The state of Utah is known for being the location where the last spike joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads to form America’s first transcontinental railroad over 150 years ago in 1869.
To celebrate this historic event, the Golden Spike Foundation started the “Driving of the Spike” road tour where a 43-foot tall golden spike monument made multiple stops throughout the states. The spike is a replica of the spike that was used originally at Promontory Point, the location of the Golden spike National Park.
After the tour, the art piece will be installed at the location for the new “Golden Spike Park,” at Reeder Ranch in Brigham City.
Thanks to the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Executive Director & Chief Curator Katie Lee-Koven, the Golden Spike made one of its stops at Utah State University.
While the Golden Spike was at USU, a behind-the-scenes discussion took place and Robyn Kremer, president of the Golden Spike Foundation emphasized the importance of the railroad history.
“Art is a fabulous lens to tell the story, isn't it? And so this is a storytelling piece of history. History that happened here, transformative history that changed everything from how we move goods to how we travel to how we communicate,” Kremer said.
The Golden Spike stands 43.11 feet tall, which is the square root of 1869, is coated in gold leaf, and weighs about 8,000 pounds.
Ross Peterson, professor emeritus of history at USU, ended the meeting with the reasoning behind the monument.
“We began a process again of doing a conceptual recruitment of ideas to have something that could memorialize the entire experience," Peterson said. "The preamble to the Constitution: people are to form a more perfect union to establish these United States. And that's what it's about, uniting the states."
