This episode of California’s Gold, first aired in 2006, tells the story of the four — or actually five — ceremonial spikes connected to the opening of the United States’ first transcontinental railroad. I now have to admit that even though I’ve seen and admired the golden spike on display at the railroad museum in Old Sacramento, I never realized its fascinating back story until I watched this episode.

On May 10, 1869, the Last Spike of the Transcontinental Railroad was ceremonially driven into a polished California Laurel railroad tie at Promontory, Utah. Huell learns about its mysterious disappearance and re-discovery and also gets a special sneak preview of this rare artifact on a visit to the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and the California State Railroad Museum.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)