Gold cup and rail spike

Accession number: 1993.33.1

18-karat gold cup and spike given to John Skelton Williams, president of the Seaboard Airline Railway, upon its completion at Richmond in 1900. Williams consolidated a dozen lines into a system providing through service from Washington, D.C., to Tampa, Florida. It was entirely owned by southerners—briefly—then taken over by Wall Street. Driving the spike tripped a telegraph key that sent a message along the railroad's route announcing its completion.

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