The Golden Spike
Kept at San Francisco
It's the same size as a regular railroad spike, yet it's different: It's of solid
gold from the San Gabriels. With six blows of a solid silver hammer (with a handle of orange wood),
Charles Crocker, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, drove this spike into the rails
at Lang Station in today's Canyon Country on Sept. 5, 1876, to unite northern and southern
California.
Housed by the California Historical Society in San Francisco, the spike weighs 9¼ ounces,
measures 5 7/16 inches in length and is engraved on its four sides as follows:
Last Spike / Connecting Los Angeles / And San Francisco (seen here) / By Rail. On its head
is the date, Sept. 5, 1876.
HS3023: 2400 dpi jpeg from printed copy
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