Echoes of Hammers & Spikes

 

Discover proven strategies for problem solving from the project that changed an entire nation! An inspiring and entertaining collection of stories & songs!

Meet the heroes and villains struggling to overcome impossible obstacles.

20 chapters with 20 songs and over 180 illustrations including primary sources that bring these incredible and true stories to life to INSPIRE the INNOVATORS of TOMORROW!

 

Join nationally-recognized authors and storytellers Sam and Suzanne Payne, and Utah music icon Clive Romney and friends on a lively train to discovery! This full-color 9” x 12” book and 20-song album celebrate America’s greatest technological achievement of the 19th century — building the Transcontinental Railroad.

The pounding hammer on that final golden spike, which linked the east to the west, echoed waves of change throughout Utah and across the entire nation.

Read the true stories of drama and triumph, heroes and villains. Stories presented powerfully through word, song and art. Let “Echoes of Hammers & Spikes” ignite your curiosity and give you deeper understanding.

Bring Core Curriculum and STEM to life for the Rising Generation

Echoes of Hammers and Spikes opens the door for powerful, project-based learning in math, science, language arts, engineering, social studies, ethics, character education and MORE!

Each of the 20 chapters is filled with lessons and activities to spark the imaginations of young and old alike.

“Echoes of Hammers and Spikes is the most engaging book I’ve seen in decades!” — Karl Behling, Storyteller and Retired Teacher/Ogden School District

“An entertaining and informative celebration of the transcontinental railroad’s sesquicentennial. Each song and story brings to life the diverse and powerful human experiences behind a moment that transformed the American nation.” – Ken Verdoia, Journalist, Documentary Producer, Author

“As a public historian, I thank Clive Romney, Sam Payne and all the collaborators who created this project! To me Echoes of Hammers and Spikes ignites appreciation for the innovators of the past, as it equally inspires tomorrow’s innovators to learn, dream and contribute.” – Brad Westwood, Senior Public Historian, Utah Department of Heritage & Arts
“The variety in the songs and the richness in the stories create a thoroughly entertaining environment for readers and listeners. With Echoes of Hammers and Spikes, they don’t realize how much they are learning because they are so well entertained.” – Abe Johnson, President, Friends of the Territorial Statehouse State Park & Museum
“I know that Echoes of Hammers and Spikes will prove both useful and enjoyable for Utah families and students for years to come…Clive and his team make “dusty” curriculum come alive, and students connect emotionally with the content.” – Robert Austin, K-12 Social Studies Specialist, Utah State Board of Education
Punch your ticket for a trip on the First Transcontinental Railroad with Echoes of Hammers and Spikes, a journey in pictures, stories, and songs. Twenty bite-sized chapters will acquaint you with the men and women from near and far who built the railroad and changed the world doing it. Accompanying the words and pictures, you’ll find an album of 20 tunes by Utah’s most beloved songwriters that will have you tapping your foot one minute and reaching for your hankie the next. It’s all between the covers of the book – a story as big as America, sized just right for you and your family. All Aboard!