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A rail spike (also known as a cut spike or crampon) is a large nail with an offset head that is used to secure rails and base plates to railroad ties (sleepers) in the track. Robert Livingston Stevens is credited with the invention of the rail spike, [ 6 ] the first recorded use of which was in 1832. [ 7 ]
The original "golden spike", on display at the Cantor Arts Museum at Stanford University. The Golden Spike (also known as The Last Spike [1]) is the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad from Sacramento and the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha on ...
The Northern Pacific Railroad Completion Site is the location of the golden spike ceremony for the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) in 1883. The site is located near Gold Creek in Powell County, Montana off of Interstate 90, [2] approximately 59 miles (95 km) southeast of Missoula and 40 miles (64 km) west of Helena.
The circumstance of the CPR's last spike ceremony led several spikes to assume the honour of being the "last spike". [5] In contrast to the ceremonial gold or silver final spikes often used to mark the completion of other major railways, the CPR's "last spike" was a conventional iron spike identical to the many others used in the construction of the line.
Train wheels rolling over the spikes loosened them, allowing the rail to break free and curve upwards sufficiently that a car wheel could get beneath it and force the end of the rail up through the floor of the car, writhing and twisting, endangering passengers. These broken rails became known as "snake heads". [14]
View of William Crocker as he drives a rail spike at the re-enactment of the Southern Pacific Railroad line's completion at Lang Station, September 1926 (CHS-31101.4) In 1887 the Southern Pacific started to expand and built a line though the Santa Clarita Valley to Ventura .
National Park Service map of Golden Spike National Historical Park. The Golden Spike National Historical Park encompasses 2,735 acres (1,107 ha). Initially just 7 acres (2.8 ha) when it was established in 1957, limited to the area near the junction of the two rail systems, the site was expanded by 2,176 acres (881 ha) in 1965 through land swaps and acquisition of approximately a strip of land ...
The last spike in the construction, a "copper spike", was driven on 29 March 1911, by Chief Engineer E. C. Hawkins and Superintendent Samuel Murchison at Kennicott. [9] The cost of the railway at $25 million was justified because the mines produced $200 million worth of copper ore during their operation of which at least 50 percent was profit.