The spike’s first owner was Colonel Frederick Mears, the railroad’s chief engineer. Earlier in 1923, the city of Anchorage presented it to Mears to commemorate his role in the project’s ...

Both construction projects were handled by the same company ... He described it as a 11-foot high replica of a railroad spike with two 10-foot long wooden signboards that read "LAST SPIKE MAY ...

A few railroad historians and journalists eventually tracked the spike down, but the object remained ... “Preliminary Work on Great Railway Project Begins.” Knik News, May 1, 1915, 1.

The spike’s first owner was Colonel Frederick Mears, the railroad’s chief engineer. Earlier in 1923, the city of Anchorage presented it to Mears to commemorate his role in the project’s ...