A nation looked to Utah's Golden Spike 141 years ago
(The following story by Brett Prettyman appeared on The Salt Lake Tribune website on May 9, 2010.)
GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE Richard Carroll has probably driven enough historic rail spikes to have completed the 1,776 miles of transcontinental railroad on his own.
Well, that may be an exaggeration, since it took about 6 million spikes. But as a steam locomotive engineer at Golden Spike National Historic Site in Box Elder County, Carroll plays the part in re-enactments of driving the golden spike that linked the country by iron rail May 10, 1869.
The Brigham City resident does not take it lightly.
"It is pretty amazing to realize what I am re-enacting," said Carroll, who has worked at Golden Spike since 1995, first as a volunteer and eventually as National Park Service locomotive engineer. "The spot is the culmination of a very long journey, both figuratively and emotionally. The country was coming out of the civil war. ... It was a monumental undertaking to create a railroad line from coast to coast."
The 141st anniversary of the historic moment will be relived today at the national historic site, 32 miles west of Brigham City.
"In 1869 the eyes of the nation were focused here in Utah waiting for word that the nation was now bound together with ribbons of iron from the Atlantic all the way to the Pacific," said Kyle Wyatt, curator of history and technology at the California Railroad Museum. "You can't very well talk about the history of the railroads without talking about Utah."
Wyatt, who is set to speak at today's events, says what happened on that day in 1869 in northwestern Utah was celebrated across the nation.
"They had the telegraph wire connected to a cannon in San Francisco. When the signal came that the spikes had been driven, it set off the cannon," he said. "There were parades and celebrations in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago and everywhere else."
The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads only used the tracks at Golden Spike until just after 1900 and the original Jupiter and 119 steam engines were sold for scrap metal, but the legacy of the historic moment has lasted.
Golden Spike National Historic Site was created in 1965 to preserve the location and serve as a museum for the work done to link the country. About 45,000 people visit the site annually. Citizens from 17 states signed the park register in the visitor center during the first nine days of May.
Chase Carlson, 3, of Salt Lake City, came to Golden Spike on Sunday with his father, Rich, and older brother, Landon, to check out the steam engines. He waited patiently for the 1 p.m. locomotive demonstration and spent the time playing with a miniature steam engine purchased in the gift shop at the visitor center. After seeing each engine make a short run, he was asked why he liked trains.
"Because they go TOOT!," he yelled, trying to sound as loud as the whistles on the trains. "They go fast."
The park offers re-enactments at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturdays and federal holidays, from May 1 to Columbus Day. The replicated steam engines are moved from the nearby engine house to the historic site every day during the same time frame, with steam engine demonstrations scheduled for 1 p.m.
The trains also are available for viewing in the winter in an engine house tour. In addition, they are pulled from the engine house during the Winter Steam Festival in late December.
