The spike's installation marked the completion of the Alaska Railroad in 1923. It's spent most of the time since then in the hands of private owners

Two Alaska institutions are making a bid to bring home a golden spike that was driven into the ground more than a century ago to mark the completion of the Alaska Railroad.

A variety of private donors supplied money for the purchase, the museum and city of Nenana said in their statement.

The total cost of purchasing the 14-karat gold railroad spike at auction, to reclaim a piece of Alaska Railroad history, was $201,600.

The golden spike that was used to complete the Alaska Railroad in 1923 will for the first time be on permanent display in Alaska after entities combined to win an action for the 14-karat gold spike Friday.

President Warren G. Harding drove a golden spike into the final coupling of the Alaska Railroad more than a century ago, a ceremonial act that marked the launch of a system to easily bring coal ...