I’ve just noticed that the top-level farm team of the Kansas City Royals is named the Omaha Golden Spikes.
Now, the only Golden Spike I’m familiar with is the one that tied the eastern and western halves of the continental railroad together. But wasn’t that somewhere in Utah? Why would the Omaha team give itself that name?
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Recently, there was a milestone anniversary for the Golden Spike. As I heard, the East railroad used to end in Omaha. Perhaps this is the root of the name? Just a guess.
For clarity, I should add that the Golden Spike was laid in Utah, and the East railroad agreed (B&O?) did agree to extend further West to meet the Union Pacific railroad. Omaha was just once the end point.
Well, there is a 15 story Golden Spike tower being built in North Platte, Nebraska which is supposed to be completed sometime this year.
Apparently, there is some extreme confusion as to where the transcontinental railroad actually was completed. It does seem that (despite the hype) Promontory Summit, Utah was not the true completion point.
The actual first coast-to-coast railroad was completed near Strasburg, Colorado.
B&O Railroad in Nebraska?!? The B&O isn’t even in Iowa, I wonder if it’s even in Illinois! Easterners, Sheesh!
As a native Nebraskan, my hypothesis is that “Golden Spikes” somehow makes reference to the Union Pacific Railroad’s headquarters in Omaha (they have a giant presence in North Platte as well). The golden spike linked the Union Pacific from the East, to the Southern Pacific in the West (the B&O was nowhere near). Perhaps U.P. owns part or all of the Golden Spikes?
I lived in Omaha when they changed the name from the Royals to the Golden Spikes. IIRC, The World-Herald (the local paper) made the comment that the name was intended to pay homage to Omaha’s debt to the railroads.
Letting my inner child run loose and break things.