Please call (435) 471-2209 ext. 29 for latest information.

The Steam Locomotives are on display and operate daily from May 1 through Labor Day between the hours of 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Locomotive operations and demonstrations are always subject to change without notice. These are photo runs only, no rides are available. During the winter, the locomotives are kept in the Engine House for repairs and maintenance. In the winter, Engine House Tours are available Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Please see Ranger at Visitor Center for an Engine House pass. Engine House Tour availability is subject to change. Call (435) 471-2209 ext. 29 to check schedules.

Photographs, diaries, and other historical records indicate that about 1,000 people participated in the celebration at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. Politicians, officials of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, railroad workers (including a Chinese contingent from the Central Pacific), five companies of soldiers from the 21st Infantry Regiment, and members of the public from near and far were in attendance. Although the crowd was mostly men, a small number of women and children were present. Four special spikes were used in the ceremony.

San Francisco contractor David Hewes, friend of Central Pacific President Leland Stanford, was disappointed to discover no one had prepared a commemorative for the railroad, which was scheduled to be finished on May 8, 1869. Unable to persuade anyone to finance the casting of a solid gold or silver section of rail, Hewes decided upon a more practical token. Using about $400 of his own gold, he had the William T. Garatt Foundry of San Francisco cast a golden spike. The spike was 5 5/8 inches long, weighed 14.03 ounces and was made of 17.6 carat gold. Only about $350 worth of gold, however, was used to make the actual spike. The remainder was left attached to the spike in a large sprue.

After casting, the golden spike was engraved on all four sides and the top. Two sides bore the names of railroad officers and directors. Another side was engraved “The Pacific Railroad ground broken Jany 8th 1863 and completed May 8th 1869.” The fourth side was engraved “May God continue the unity of our country as the railroad unites the two great oceans of the world. Presented David Hewes San Francisco.” The top of the spike was simply engraved, “The Last Spike”.

Unlike the Golden Spike, Nevada’s silver spike was forged instead of cast. The spike was ordered on May 5, 1869 by railroad Commissioner and candidate for Governor of the new state of Nevada, Mr. F.A. Tritle. Virginia City assayers E. Ruhling & Co. provided 25 ounces of silver which Robert Lodge of the Dowling Blacksmith Shop forged into a rather rough, unpolished, 6-inch, 10 1/2 ounce spike bearing only the assayers stamp. The spike was rushed twenty miles to Reno, barely in time to be given to Stanford aboard his special train heading to Promontory Summit for the ceremony marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

The spike presented by the Arizona Territory was a composite made from plating an ordinary 6-inch iron spike with gold on the head and silver on the shaft. The territory’s newly appointed Governor, Anson P.K. Safford, had the spike made, but when and by whom is unknown. The highly polished spike was engraved, “Ribbed with iron clad in silver and crowned with gold Arizona presents her offering to the enterprise that has banded a continent and dictated a pathway to commerce. Presented by Governor Safford.”

A second golden spike was ordered by Frederick Marriott, proprietor of the San Francisco News Letter newspaper company. This 5-inch long, 9 1/2 ounce spike, made from about $200 worth of gold, was inscribed, “With this spike the San Francisco News Letter offers its homage to the great work which has joined the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This month-May, 1869.”

L.W. Coe, president of San Francisco’s Pacific Express Company, had tool maker Conroy & O’Conner manufacture a special spike hammer or maul, for the Golden Spike Ceremony. The maul was then taken to Vanderslice & Co. of San Francisco, where it was heavily plated with silver and stamped with the manufacturer’s name.

West Evens, tie contractor for Central Pacific, had San Francisco billiard table manufacturer Strahle & Hughes prepare a highly polished tie made from California laurelwood. The 7 1/2 foot long, 8×6 inch tie bore a centered silver plaque marked, “The last tie laid on completion of the Pacific Railroad, May, 1869.” The plaque also listed the officers and directors of Central Pacific along with the names of the tie maker and donor. Four holes were drilled into the tie in order to accommodate the ceremonial spikes.

