The Last Spike
Clark County, Clark County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
The Last Spike. On January 30, 1905, near this site, workers drove the last spike that completed the railroad between Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California. This was the last “transcontinental” line to southern California and one of the last lines built to the Pacific Coast. Although there was no formal celebration at the time of the last spike, those present gave some recognition to the event.Las Vegas owes its existence to the railroad, then known as the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. Because the valley had a good supply of water, the railroad company platted the Las Vegas town site and established a division point there.
Erected by Union Pacific Railroad Co.
The Story
On January 30, 1905, workers near this spot drove the last spike completing the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, linking Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. It was one of the last transcontinental-style lines built to the Pacific Coast, finished with little ceremony. The railroad platted a townsite in the well-watered Las Vegas Valley and made it a division point—giving the future city its start.
Why it matters
This quiet last spike gave birth to Las Vegas, a reminder that even America's most famous boomtown began as a railroad watering stop.
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Related events
- · Completion of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, 1905
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Spanish Trail: Mountain Springs Pass
Clark County, NV
When Antonio Armijo pioneered the Old Spanish Trail in January 1830, the springs and lush meadows at Mountain Springs Pass offered rare relief for men and draft animals. Travelers needed two full days to reach the pass from Las Vegas, often breaking the journey at Cottonwood Springs and setting out early to climb over the summit by nightfall. The high country's water and grass made this one of the trail's most prized camping spots for generations of packers.
The Old Spanish Trail 1829 1850
Clark County, NV
In 1829 a pack-trail opened between Santa Fe and Los Angeles, and its 130-mile passage across present Clark County became Nevada's earliest route of commerce. Traders drove mules and horses along it, and within two decades the same track served gold-rush '49ers and Mormon pioneers pressing toward California. It was a lifeline of movement through an unforgiving desert. Concrete posts erected in 1965 mark where it ran.
The Old Spanish Trail 1829 1850
Clark County, NV
Beginning in 1829, a horse-and-mule trail carried goods between Santa Fe and Los Angeles, crossing 130 miles of what became Clark County and serving as Nevada's first commercial route. As California beckoned, gold-rush wagons and Mormon emigrants followed the same desert path. It was among the hardest overland journeys in the West, sustained by scarce springs. Markers placed in 1965 trace its course.
Rafael Rivera
Clark County, NV
In January 1830 the young scout Rafael Rivera, riding ahead of Antonio Armijo's sixty-man trading party out of Abiquiú, New Mexico, became the first person of European descent on record to enter and cross the Las Vegas Valley. Ascending the Vegas wash and blazing a route to California's Mojave River, Rivera opened a vital link in the Old Spanish Trail, with the Las Vegas Springs an essential stop. John C. Frémont mapped the trail in 1844, and after its extension toward Salt Lake the route became known here as the Mormon Trail — closely paralleled today by Interstate 15.