The Lost Spike

Here is a picture of the Lost Spike that is on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California.



On May 10th 1869 at Promontory, Utah a ceremony was held at the completion of the joining of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads. This event linked the East and West coasts of America, creating the first Transcontinental Railroad. A golden spike was ceremoniously driven into the final railroad tie by Leland Stanford, the President of the Centrail Pacific Railroad and former Governor of California. The gold spike was presented to Leland Stanford by David Hewes who had it and a second one made in San Francisco by Joseph Garrett in 1869. The Last Spike was engraved by the Schulz, Fischer, & Mohrig company and had a date of May 8, 1869. The ceremony took place two days later because the Union Pacific train was delayed. The spike was returned to Hewes after the ceremony and in 1892 Hewes presented it to Stanford University.

The gold spike that was driven by Leland Stanford in the ceremony was broken off from the sprue, melted down and made into commemorative rings etc. The original inovice dated May 4, 1869 from Schulz, Fischer, & Mohrig was for finishing 2 Gold Spikes. Historians assumed that the 2 Gold Spikes were the Last Spike and the sprue. The Lost Spike (second spike mentioned on the invoice) was retained by the Hewes family and was engraved apparently after the event because it has the date of May 10, 1869. A history of the Hewes Family was published in 1913 and showed a photo of a spike with the sprue attached, obviously not the Last Spike which resided at Stanford University.

In April 2005, fifth-generation descendants of David Hewes decided to sell the spike that had adorned their mantle place. The California State Railroad Museum became aware of the Lost Spike and authenticated it. On November 2, 2005 the museum purchased the spike and transported it to Sacramento. It was first exhibited to members of the museum on May 12, 2006 at the "Behind The Scenes Tour" and to the public on May 13, 2006. For these two showings an armed guard provided the security. The Lost Spike was put on permant display during the Labor Day weekend 's Gold Rush Days inside a specially constructed display case that regulates humidity and temperature and every evening when the Museum closes, it is lowered into it's vault.

The Lost Spike and sprue are 9½ inches long and weighs 14.2 ounces. The Last Spike at Stanford University is 5 5/8 inches long.


Al Mollo
Connie Mollo
Cecilia, Tim & Julia Shinn
David Shinn on his 5th birthday

Mike Garcia
Jeff Brown
Robert "RC" Craven
John Nicholson

Pat Boyle
The empty case

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