Summary of President Harding's Alaska Trip

• "Rails North, the Railroads of Alaska and the Yukon" says there were two official golden spikes. One spike is now owned by the Southern California Arms Collectors Association. This spike was presented to Colonel Mears by the city of Anchorage for his work as Chairman of the Alaskan Engineering Commission. This spike was driven on completion of the Seward-Anchorage section of the railroad on September 10, 1918. The second golden spike was driven by President Harding at Nenana on completion of the railroad. This spike is on display at the Harding Home Museum in Marion, Ohio.
• The Alaska Railroad, Volume I & II, by Bernadine Prince says the spike was sent to the Harding Museum Home.
• Harding Home Museum - Phillip Payne, curator, says it is at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
• Anchorage Museum of History and Art - Diane Brenner says she does not know and that people have been trying to find it for 23 years
• Dick Morris from the Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry has no information
• Usenet posting - People responding have no information, but are also interested in locating it
• Ohio Historical Society - Cliff Eckle, History Collections Department, has no information
• Yukon and Alaska History Web Site - Murray Lunberg has no information
• The "Ride Guide to the Historic Alaska Railroad" states it is located at the Smithsonian
• Smithsonian Institute - Sharon Tolbert says it is not part of their inventory
• California State Railroad Museum - Ellen Halteman, Librarian, has no information
• Tanana Valley Railroad - Dan Gullickson has no information
• John Coghill, former mayor of Nenana, Alaska, says President Harding presented the spike to Frederick Mears, Head of the Alaska Engineering Commission. He believes the spike is in the Mears estate private collection somewhere in Kansas or Nebraska. The Nenana Historical Society has been looking for the spike for years without luck.
• Mamie Bittner, Director of Public and Legislative Affairs at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, has no information
• Sarah Wood-Clark at the Kansas State Historical Society has no information
• Scott Becker, Executive Director of the Association of Railway Museums, has no information
• Rick McKinnie says the Mears Collection is held by the State Historical Society of Colorado at the State Museum in Denver
• Chuck Alby at the Colorado Railroad Museum has no information
• Thomas Taber, Railroad Historical Research Resource Center, suggested checking with the Juneau Historical Society, Smithsonian and the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
• Mary Flaherty at Oscar Anderson House thinks it is at the University of Fairbanks Museum
• Gretchen at the University of Fairbanks Museum Archives will check with all appropriate staff and get back with me
• Richard Barrow says the Alaska Railroad is attempting to obtain the spike from a museum in Nebraska. I am currently following up this lead.
• On 12/2/97 Bill Withuhn, Railroad Historian for the Smithsonian Institute, says the spike is definitely not part of their collections
• Jo Antonson, Alaska State Historian, Office of History and Archeology, has no information
• Scott Banks, Alaska Railroad spokesman, says he does not know where the spike is. He suggests contacting Jim Blasingame, Alaska Railroad Vice President of Corporate Affairs.
• Randy Acord at the Alaska Land Pioneer Air Museum remembers the spike driving's 50th anniversary ceremony in 1973. He was pretty sure they had the original spike then and that it was made out of solid gold. He said important individuals were each given a copy of the spike on a wooden plaque. He suggested calling Jack Coghill.
• I spoke with Jack Coghill (former mayor and long time resident of Nenana, AK) on 12/8/97 and he told me the golden spike was presented to Frederick Mears, Head of the Alaska Engineering Commission by President Harding. It is now in the Mears estate collection in Nebraska. He said an ARR employee is currently trying to arrange the purchase of the spike. The Alaska Railroad would like to buy and use it in a recreation ceremony for the 75th anniversary of driving the spike. The maul used to drive the spike is located in the Alaska Railroad Headquarters in Anchorage. It too will be used in the 75th anniversary ceremony. Jack reports the spike is solid gold and that the railroad tie was pre-drilled to allow the spike to be driven without significant damage. I will post further information here once I can confirm this information.
• James Blasingame, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for the Alaska Railroad has been tracing the "gold spike" for several years, but has not located it yet. Jim is unaware of any ARR employee trying to purchase the spike.
• On August 20, 2003 Randy Thompson sent me a photocopy from the book, Anchorage - From Its Humble Origins as a Railroad Construction Camp which says, "Warren G. Harding, along with Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work, Secretary of Commerce Hubert Hoover, and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, and their wives, sailed from Tacoma on July 6, 1923, aboard the transport Henderson. A week later the party arrived in Anchorage and boarded an Alaska Railroad train for Nenana, where President Harding drove the golden spike symbolizing the railroad's completion. Governor Scott Bone carefully inserted the spike in the hole prepared for it and Harding tapped it gently with a hammer. The spike was then withdrawn and a plain iron spike substituted. The people of Anchorage bought the golden spike, made of 14-carat gold and valued at $600, as a gift to Colonel Mears, although he was no longer associated with the railroad."

Also see:

• Famous Golden Spike Exhibited
• President Harding driving the golden spike (1:20 mark)

Success!

On April 14, 2010 I was contacted by Ben Nysewander who informed me he is the current owner of the golden spike. In one of his emails, he stated, "I just happened on to your website and thought I would let you know where the spike was. There seemed to be a lot of people interested in locating it." Thank you Ben! You have brought my search to a very exciting end.

