August 10, 2013 Day –thirty-two

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Eden UT and Golden Spike National Historic Site

Waking up knowing that we still had another couple of nights here before we have to pack up was a nice feeling. A nice leisurely breakfast cooking bacon and eggs…. you forget how nice it is to have a stove, refrigerator and dishwasher.

Then we set off to a very interesting day at The Golden Spike National Historic Site.  This was the pace where the two sets of railroad tracks came together outside of Salt Lake City to meet and form the first transcontinental railroad. 

Presenting the Golden Spike

A couple times of a year they do a huge reenactment of the pounding of that final railroad spike.  With the completion of the railroad, crossing the country would now take only two weeks, forever changing the need to take 6 months to go across the country by horse, walking or by wagon.  This was mind blowing that the time and changed everything. 

Driving the final spike

We so enjoyed the dozen reenactors who did a marvelous job showing us the ceremony that took place, as well as getting to see the two replica steam engines in actions.  It was very moving, all the more so having spent a lot of time driving across the country and being very glad we were not trying to do it by wagon.

We also enjoyed the two steam engines, exact replicas of those participating in the ceremony in 1869.  We had the chance to tour the engines and talk with the reenactors.  These are definitely people who love these engines. The moved the engines around the grounds several times during the ceremony with their whistles blowing and bells clanging.  It was fun to see them in action.

They also had a lot of old fashioned games to play, including toss the buffalo chip-Dick was outstanding at this, tossing his over 80 feet.   Patti used her discus throwing technique, for a lovely looking toss, but only about 40 feet.  We know that this game was practiced by both the pioneers and the Native peoples.  These are the same buffalo pies that both groups also used as fuel since there were few trees on the prairie. The "pies" are actually almost exclusively made up of grass so they burned well without smell and were surprisingly light to throw.

Patti took a turn at throwing wood logs into a boiler to burn to make steam (harder than it looks!)   On the actual engines, they burned through 3 cords of wood every 25 miles, and so had to keep adding in more wood constantly.  It was hard work just doing ten logs. One of the volunteers told us that in the winter, they used long hot dog roasting sticks and cook themselves hot dogs while tending the fire. 

And both of us delighted in getting to ride on a railroad handcar, where you had to pump it, and on a speeder, a small gas operated handcar.  What a great chance to see these things up close.

Did we were mention that we liked history?  We do.

Then it was back to the resort for some hang out time-grilling on the gas grill on our deck and another soak in the hot tub and a DVD. Pretty hard core hanging out, but we somehow managed.  Another lovely day.

“Every one of a hundred thousand cities around the world had its own special sunset and it was worth going there, just once, if only to see the sun go down.”
― Ryū Murakami, Coin Locker Babies