Golden Spike at the Stanford University Cantor Arts Center
" ... History is also represented in the Cantor images. A golden spike, also knows as The Last Spike, dated 1869 and forged at the William T. Garrett Foundry in San Francisco, is the ceremonial spike linking the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads. ... it is difficult to read the elegant but faint engraving (May God continue the unity of our Country, as this Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world) without the aid of Google's zoom feature. Another bit of California and Stanford history submitted to the project is a sweet 6-by-5-inch daguerreotype of Jane Stanford as a very young girl with her mother, father and brother. ... " [More]
[Courtesy Google Alerts.]
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 11:02 AM
2 Comments:
Correction: Contrary to what is stated in the above linked article, the soft pure gold spike was slightly damaged by being hit by army officers while in transit after the ceremony.
The spike engraving states that the Pacific Railroad was completed on May 8th, 1869, but due to a delay (UPRR's Durant was being held hostage in his rail car until his workers were paid), the actual completion date when the ceremony was held was May 10, 1869.
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