Northern Pacific Railroad Completion Site, 1883

46.550833333333 - 112.86Koordinaten: 46 ° 33 '3 " N, 112 ° 51' 36 " W

The Northern Pacific Railroad Completion Site is the site of the ceremony of tucking a golden nail on the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1883. The site is located near Independence Creek in Powell County, Montana, just off Interstate 90, about 60 miles ( approximately 95 km) southeast of Missoula and 40 miles ( 65 km ) west of Helena.

The Northern Pacific Railway began in 1870 by Minnesota from the construction of a transcontinental railway connection to the West Coast of the United States. Construction crews worked both from the east and from the west to a not initially designated meeting point somewhere in between before. Finally, the workers met on 22 August 1883 in the vicinity of Independence Creek in Western Montana each other, close to the Gold Creek was where first discovered in Montana gold. Here the tracks were connected together and the transcontinental rail link; the "Golden Nail " was, however, taken only at a ceremony on September 8, 1883. At this ceremony, 300 guests were driven with four trains to the site from the east, among them were the president of the railroad company Henry Villard and dignitaries from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. A fifth train brought visitors from the West Coast approach. The already completed track was once again torn to be laid solemnly during the ceremony. The "Golden Nail " was not really made ​​of gold, but it is acted by the same nail that had been thirteen years previously taken at the beginning of the construction work at Carlton, Minnesota first. Was hitting the nail of Villard, former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and Henry C. Davis, who had miteingeschlagen the nail at the first ceremony in Minnesota.

The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1983. The 2.5 acre ( approximately one acre ) large area includes the site of the last track and nail the point where in 1883 the pavilion had been erected for de celebrations. A wooden sign, which was erected by the Northern Pacific and marks the spot of the last track nail, is still present and can be seen from Interstate 90 from near the mouth of Independence Creek in the Clark Fork River.