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While memories of the historic sesquicentennial anniversary festivities will fade, the lasting effect of the 150th anniversary will live on through a series of inspired gifts. The gifts to the State of Utah span a huge range from elementary students who will connect to Utah for a lifetime to international visitors who will spend a few days learning about our state. These experiences provide people from all walks of life an opportunity to experience the legacy of the transcontinental railroad.
The following outdoor art pieces in Box Elder County are designed to teach, inspire, and enhance the natural environment. The very nature of these pieces makes them accessible to all visitors who may have limited access or limited time to engage with this material.
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An iconic legacy piece of Spike 150 will be the 43’ tall Golden Spike Monument by artist Douwe Blumberg. The monument will celebrate the power and diversity of those whose labor contributed to the transcontinental railroad. The clean, simple and elegant design is meant to be both large and impressive from a distance and also an intimate experience up close. The hand sculpted bas reliefs will cover all four sides of the spike and incorporate portraits and scenes of those who worked on and were impacted by the railroad.
GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
From the Golden Spike National Historical Park visitor center, Averbuch’s work is dedicated to the unsung laborers of the transcontinental railroad. Installed in June 2022, the piece rises and curves to the right, visually crossing the plains mountains on a viewer’s journey to the unknown. Much like the story of the transcontinental railroad, the piece encourages viewers to think critically, and with emotion, about the complex history and its implications for the primarily immigrant labor force involved in its construction.
GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
A majestic, life-sized bison sculpture gazes across lands where wild bison once roamed. The 3,000-pound bronze sculpture site is adjacent to the Golden Spike National Historical Park visitor center and is a tribute to the powerful forces that united east and west by rail. The sculpture serves as a reminder for future generations to honor and respect the history before the railroad and to understand the impact on Native American populations and the natural world.
ROZEL POINT
One of the most remarkable examples of land art, the Spiral Jetty is located at Rozel Point peninsula on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. Six thousand tons of black basalt rocks and earth were formed into a coil measuring 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide, which winds counterclockwise into the lake. Created at a time when water levels were particularly low, the artwork was submerged from 1972 onward, visible only through photographic and film documentation. However, regional droughts thirty years later caused the lake to recede such that a salt-encrusted Spiral Jetty reappeared and is visible today. The site is meant to be to be actively walk on and encourages visitors to repeatedly explore and consider existing in a state of continual change.
