Listen | Discover | Engage a service of Southern Oregon University
The Jefferson Exchange

Underground History: Driving The Last Spike

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

The big ceremony at Promontory, May 10, 1869.
Andrew J. Russell/Public Domain

We have several big anniversaries this year: 350 years since the first Africans arrived in what became the United States.  50 years since humans arrived on the moon. 

And in between them, timewise, the ability of humans to travel from coast to coast by rail.  May 10th is the 150th anniversary of the driving of the golden spike in Utah, completing the transcontinental railroad. 

Now you know the subject of this month's Underground History, our regular confab with the archaeologists of the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of AnthropologyUtah State Archaeologist Christopher Merritt pays a visit to talk about Promontory Summit and the spike.  SOULA regular Chelsea Rose returns for the exploration.

 

Stay Connected
The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.