Visiting Golden Spike National Historical Park in Utah was a fun experience. It is an interesting place for all history lovers and for those who like trains.
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On our road trip from California to Utah and back, we decided to do a little detour and visit Golden Spike National Historical Park.
It is an area where the first transcontinental railway in the United States was connected and a lot of history was made. Having a railway changed many things in the country.
Golden Spike National Historical Park is located in the northern part of Utah, very close to Great Salt Lake. The closest towns are Corinne, Brigham City and Ogden.
It’s about 87 miles from the capital, Salt Lake City. It really feels like being almost in the middle of nowhere. It’s a place you probably wouldn’t ever go otherwise.
Along the way, on State Route 83 you will find the ATK Rocket Garden. It’s a great little stop to see displays of rocket and missile parts for free, so make sure to include that to your itinerary.
GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
Golden Spike National Historical Park was established to preserve the place where the first transcontinental railway in the U.S. connected.
The railway was built by the Union Pacific Railroad starting from the east and the Central Pacific Railroad starting from the west. The completion of the transcontinental railway was truly a game changer in many ways. Not only did it make travelling easier, but people were also able to ship things from coast to coast faster, safer and cheaper.
Before the railway, one way to deliver the mail was the famous Pony Express; so you can imagine how much faster the train was.
We have seen some of those Pony Express stops along the way in Nevada on “the Loneliest Road in America“.
The transcontinental railway was finally finished in 1869. The workers came from different backgrounds and there was a lot of them. The last part of the railway from the west was built by Chinese and from east by Irish. They met each other on March 10th at Promontory Summit in Utah.
The last spikes used in the railway were golden which is where the park gets its name too.
The last spikes were driven by a Californian politician; governor and senator Leland Stanford in a massive media event. The spikes were 17.6-karat gold.
Leland Stanford was also the founder of the famous Stanford University, and that is where the other spike is stored today–at Cantor Art Center to be exact. The other spike is in the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.
The area was designated as Golden Spike National Historic Site in 1957. Then in 1965 it was transferred under the National Parks System. But it wasn’t until 2019 that the site finally become the Golden Spike National Historical Park and all the rest of the buildings and areas nearby were preserved.
Visiting the Golden Spike
We started our visit to Golden Spike National Historical Park from their visitor center. They had a small but interesting museum with an exhibition of the history of Golden Spike. They explained how the railway was built and how much work it took.
Behind the visitor center is where the Golden Spike Ceremony was held when the railway was finished. They have built a replica of the rails for people to see, and even marked the location of the last spikes accurately in it.
Unfortunately, the original rails were abandoned in 1904 and then later torn out in 1942.
During the summer months people can see two locomotive replicas driven out the rails. The original locomotives, Jupiter and No. 119 met each other here in March 10th, 1869.
Since we were visiting in winter-time, we were able to go see the locomotives at their storage hall with a ranger-led tour. He told us a lot about the history of the place and about the original locomotives.
We were very lucky as the other locomotive was just driven out for some repair work. And since we were the only ones on the tour, we even got an opportunity to sit inside the other locomotive. What a great tour!
If you are visiting with kids, the Golden Spike National Historical Site has a nice Junior Ranger program. Our kids did some assignments and then we returned to the visitor center to show them to the ranger. They were happy to get Junior Ranger badges.
There are two Auto Tours in the park that leave from the Visitor Center. The shorter one is two miles (about 3.2 km) and you can see some areas where they built the railroad.
There are some cuts, fills and culverts that came from the construction. The road was a small gravel road and one way only, so if you choose to do it, you have to go through until the end. The longer tour is 7 miles, so about 11 kilometres.
During the winter some of the roads might also be closed, so check the conditions from the visitor center before heading out.
If you are into hiking, the Big Fill Loop Trail might be for you. It is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and takes you to see the “Big Fill”.
Since the land was very rugged the workers had to come up with different way to construct the railway. In this area they filled up a ravine in order to avoid building a tunnel. The fill was supported with a trestle.
Over 250 horses and 500 men worked almost three months to get the ravine filled. Most of the work was done by hand with no fancy tools. The trail has a lot of rocks, so bring your best hiking boots and lots of water.
It can get hot especially during the summer so bring some water to your hike. According to their sign, the rattle snakes have right of way here, so watch your step! You can read our tips to hiking with kids from here.
