By Abigayle Durbin

Photo Credit: Joyce and Mike Hendrix

In Utah, there is a National Historic Site called the “Golden Spike National Historie Site”.

Train tracks were very important back then because they make long traveling faster and safer.  When a train track is completed, people will place a silver spike at the end of the train track, and after the ceremony, they remove the spike.

However, when the two train tracks roughly from the East and West side met, they put down one golden spike.

At the “Golden Spike National Historie Site”, there is a model of the Golden Spike to show visitors what it looked like.  The Golden Spike didn’t really look like a spike.  The bottom of the spike, the part that was stuck in the ground, was a blocky point that couldn’t hurt somebody but sharp enough to push through the tough dirt next to a train tack and be stable.

At the same site there is also a display case with little figures and little building showing what life in Utah looked like when the two train tracks were built.  In the display cases, Utah actually looks like a desert.  The ground looks like sand and very light dirt.  Also, the mountains don’t have a cloud of snow or actual cloud covering the top of the mountain.

Utah now has lots of plants and rich dirt, and there is always a blanket of snow on top of the mountains.

After the ceremony of a train track being completed, they remove the spike, even with the special Golden Spike.  However, the Golden Spike definitely left a mark in the ground of where it once stood.