Golden Spike - Joining of the Rails

At 12:47 in the afternoon on May 10, 1869, the two halves of a continent were joined here. The Central Pacific had built east from Sacramento, the Union Pacific west from Omaha, and at Promontory Summit their rails finally met; a ceremonial golden spike was tapped into place, and a single word — "DONE" — went out by telegraph to a waiting nation. The locomotives Jupiter and No. 119 touched pilots over the last rail. A journey that had taken months by wagon would now take days. This was the moment the country closed the gap.

What the plaque says

"The last rail is laid, the spike is driven. The Pacific Railroad is completed." Here at Promontory, Utah, at 12:47 P.M. on May 10, 1869, the driving of a Golden Spike completed the first Transcontinental Railroad. Climax of a dramatic railroad-building race between the Union Pacific building from the east and the Central Pacific building from the west, this event symbolized attainment of a long sought goal - a direct transportation route to the Pacific Ocean and the China trade. And it achieved the great political objective of binding together by iron bonds the extremities of Continental United States, a rail link from ocean to ocean."

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Golden Spike National Historical Park — steps away
  Where East met West — the spot that connected America by rail
• Spiral Jetty — 14 mi
  Robert Smithsons iconic land art masterpiece on the Great Salt Lake

More markers nearby

• Stephan Mather Marker — steps away
• Promontory Monument (4) Markers — steps away
• Competition, 1869 — steps away
• Sagwitch Timbimboo, Shoshone Chief — 28 mi