Before the start of the Golden Spike Ceremony, workers brought the laurelwood tie from Stanford’s coach, placed it on the grade, and laid the last rail sections across it. The Ceremony then commenced, emceed by wealthy Sacramento banker, Edgar Mills. An invocation was offered by the Reverend Dr. John Todd of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Presentation of the spikes and ties followed.

After an arduously verbose speech, Dr. H. W. Harkness, a Sacramento newspaper publisher and editor, presented the two golden spikes to Leland Stanford. Union Pacific Vice-President Thomas Durant was then presented Nevada’s silver spike by Mr. Tritle and Arizona’s spike by Governor Safford. Stanford then offered a rousing speech. He was to have been followed by Durant, but due to Durant’s severe headache (most likely a hangover from the previous night’s party in Ogden); Union Pacific’s Chief Engineer, General Grenville Dodge, took Durant’s place and gave a few short, but enthusiastic words. Mr. Coe then presented the silver plated maul, which Stanford and Durant used to gently tap the precious metal spikes, so as to leave no mark upon either spikes, or maul.

Immediately thereafter, the precious metal spikes and laurelwood tie were removed and replaced with a pine tie, into which three ordinary spikes were driven. A fourth iron spike, and a regular iron spike hammer, were both wired to the transcontinental telegraph line so that the nation could “hear” the blows as the spike was driven.

Stanford took a mighty swing at the spike, and struck the tie instead. Durant, still not feeling too well, took a feeble swing, and did not even hit the tie! Finally, a regular rail worker drove home the last spike, and the telegrapher, W.N. Shilling of Western Union, sent the long awaited message, “D-O-N-E.” The time was 12:47 p.m., Monday May 10, 1869.

Following a brief time on display, the Golden Spike was returned to David Hewes. In 1892, Hewes donated his extensive rare art collection, including the Golden Spike, to the museum of newly built Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto, California.

Nevada’s silver spike was temporarily returned to Virginia City Jewelers Nye & Co., who polished the spike and engraved 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 oceans.” The spike was then delivered to Stanford and eventually placed along with the Golden Spike in the Stanford University museum.

It is unknown what happened to Arizona Territory’s spike immediately following the Ceremony. Today, it is owned by the museum of the City of New York.

The whereabouts of the second gold spike is unknown. It has been speculated that the spike was given to one of the Union Pacific dignitaries, but there is no mention of the spike in any memoirs. It is also possible that the spike was returned to the News Letter. If so, its fate may well have been the same as the newspaper company, when, in 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed the News Letter building.

The silver plated spike maul was also given to Leland Stanford and became part of the Stanford 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 in the Flood Building. Unfortunately, the building and tie also fell victim to the great earthquake and fire of 1906.

The large sprue attached to the Golden Spike was removed shortly before the Ceremony. David Hewes took the sprue and had it made into 4 small rings and seven, one-inch long spike 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 watch fobs, including nephew Tilden G. Abbott, whose fob is on display at Golden Spike National Historic Site.

On May 10, 1869, two ordinary steam locomotives rolled into Promontory and into history. Their stories span more than 130 years of triumph, tragedy and loss and culminate in a happy ending right here at Golden Spike National Historic Site.

In September 1868, Schenectady Locomotive Works of New York built Central Pacific locomotives Storm, Whirlwind, Leviathan and Jupiter. Like all Central Pacific locomotives built until 1870, they were dismantled from their frames, loaded onto a ship, and taken around South America’s Cape Horn to San Francisco, California. At San Francisco, the engines were loaded onto a barge and towed upriver to Central Pacific headquarters in Sacramento. There, they were reassembled and commissioned into service on March 20, 1869. 2,000 gallons of water will get a steam locomotive approximately 15 to 30 miles. Then they’ll have to stop and fill up to get to the next 15 to 30 miles.

Less than two months later, Jupiter pulled Central Pacific’s President, Leland Stanford’s special train to Promontory Summit, Utah territory, for the Golden Spike Ceremony. Stanford did not originally choose Jupiter to pull his special train to Promontory. The honor of pulling Stanford’s special train first fell to a locomotive named Antelope. Enroute to Promontory Summit, the Stanford Special followed a passenger train carrying sightseers to the “wedding of the rails.” As that train passed through a large mountain cut still being cleared, workmen in the cut did not notice a small green flag flying from the locomotive. The flag indicated that another train followed close behind.