Additionally, Ben said, "I purchased the spike from the estate of Mr. Fred Johnson, of the California Arms Collectors Association in 1983. It is engraved 'Presented to Col. Fredrick Mears by the City of Anchorage in commemoration of the building of the Alaska Railroad 1915-1923'. The reverse side is stamped 'Jos. Mayer Inc. Makers Seattle USA, 14K'. I also have letters from Mayer Bros. and the Alaska 67 committee to Mr Johnson addressing his loaning the spike to them for the 1967 Exposition in Fairbanks. I would enjoy hearing from others who have an interest in the gold spike."

When I asked Ben what he thought the spike was worth, he replied, "I turned down an offer from an antique dealer for $20,000. For now I have little interest in selling it."

Here are the items Ben sent:

Spike photos 1, 2, 3

• Alaska 67 Executive Committee requesting loan
• Mayer Brothers letter requesting loan
• Alaska 67 Executive Committee looking forward to receiving the spike
• Certificate of insurance
• Mayer Brothers confirmation
• Newspaper article

Spike photos (1/27/15): 1, 2

See also:

• First spike
• Daniel Osborne shares a New York Times article concerning President Harding's driving of the golden spike
  
  

Gold Spike Auction on Christies! (12/6/24)

Catherine Kirk says her father, Ben Nysewander, is auctioning the Gold Spike, driven at Nenana signifying the completion of the Alaska Railroad, through Christies.

"My dad asked me to reach out and let you know that the spike will be going up for auction through Christie's in January. It is my hope that the spike will finally end up in a museum so that it can be appreciated by all the railroad and history enthusiasts out there."

"The auction itself will take place on Friday, January 24th starting at 10:00am New York time. The silver section will be at the end of the sale, so might not start until about 2:00pm, but it’s a bit difficult to say at this point since I don’t know the full lot count, or what lot the spike will specifically be. To watch the auction live on the day of the sale, if you go to the home page linked above, in the upper right hand corner there will be a black box which says “Join Auction”"

"Once you agree to the terms and confirm you’re not a robot, click “join auction” and a new tab will open. This will have a video feed of the auctioneer, as well as a scrolling list of the upcoming lots. This will let you watch everything that’s going on, and follow the results in real time. There’s a few sales coming up in the next couple weeks both in New York and London if you want to try it out ahead of time!"

I appreciate Catherine giving me a "heads up" and have passed the information on to the Anchorage Museum as well as the Alaska Railroad. Here's hoping it will get into the hands of someone who will put it up for public display!

The Gold Spike Returns Home

Five months after starting this website, I embarked on a journey to locate the fabled 24-karat Golden Spike driven at Nenana signifying the completion of the Alaska Railroad and then presented to Colonel Mears by the city of Anchorage for his work as Chairman of the Alaskan Engineering Commission. On September 5, 1997, I began contacting a wide variety of sources including the Harding Home Museum, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Smithsonian Institute, and the Alaska State Historian, Office of History and Archeology. Very few of these contacts had information and those that did were erroneous. As it turned out the best lead was "Rails North, the Railroads of Alaska and the Yukon" which stated the spike was now owned by the Southern California Arms Collectors Association. When I contacted them, they said they no longer had it and didn't know where it was located. Really? You sold it and then can't (or won't) tell me who you sold it to? My hunt continued for 13 years.

On April 14, 2010, I was contacted by Ben Nysewander who informed me he was the current owner of the golden spike. In one of his emails, he stated, "I just happened on to your website and thought I would let you know where the spike was. There seemed to be a lot of people interested in locating it. I purchased the spike from the estate of Mr. Fred Johnson, of the California Arms Collectors Association in 1983. It is engraved 'Presented to Col. Fredrick Mears by the City of Anchorage in commemoration of the building of the Alaska Railroad 1915-1923'. The reverse side is stamped 'Jos. Mayer Inc. Makers Seattle USA, 14K'. I also have letters from Mayer Bros. and the Alaska 67 committee to Mr Johnson addressing his loaning the spike to them for the 1967 Exposition in Fairbanks." I had a wide variety of entities contact me to purchase and/or borrow the spike, but I honored Mr. Nysewander's request of privacy.

On December 6, 2024, I was contacted by Catherine Kirk, Ben Nysewander's daughter, who told me her father was auctioning the Gold Spike. "My dad asked me to reach out and let you know that the spike will be going up for auction through Christie's in January. It is my hope that the spike will finally end up in a museum so that it can be appreciated by all the railroad and history enthusiasts out there." I appreciated Catherine giving me a "heads up" and passed the information on to the Anchorage Museum as well as the Alaska Railroad.

Yes, I registered on Christie's so I could watch the bidding on this grand historical piece of Alaska Railroad memorabilia (or maybe pick myself up an incredible bargain). On January 25, 2025, the auction date finally arrived and I found myself driving in Louisville, Kentucky as part of a group geocaching trip. I pulled my car safely off the road, logged on to their smartphone app, and watched history unfold. Christie's website displayed $30,000-$50,000 which represented the auction house's educated guess about the likely selling range for an item, but the bidding quickly blew past that mark. When the auctioneer's hammer finally came down at 10:17 a.m. Alaska time, the spike found its forever home with the Anchorage Museum and City of Nenana for $160,000 ($201,600 actual which included the buyer's premium and hammer price and all relevant taxes and shipping costs.)

Now that the spike is returning to Alaska, it will be displayed in turn by the Anchorage Museum and the city of Nenana. My next journey will be to visit the gold spike in person.

Many, many thanks to Ben Nysewander for providing this information!