Railroad Spike ?

[Getty]

I dug this spike at a CW site in Maryland. The weird thing about it is that its only 3 3/4 inches long. I looked and could not find ANY railroad spike this short. It was suggested to me that it could be wagon related. Im open to any ideas.

 

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[Getty]

Doesnt seem like 3 3/4 inches would hold alot of rail IMHO.

 

[underdogger]

My guess would be that the rail was for a large gun (cannon) to move on a small rail in a fortified positiion? something that could hold some weight but not a hole heck of a lot. just a guess.

 

[Getty]

My guess would be that the rail was for a large gun (cannon) to move on a small rail in a fortified positiion? something that could hold some weight but not a hole heck of a lot. just a guess.

OK thats something I/we did not think of and a very plausible idea.

 

[EagleDown]

My guess would be that the rail was for a large gun (cannon) to move on a small rail in a fortified positiion? something that could hold some weight but not a hole heck of a lot. just a guess.

It's also about the right size for a mine rail.

Eagle

 

[Getty]

My guess would be that the rail was for a large gun (cannon) to move on a small rail in a fortified positiion? something that could hold some weight but not a hole heck of a lot. just a guess.

It's also about the right size for a mine rail.

Eagle

OK another good idea. HMMMMM the possibilities that i didnt think of.

 

[Getty]

No mines that I can think of here but was THE singlemost bloodiest day of the Civil War where this spike was dug.

 

[niffler]

The older railroads were "Narrow guage", maybe a search using these words might turn something up. Just my 2 cents worth. Niffler

 

[MiniMe]

Hey Roger,
Try putting this in the What is It section. Cool find.

 

[history hunter]

Nice!

 

[underdogger]

Seems to me in the movie The good , bad, and the ugly . Not sure what side but was when Blondie (Clint Eastwood) and his other partner and crime . His name slips my memory . They at the front line of the war and it seemed there was a rail in the front of the fortified positions . I also saw soldiers pushing big guns on mine rails . like you said . Maybe I am wrong but it was in that Movie.

 

[niffler]

How about this? http://www.coloradoprospector.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2041

 

[Getty]

How about this? http://www.coloradoprospector.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2041

I belieive you've "nailed it" Niffler.lol. I just wonder why it would be on a battlefield?BTW the shank on it is 1/2" square.

 

[VOL1266-X]

It may have been used as a tent spike if there were camps nearby Getty. We find a lot of pin like iron relics that size in CS camps here. They coulds be picked up near railroads and tossed into wagons with canvas tents and used over and over. HH, Quindy.

 

[Getty]

It may have been used as a tent spike if there were camps nearby Getty. We find a lot of pin like iron relics that size in CS camps here. They coulds be picked up near railroads and tossed into wagons with canvas tents and used over and over. HH, Quindy.

Thats the second person that has told me this so I will go along with that.

 

[dragon6banger]

i will be the third i have found many of them on camp sites...but another thing that i have been told by oldtimers is the they also used these small spikes in building wooden structures as in bunkers and what have you..

 

[Derail]

I think Underdogger is right. Often times, to move larger heavy objects to a site, a temporary light rail line was constructed just for that purpose. There would be no excavation or real ground work done. Just a quickly assembled line that followed the lay of the land. I too have found small spikes like yours in odd places. The first was near an abandoned town site in northern Minnesota where a logging railroad existed from 1904 until 1915. The logging railroad was a standard gauge line of regular construction for the day. But there were some 20 very small spikes scattered over an area where there used to be a camp near the town. Then one day at the local historical society, I stumbled upon an old photo of a steam shovel digging a grade through a hill for expanding the logging line (as written on the back of the photo). The shovel belonged to a hired contractor. And the shovel was large and and rail mounted. The photo showed it was on a narrow gauge - very small rail track that was obviously taken up and relocated as the machine had to be relocated. Ah-ha! The place where I found the 20 spikes was apparently a staging area where the contractor stored his track materials that accompanied his steam powered shovel.

 

[ncsilverspider]

What about for climbing up telegraph poles as seen in Walt Disney's 1950's film " The Great Locomotive Chase "? Nice find!

 

[civilwarguy]

First post here. A friend and I have just started detecting the johnson river line on the chattahoochee river in atlanta. This past weekend we went down to an area that was called turners ferry during the civil war. The union built a pontoon bridge at this location. The confederacy had breast works on both sides of the river until being pushed back into atlanta. We found a depression about 100 yds long. It just did not look natural for the area. We first thought it may be a rifle pit but did not produce many artifacts. It did however produce a lot of spikes just like the one pictured above. The closest rail way is 1/2 mile away. We found probably 20-30 of these spikes along that depression. We were thinking the same thing that they had a small rail of some type to move supplies up and down the river. We did not find any rails. We are going back next week and see if we can find the depression further up the river other than that I dont know what they could be for. We found most of them on the depression wall and not in the bottom. Most of the spikes were at 8-10 inches deep.

 

[kuger]

thats the type of spikes used in the gold mines here....small gauge rail