Golden spike

The golden spike is the solid-gold railroad spike which was hammered in by Leland Stanford to commemorate the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the world, when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit in Box Elder County in northern Utah. The actual golden spike has long since been stolen and replaced by a facsimile, but the U.S. government has set up a National Historic Site to preserve the location.