Photo Essay: Searching for a solid gold railroad spike in Utah

For a brief shining moment it was one of the most important places in the country. It was just a remote spot in the Utah countryside, north of the Great Salt Lake. But it was where two railroads came together for the first time in history, symbolically and literally bridging the vastness of the USA with a railroad from coast to coast. With the rails complete and two steam locomotives parked nose to nose, the men who had envisioned and financed that accomplishment readied themselves for an historic photograph. But they first chased out of view all of the Chinese men who had actually risked their lives and had done the back-breaking work necessary to build the railroad. Many Chinese laborers died in the process of making east to west train travel possible. But in the 1860's none of the survivors were worthy to be present for the driving of the railroad spikes made of pure gold.

The Golden Spike National Historic Site isn’t exactly a travel destination in itself. But for railroad buffs or fans of US history who happen to be traveling through northern Utah, it is not far from the interstate. You exit at a small town named Corinne, Utah and drive past endless fields of black angus cattle grazing on golden grasses. Aside from stark vistas of cattle ranching country, the only other thing out there is an somewhat secret factory where a defense contractor makes solid fuel rockets for missiles and the space shuttle fleet. After a few twists and turns you arrive at Promontory Summit, Utah and the location where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads spanned a continent in 1869, just a few years after the end of the Civil War.

Despite its importance at the time, the railroad line that made the spot famous was bypassed by another more convenient line less than a decade later. The place where the golden spikes had been driven was virtually forgotten until the 1950’s when the US Government authorized the area as a National Historic Site, encompassing 2,735 acres of surrounding countryside.

Today a visitor’s center stands at the site and receives about 50,000 guests a year. But those who go there shouldn’t expect to see the actual solid gold railroad spikes. Those are off in museums, including one at Stanford University which was founded by western railroad baron Leland Stanford. Sensing disappointment, the National Park service has replicas of the golden spikes on hand for viewing. But somehow, gold painted lead spikes in a glass case have a sad, devalued feeling.

The best thing about the site is the chance to go off-roading over a few miles of historic railroad beds from which the rails have been removed. The gray gravel ribbon winds through active cattle ranching lands, with breathtaking vistas of prairies, rolling hills and mountains. It also passes a limestone feature known as the Chinese Arch (formerly pejoratively named "Chinaman's Arch"), in recognition of the thankless work of the countless Chinese immigrant workers whose labor made the innovation of coast to coast train travel possible for the first time in history.