charles durkee drove the golden spike at promontory point.
charles durkee drove the golden spike at promontory point.
who drove the golden spike at promontory point?
charles durkee
the event at promontory summit was billed as the "wedding of the rails" and was officiated by the reverend john todd. four precious metal spikes were ceremoniously driven (gently tapped with a special spike maul sporting a solid silver head into pre-drilled holes in the laurelwood tie); one was the golden spike issued by californian david hewes, one was a second solid gold spike issued by the san francisco newsletter newspaper, one was a solid silver spike issued by the state of nevada, and one was an iron spike plated with silver on the shaft and gold on the top issued by arizona territory and presented by arizona territorial governor anson p.k. safford from the territorial capitol of prescott. in 1898, the golden spike was donated to the leland stanford junior university museum. the second golden spike and the laurelwood tie were destroyed in the 1906 san francisco earthquake and fire, which also destroyed the san francisco newsletter newspaper offices where these artifacts were on display. stanford university loaned the original 1869 gold spike to cecil b. demille for the film "union pacific" (1939). it was held aloft in the scene commemorating the actual event, although a brass prop was used for the hammering sequence. the only marks on the golden spike were caused by a union army officer who struck the spike with the pommel of his sword four times on the ride back to california. nobody tried to fully drive 17.6 carat solid gold spikes or any of the precious metal spikes into a wooden tie. four holes had been drilled into the laurelwood tie to "hold" the spikes while standford and uprr's thomas durant gently tapped them before the spikes and the laurelwood tie were removed to make way for a regular pine wood tie and four regular iron spikes, the last one was wired to the transcontinental telegraph line. stanford and durant were supposed to strike the last iron spike with a regular iron spike hammer, also wired to the telegraph line, to send a signal from coast-to-coast as the job was done. stanford missed the spike, hitting the wooden tie instead; however, the telegraph operator hit his key as though stanford had hit the spike. durant missed the spike and the tie entirely; but likewise, the operator hit his key so the nation would not know the difference. then the operator sent the message d-o-n-e! with the railroad's completion, a trip across the nation went from up to six months on foot, on an animal, or in an animal-pulled wagon to as little as eight days from new york, new york to san francisco, california.
promontory, utah
golden spike (disambiguation)









































golden spike may refer to:









































section::::entertainment.









































bullet::::- "the golden spike", an album by sky larkin









































bullet::::- "the golden spike", a novel by hal ellson









































bullet::::- golden spike, an anti folk/rock band based in london









































section::::science.









































bullet::::- global boundary stratotype section and point, a term in geology









































bullet::::- golden spike company, a former american space transport company









































section::::sports.









































bullet::::- golden spike award, an annual athletics award in belgium









































bullet::::- golden spikes award, an annual amateur baseball award in the united states









































bullet::::- golden spike ostrava, an annual athletics event held in ostrava, czech republic









































section::::transportation.
golden spike (disambiguation)