The Schrade Walden 153 Uncle Henry...Golden Spike & Schrade 153UH variations..

This one looks pretty worn. Seller told me his grandfather was the original owner. It is a slow trickle of these showing up.
 
A slow trickle yes. But as a percent of the total actual production, this subset, "the SW marked firsties", were when new very small in quantity and then being the oldest, suffered the very highest attrition rate (use and loss). Add to that that the variant has only been known to exist, and thus become sought after, for a relatively short time and among a very small group of dedicated collectors of Schrade fixed blade knives. There are no telling how many of these changed hands on the secondary market, in every condition and completeness, before we here became aware of them. If we consider a normal attrition rate for hunting knives of this era, of the less than 2,000 total produced, less than 200 still exist in every condition, approximately ten of which have been noted by us here so far since we were made aware of their existence.
 
It's a current active auction Hal....put that number in Feebay Advanced Search and voila!.....No 10 will be revealed...Hoo Roo
 
I had to do a road trip yesterday to pick up some equipment in Salt Lake City and did a brief detour to visit a historic site at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was the site, in the middle of nowhere, that the last spike was driven completing the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

I had to do a road trip yesterday to pick up some equipment in Salt Lake City and did a brief detour to visit a historic site at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was the site, in the middle of nowhere, that the last spike was driven completing the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. The little museum has some interesting exhibits, but no matter how hard I looked, there was no Schrade Walden Golden Spike knife. And I did look. They had Centennial Coke bottles, replica spikes and necklace charms, but no Schrade Walden.

This historic site witnessed one of the most important accomplishments of the 19th century. On May 10, 1869, officials of the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad met here to drive four symbolic spikes (two gold), celebrating the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.
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The golden spike was made of 17.6-karat (73%) copper-alloyed gold, and weighed 14.03 troy ounces (436 g). It was dropped into a pre-drilled hole in the laurel ceremonial last tie, and gently tapped into place with a silver ceremonial spike maul. The spike was engraved on all four sides:
The Pacific Railroad ground broken January 8, 1863, and completed May 8, 1869.
Directors of the C. P. R. R. of Cal. Hon. Leland Stanford. C. P. Huntington. E. B. Crocker. Mark Hopkins. A. P. Stanford. E. H. Miller Jr.
Officers. Hon. Leland Stanford. Presdt. C. P. Huntington Vice Presdt. E. B. Crocker. Atty. Mark Hopkins. Tresr. Chas Crocker Gen. Supdt. E. H. Miller Jr. Secty. S. S. Montague. Chief Engr.
May God continue the unity of our Country, as this Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world. Presented by David Hewes San Francisco.[
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Now as then, there is nothing there but rocks and desert sage. The railroad tracks themselves were pulled in 1942 and used at military depots around the country, the line having been abandoned earlier as a new route crossed the Great Salt Lake to the South. When the NPS took the site over they relaid a mile or so of track and on occasion run reproductions of the two original locomotives out to re-enact the event. Still, even with the pavement, Park Museum etc, and other additions, one is struck by the desolate landscape. And can imagine quite easily what it was like there in 1869 for the hundreds of Irish and Chinese workers.

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So anyway, this is what the name of the Schrade Walden/Schrade Golden Spike 153UH commemorates. Sorry I wasn't prompted to take my own photos. I should have but was a bit woozy from the altitudes of the passes. These are all web-find photos.
 
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Codger_64 said:
I had to do a road trip yesterday to pick up some equipment in Salt Lake City and did a brief detour to visit a historic site at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was the site, in the middle of nowhere, that the last spike was driven completing the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.
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It's good that you got to visit such a historical site, and thanks for sharing this information with us. :)
It's sad that they didn't do a better job of preserving it. :(
 
Ballenxj said:
It's good that you got to visit such a historical site, and thanks for sharing this information with us. :)
It's sad that they didn't do a better job of preserving it. :(
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Well once the deed was done and the railroad completed, the site was a flash in the pan of history. There was briefly a small shanty town there, now nothing but dust, and the spikes themselves eventually went to various museums after their private owners recovered them. The site and event didn't garner much attention for nearly 100 years, until the Centennial approached. And the park service, the state and private entities went to a lot of trouble to make the site restoration what it is today. I didn't ask the number of annual visitors (approx.50,000) , but on this wintery day there were three cars in the parking lot besides our truck. There is a pyramidal masonary monument in front of the museum which was originally built beside the track or the site itself may have been lost to history.

In fact the line itself had a relatively short life as the main route moved a bit further South. This line continued to serve a few small towns and local ranches, but was not used as a main transcontinental route. A bit more trivia? Trains of that era carried enough water to produce steam enough to travel only 30 miles, thus the reason small settlements sprouted approximately 30 miles apart all along the route from Council Bluff, Iowa all across the West.
 