Immediately after the train passed, workmen rolled a huge log down the cut. Around the corner came Stanford’s Special and the Antelope struck the log. She wasn’t derailed, but was so badly damaged that Stanford’s telegrapher wired the next station to hold the train that was just ahead of the special. After the Special limped into the station, Stanford’s cars were coupled to the other train’s locomotive, Jupiter, who then took her place in history on May 10, 1869.

After her glorious moment in 1869, Jupiter continued service as a Central Pacific passenger locomotive. In 1885, Central Pacific was absorbed into the Southern Pacific Railroad system. The Jupiter name was dropped in the 1870′s when the locomotive was repainted, and in 1891, her number was changed from No.60 to No. 1195.

A name change was accompanied by even greater changes such as a new boiler and new bonnet. Even her pilot, which had vertical slats, was replaced with one having horizontal slats. Then, in 1893, No. 1195 was converted into a coal burning locomotive.

No longer resembling Jupiter, No. 1195 was later sold that same year to the Gila Valley, Globe and Northern Railroad in Arizona. Being the first locomotive on their railroad, the GVG&N renamed her No. 1. There she had a loyal following, and only one more change awaited “Ol’ One Spot.”

The locomotive that had once been the proud Jupiter ran on the Globe until the early 1900′s when despite efforts of her engineer to save her, the railroad sold their historic locomotive to scrappers. Her sale brought the railroad a scrapper’s fee of $1,000.

During November 1868, Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey, built Union Pacific locomotives No. 116, No. 117, No. 118, No. 119, and No. 120. Seven months later, No. 119 received a call to pull Union Pacific Vice-President Thomas Durant and his contingent of dignitaries to Promontory Summit. Like Stanford, Durant originally chose a different locomotive to take part in the Golden Spike Ceremony.

En route to Promontory for the ceremony, which was scheduled for May 8, the Durant Special was forced onto a siding and stopped at a little town of Piedmont, Wyoming, not far from the Utah border. There to greet Durant were over 400 laid off tie cutters, who had been waiting for three months to be paid.

Durant’s coach was immediately chained to the siding, and after a delay of nearly two days, the men’s pay arrived. The delay caused Durant substantial embarrassment, cost his original locomotive her place in history and moved the Golden Spike Ceremony to May 10.

While Durant was delayed, the rain-swollen Weber River continued to rise. When the Durant Special reached the river at Devil’s Gate Bridge, the locomotive’s engineer saw the raging water had removed some of the bridge supports. This left the bridge unsafe for the heavy engine, and the engineer refused to cross. However, after assuring Durant that the bridge would support the lighter passenger coaches, the engineer gave each coach a push with his locomotive. The cars of nervous dignitaries then coasted across the unstable structure. Unfortunately, this action left Durant without a locomotive. A hastily wired message to Ogden requested rescue. Sitting in Ogden were the five Union Pacific locomotives No. 116 through No. 120. It was No. 119 that was next to the main line and therefore, rescued Durant’s Special and landed its place in history at the Golden Spike Ceremony.

After May 10, 1869, No. 119 continued service as a freight locomotive. In 1882, she was renumbered N0. 4343 and served out her days until scrapped in the early 1900′s. Like Jupiter, No. 119′s sacrifice brought her railroad a scrapper’s fee of $1,000.

In 1975, O’Connor Engineering Laboratories of Costa Mesa, California, accepted the challenge of reproducing Jupiter and No. 119 as they were during the Golden Spike ceremony. With no plans or blueprints, engineers and technicians set out to build the historic American Standard 4-4-0 locomotives. Using a locomotive design engineer’s handbook from 1870 and micrometer scalings of enlarged 1869 photographs of the two locomotives, work began on building the replicas.

