Golden Spike Cultural Landscape Report

Site Development since 1965

The timing of the creation of the Golden Spike NHS reflected the imminent centennial of the joining of the rails at Promontory Summit. As a consequence, early developments after 1965 focused on building a visitor center, completed in 1969, and on preparing to re-enact the May 10, 1869 ceremony as authentically as possible. Over 28,000 people attended the 100th anniversary festivities, including Bernice Gibbs Anderson who had worked so hard to promote the establishment of the national historic site. Two representative engines, the Genoa and the Inyo were delivered to the site, on loan from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in Nevada. To prepare for the event, planners studied old photographs and the historical record to ensure that features like telegraph poles and lines, cross-ties, rails, spikes, and the parallel grades appeared as similar to the originals as possible (Hanover 1996:26; Ketterson 1969a:60-68). The National Park Service has since partnered with the Golden Spike Association of Box Elder County to continue to reenact the May 10, 1869 ceremony (NPS 1988:5).

The "ribbon of land" that constitutes the site can be segmented into three major areas of historic interest — the east slope, the west slope, the summit area (NPS 1988:7). At the summit, the Park Service tells the story of the completion of the railroad and its impact on the development of the West, and in turn, the history of the nation. At the summit, in addition to the 1969 completion of the 3,000-square-foot visitor center, two miles of track have been laid that link the historic railroad grade at the last spike site to a locomotive storage building located northeast of the visitor center at the "tail" of the historic UP wye. Construction of this track was designed to reproduce the appearance of the track in 1869 as much as possible, including consideration of how the ties appeared and how switches were then built (Gordon Chappell to Warren Huffstutter, memorandum Aug. 29, 1979, Central Files "D" — Construction and Maintenance, Golden Spike National Historic Site; NPS 1988:18). Construction of the track, including sidings and a re-creation of the Union Pacific's "wye," entailed the use of 684 rail lengths; 5,472 cross-ties, and 21,888 spikes (Bob Dowty to Maintenance Foreman, memorandum, Sept. 30, 1987, Central Files "D" — Construction and Maintenance, Golden Spike National Historic Site). In 1979, replicas of No. 119 and Jupiter, the two steam engines that met on May 10, 1869, arrived at the site to help tell the story even more completely (Housing Management Plan for Golden Spike National Historic Site, March 3, 1988, Central Files "D" — Construction and Maintenance, Golden Spike National Historic Site).

Other physical features of the park lands inform visitors about the construction race to complete the railroad. On the east slope these include: the remaining parallel grades of both the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines; Union Pacific trestle footings at the Big Trestle location and the Central Pacific's Big Fill bridging the same ravine; stone and wooden culverts; two still-standing Southern Pacific trestles; drill marks still visible in the rock cuts; and the bases of historic telegraph poles. A self-guided 7-mile-long auto tour in combination with a 1-mile round trip walk to the Big Fill are features on the east slope that help relate the construction history. In addition, much evidence of the locations of railroad construction camps can be found on the east slope. This evidence includes the remains of pit houses, dugouts, fireplace chimneys, and hearth areas, as well as numerous stone foundations, rock walls, and leveled tent platforms (Anderson 1983:225-238; NPS 1988:8, 14). On the east slope there is also a natural rock arch known as Chinamen's Arch located just north of the railroad grade near Carmichael's Cut. The name for this natural feature is part of the oral tradition of the area; its exact origin is unknown, other than it is believed to have been named Chinamen's Arch in memory of the Chinese workers who helped to build the transcontinental railroad.

The west slope includes just over 3 miles of the 10 miles of Central Pacific track that was laid in one day — on April 28, 1869. Also evident are the remnants of the Union Pacific's grade that proved to be a duplicative effort. The west slope also contains the best example of a stair-step cut, an incomplete cut in the UP line that shows how material was removed in a stair-step fashion from bedrock outcrops. Drill marks, and stone and wooden culverts are similarly present on the west slope. Likewise, archaeological evidence of construction camps dots the west slope, including the remains of pit houses, lean-to shelters, trash pits, as well as rock walls and chimneys (Anderson 1983:225-238; Ketterson 1969b:Historic Base Map with Modern Features).

Although there is some concern for the impact of increasing pollution in the Salt Lake Valley, high points in the park continue to afford vistas of the north arm of Great Salt Lake. While traffic on nearby roads has markedly increased, especially to and from the Morton-Thiokol plant located some 6 air-miles east of Golden Spike NHS, the site area remains remote. This remoteness itself is part of the continuing story of Promontory. The decision to establish the terminus at Ogden reflected Promontory's isolation and, consequently, Ogden's greater commercial viability. The terminus decision thus spelled the end of Promontory's short life as a bustling tent-city.

Prior to the building of the Pacific Railroad by the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, the Promontory Summit area remained the quiet home of jack rabbits and sagebrush. For a period of intense construction activity during the first months of 1869, the slopes of the summit teemed with life at railroad construction camps, and days and nights both were filled with the heavy work of parallel grading and the quick progress of track-laying. On the day of May 10, 1869, the final rails were laid and the last spike driven. The telegraph constructed at the same time announced the accomplishment to the rest of the nation, which exploded in celebrations from coast to coast.

For several months after the wedding of the rails, when Promontory Station served as the terminus, passengers and railroad workers supported Promontory's string of tent establishments and a few more substantial businesses such as the Pacific Hotel. But when the terminus shifted to Ogden, Promontory changed to a maintenance station and home to just a few families. Ranching and dry-farm grain production became the prominent economic activity in the vicinity. After 1904, as a result of technological advances in railroad construction that had made possible the Lucin Cutoff, Promontory gradually grew even quieter; windmills dotted the landscape and a few rural roads crossed it. The frequency of the trains over the summit then diminished over the next three decades, until the rails were pulled to help support the war effort during World War II.

But the national significance of completing the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, told in the story of the joining of the rails at Promontory, warranted greater recognition than what the monument placed there by the Southern Pacific Railroad could convey. As the centennial of the road's completion approached and with the support of Utah's congressional delegation, Congress formally recognized the value of preserving the history of this achievement by creating Golden Spike National Historic Site. Since then the park at Promontory Summit has provided a way both to honor the significance held by the building of the transcontinental railroad in United States history and to retell the extraordinary story of its construction.