Codger_64 said:
A bit more trivia? Trains of that era carried enough water to produce steam enough to travel only 30 miles, thus the reason small settlements sprouted approximately 30 miles apart all along the route from Council Bluff, Iowa all across the West.
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As much as I love trains, and steam locomotives in particular, I did not know that. Thanks again. :cool:
 
Ballenxj said:
As much as I love trains, and steam locomotives in particular, I did not know that. Thanks again. :cool:
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Oh, for such a simple little hole-in-the desert museum, it was full of interesting trivia. I could fill this page and still not cover it all. It is worth the visit for anyone interested in history in general or railroading history in particular. You might like the recreated steam locomotives they run out for display in warmer months, both built circa 1968 and very close recreations of the original "Jupiter" and "#119", one wood fired and one coal fired, the originals scrapped at the turn of the century, underpowered and not worth the maintenance costs.

OK, since you insist... the COngressional appropriation bill included a mandate for both railroad builders of a maximum 2% grade. And since the appropriations weren't totally expended when the railroad was completed, the two competing companies continued building railbeds 250 miles past each other, those never having track laid. Typical governmink project eh? ;)

Oh, and back to the 153UH... I still insist that in my dim memory I saw a commemorative edition of the Golden Spike with paperwork and box referring to the Golden Spike Centennial.

And... and a replica of the original transcontinental railroad golden spike was flown on space shuttle Atlantis's STS-38 mission. That spike is in a glass case in the museum.
 
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G'day "'Moderator'" Sir Codge...<is it a paid position??>..lol...I can see much potential for my suspension again.....lol....are you able to re-instate Muskratman, Procter, Davethinkstoomuch etc?..,..too late for poor old Arnold....
Great info you have just presented mate....the Golden Spike you show is almost identical with the golden spike sticker Schrade reproduced on the original <scarce?> Golden Spike brown box shown on page 1 of this thread...
I remember the Golden Spike used to commemorate the Gold Rush...I posted a photo on here somewhere...I don't recall a Schrade Centennial Golden Spike however ...but with Schrade we all know enough to know that anything was possible...its why we maintain our interest in them....Hoo Roo
 
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I have all sorts of buttons on my moderator console but, for the most part I'm afraid to touch them. The red "Delete Forum" button is quite frightening. And I am afraid there is no "Lazarus" button to bring back former members. Or you can darn well betcha that my friends Arnold Rodgers and Bill Wolf would be with us here.

Some day I do hope the commem package will surface again. I don't remember anything special about the knife, just the attendant packaging. Of course I have been wrong more than once.
 
More good stuff! ;)
Codger_64 said:
Oh, and back to the 153UH... I still insist that in my dim memory I saw a commemorative edition of the Golden Spike with paperwork and box referring to the Golden Spike Centennial.

And... and a replica of the original transcontinental railroad golden spike was flown on space shuttle Atlantis's STS-38 mission. That spike is in a glass case in the museum.
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I think I may have mentioned before, but I seem to remember something about that Golden Spike Commemorative as well.

I just can't figure why they would want to send a Golden Spike up in a space shuttle?
 
So is this 11 now #00786. I already spent my monthly knife buying allowance on a mint 1973 Schrade-Walden 171uh and its bling.

Well will this one go the Aussie land as well?:rolleyes::D

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schrade-Wal...121?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fb2eb671

BTW this is the same seller I got the mint SW 171. Think he came into a buried collection. Seems to be forum researched but I don't think he got to this thread based on his description.
 
Certainly looks like No 11 has appeared. Nice original 'minty' example. Would Moderator Codger care to add to our running list please?.....<I used the word 'Minty' because I am aware how much angst it causes our member Cal..!..lol..>..shame its appears to be "shined to almost noo"...same with the sheath stud 'all shined up'.....original patina would make more collector appeal IMO...jury still out on the Bear Skinner box......whether they were genuinely issued by Schrade for early examples of 153UH...and Schrade-Walden subsequently put stickers on box for very brief period....<only one noted to date with sticker which does not appear to be simply stuck over the word Bear Skinner..close inspection appears to show no writing under the sticker>>..or whether a box from the previous fixed blade 'Bear Skinner' that made way for the new 153UH Golden Spike has simply been transposed by an owner or even the shop how will we ever know....unless a box appears with the words Bear Skinner under the sticker... that Old Timer paperwork in the listing is not related to this Uncle Henry so a minor switchharoo/addition has already occurred...probably the second best example noted so far in our search for the original perhaps 2000 with Schrade-Walden tang stampings...it won't be going to this Aussie address.....Hoo Roo
 
Do any of the other SW 153s have the Schrade SS etching on them like this one does. I didn't see it in any of the pictures in this thread. Good catch on the shining up but it hasn't been polished enough to take the etching off. Also the threads on this sheath are really dark compared to the other sheaths noted here. I understand the etching was off and on the various knives and comparing it to others in close number sequence might tell you schrade historians something. The old timer paper in that picture kind of threw me. I guess the loss replacement certificate is right for that year either. She's still pardy to look at pa.
 
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