A four year labor of love ensued, including two years just to create over 700 drawings. When the locomotives were ready, every dimension was within 1/4 inch of original. It took four trucks to bring the gleaming replicas 800 miles to Promontory Summit, Utah. Here they were christened with water from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and commissioned into service May 10, 1979, the 110th Anniversary of the Golden Spike Ceremony.

Although the great pioneering, steam-driven days of the first continental railroad are gone, the legacy of that time lives on at Golden Spike national Historic Site. Here, the reborn Jupiter and No. 119 are tangible representatives of another era and serve as striking symbols for one of the most important events in our nation’s history.

Big Fill Loop Trail is a mile and a half round-trip walking trail. You will be walking on original Central Pacific grade. The trail allows you to access the Central Pacific’s Big Fill – a large ravine filled in so the trains could maintain their 2% or less grade. Walk through cuts, over fills, and see drill marks where workers blasted rock away. Keep in mind, all of this accomplished by simple tools, sweat, and a few cuss words. Parallel grade was built for nearly 250 miles across the state of Utah. No parallel track was ever laid.

See evidence of construction methods used to build the railroad along two tours in Golden Spike National Historic Site. The West Auto Tour is a 14-mile loop drive. As you ride on the original Central Pacific grade, look for the Union Pacific parallel grade; pass through several cuts; view fills, a stair-step cut, rock and wood culverts, and a distant glimpse of the Great Salt Lake. Pass the spot where the Central Pacific workers laid 10 miles of track in one day. The West Auto Tour closes in the winter season.

The East Auto Tour is a 2-mile loop drive. Along the way, see the Union Pacific’s last cut, several trestle abutments and fills, drive through cuts made by blasting rock, walk to the Chinese Arch, a natural limestone formation, a memorial to the thousands of Chinese who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad. Descend the steepest mile of railroad grade in Utah as you leave the tour. The East Auto Tour’s hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the winter season. These are subject to change.

During the summer, weather in northern Utah is generally sunny with high temperatures reaching around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Be prepared for any type of weather; mosquitoes can be a nuisance.

Current Weather

Vehicle fees are $5.00(winter)/$7.00(summer) – good for 7 days.
Fee is good for all persons riding in a private, noncommercial vehicle.

Individual fees are $3.00(winter)/$4.00(summer) – good for 7 days.
This admits one individual when entering by bicycle or motorcycle.

Golden Spike Annual, Golden Age, Golden Access, National Park, and Golden Eagle Passes are accepted and available for purchase. Please present identification.

Check for special group rates.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument, Capital Reef National Park, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Ashley National Forest, Great Salt Lake, Willard Bay State Park, North Fork Park, Hyrum State Park and Reservoir, and Bear Lake are all in Utah along with many small parks. Shoshone National Forest, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Fossil Butte National Monument are in Wyoming. Idaho has Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Minidoka Internment National Monument, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, City of Rocks National Reserve, Boise National Forest, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, and Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area.

Golden Spike National Historic Site is 32 miles west of Brigham City, Utah, via Utah Hwy. 83.

Northbound on I-15: exit #365, turn right (west) on Hwy. 13 to Hwy. 83. Follow signs to Golden Spike. (32 miles)

Southbound on I-15: exit I-84 west to exit #40 (Hwy. 102). Turn left and follow signs to Hwy. 83. Turn right on 83 and follow signs to Golden Spike. (Approximately 29 miles)

Eastbound on I-84: exit #26, south on Hwy. 83 past Thiokol Rocket Park, turn right at sign to Golden Spike. (Approximately 27 miles)

Westbound from Logan: Hwy. 30 west to I-15, then follow directions for Southbound on I-15. (Approximately 50 miles)

Approximate Mileage from the following major cities to Golden Spike National Historic Site:

By Car:

Boise, ID – 267.35 miles

Las Vegas, NV – 501.92 miles

Denver, CO – 574.59 miles

Cheyenne, WY – 478.97 miles

Salt Lake City, UT – 81.94 miles

Golden Spike National Historic Site P.O. Box 897 Brigham City, UT 84302-0897

Visitor Information/Visitor Center (435) 471-2209 x 29

By Fax (435)-471-2341