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On our visit we stayed in Ogden in this Holiday Inn which was only a short drive from Golden Spike National Historical Park. After a long day it was nice to relax, have dinner and then a good night’s sleep.
Have you been to Golden Spike National Historical Park or is this the kind of place you would visit?
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Great that the site has been preserved. As a young child in 60s, I learned about this historic event and place in school. We’ve all learned in more recent times that our history was not always nice or fair. But it is our history and should be represented accurately. Hopefully this type of history is still taught to our youth.
Yes, it was definitely an interesting place to visit and I learned a lot. There are so many historical places where I wish things had gone differently but at least we can try to learn from the mistakes in the past.
Golden Spike Park in Utah is indeed an interesting place for all history lovers and train enthusiasts. It’s also a great learning experience for the kids to know more about the country’s history. I’m sure that the Junior Ranger program is definitely an add-ons to the museum for the kids and adults as well.
Definitely, I think it was very educational for the kids. And for me as well.
The Golden Spike National Historical Park is a must visit for me, as a famous location where the first transcontinental railway connected. Rail travel is always a pleasure for me as there is no rush and you can observe the scenic views of life passing by as a passenger.It’s interesting to learn that the last spikes were made of gold and driven by California governor himself. It would be a great experience to take a tour of the rail locomotives and also for kids to participate in junior ranger program. It’s inspiring how the workers came up with innovative ideas to fill the Big loop trail.I would love to visit the Golden Spike National Historic Park.
If you interested in trains or in over all national park, you should definitely go visit Puloma! We had a great day there.
That’s indeed a great experience. It’s awesome that you got the opportunity to sit inside the other locomotive and the kids were able to join the junior range program.
We’d love to visit soon. Thank you for the tips.
You are welcome Clarice!
We saw a lot of things in Utah but sadly we seem to have missed the Golden Spike National Historic Park. We are a bit of train nuts so it was interesting to read about this park as preserving a railroad historical site. A railroad across the country sure changed life at the time. Especially if you are waiting for mail through the Pony Express! There is a Last Spike monument in Canada too for our national railway. As a Civil Engineer the information on the building of the railway and the engines are always fascinating.
Interestingly I just ran into the fact of the Canadian Last Spike. We have also missed this place on our previous visits to Utah since it is such an remote area. But this time we decided to make time for it.
Growing up with my parents working at the national rail company, I am very familiar with steam locomotives, around which I used to play when my parents took me to work with them, on some weekends. That started a fascination with old trains and railways. It’s great that you got to see the replicas of the two locomotives driven on the historical line, and get close to them whilst they were in their storage hall for the winter. The Junior Ranger program seems like a great way to teach children more about the engineering of these locomotives.
Amazing! My dad did too, but that was in Europe. I got very familiar on trains and used them a lot. As a kid I got to even visit the engine and honk the horn. It was so cool! 😆
The history is very interesting. How people from different parts of the world, built it in another part of world and met each other on March 10th at Promontory Summit in Utah is quite something! Both me and my daughter love the railways and prefer traveling by trains. A museum about trains would be super hit with my daughter. Junior Ranger program great and getting the badge would be the highlight of the trip!
This would be a perfect spot for you and your daughter to visit!
Railway history and trains are strangely fascinating. The Golden Spike National Historical Site is a great place to learn about and experience the history of the transcontinental railway. Weired that they put in these golden spikes – I guess it was for show reasons? There was no way they could just leave them there unprotected?
The last spikes and were both golden and silver, and they were just for show. They did not leave them to the tracks.
What a fascinating historical park. I’m not a big train fan but I appreciate the history and the old models of seeing them. It’s also interesting to know the story behind Golden Spike and to see the last spike. I can see why the kids would like it here, it’s a fun place to visit and learn.
I am not either but it was still an interesting place to visit and an interesting piece of history.
Sounds like an interesting place especially if you are a train enthusiast. Nice to know there are activities for children to enjoy during a visit. I would enjoy the shorter audio tour and the big fill loop trail to see more of the landscape. It’s incredible how many workers and horses it took to fill in the ravine!
Yes, our kids love the Junior Ranger booklets in national parks. They always ask for it when we are going. And they are very educational too.