leland stanford put the last spike in the transcontinental railroad.
leland stanford put the last spike in the transcontinental railroad.
who put the last spike in the transcontinental railroad?
leland stanford
it was at promontory summit on may 10, 1869, that leland stanford drove "the last spike" (or golden spike) that joined the rails of the transcontinental railroad. the spike is now on display at the cantor arts center at stanford university, while a second "last" golden spike is also on display at the california state railroad museum in sacramento. in perhaps the world's first live mass-media event, the hammers and spike were wired to the telegraph line so that each hammer stroke would be heard as a click at telegraph stations nationwide—the hammer strokes were missed, so the clicks were sent by the telegraph operator. as soon as the ceremonial "last spike" had been replaced by an ordinary iron spike, a message was transmitted to both the east coast and west coast that simply read, "done." travel from coast to coast was reduced from six months or more to just one week.
first transcontinental railroad
last spike (canadian pacific railway)









































the last spike of the canadian pacific railway was the ceremonial final spike driven into the canadian pacific railway (cpr) at craigellachie, british columbia at 9:22 am on november 7, 1885. it was driven in by cpr railroad financier donald smith, marking the end of a saga of natural disasters, financial crises, and even rebellion that plagued canada's first transcontinental railroad from its beginning.
last spike (canadian pacific railway)