UtahRails.net Copyright 2000-2008 Don Strack

Rio Grande in Utah, to 1908

(Denver & Rio Grande)
(Rio Grande Western)
(Denver & Rio Grande Western)

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on March 15, 2008.

(This is a work in progress since 1978 — research continues.)

Follow-on Information:

CHRONOLOGY HISTORY

In Colorado — D&RG Organized and Construction Starts

The Denver & Rio Grande Railway was organized in October 1870 by William J. Palmer and his close friends and business associates to build a railroad between Denver and El Paso. While he had been in charge of the construction of the Kansas Pacific line into Denver in early 1870, Palmer had seen a need for a railroad operating along a north-south line south from Denver, connecting the mouths of the canyons where the booming mining camps were being located.

The company was incorporated in both Colorado and New Mexico on October 27, 1870, with a capital stock of $2.5 million. The first spike was driven in Denver on July 28, 1871. D&RG was the first road to equip its freight cars with air brakes. (LeMassena, p. 15)

Denver & Rio Grande Railway was incorporated on October 27, 1870 to build south from Denver to Pueblo, west up Arkansas River to Salida, then over Poncha Pass to the Rio Grande River, and south along the Rio Grande to El Paso. Salt Lake City was shown as the destination of The Western Colorado Railway, one of the seven proposed branches. (Athearn, pp. 14, 15; Wilson p. 8) The Denver & Pacific had been completed between Denver and the UP at Cheyenne in June 1870, and the Kansas Pacific reached Denver from the east in August 1870. (Wilson, pp. 3, 6) (The new company included seven branches, one of which showed a route into Utah Territory with Salt Lake City as the destination.)

Construction of the D&RG started at Denver in September 1871. On February 17, 1871 Palmer had announced that the road would be built to three foot gauge. (Wilson, p. 15)

D&RG reached Colorado Springs, seventy-six miles south of Denver, on October 21, 1871. It was turned over by the construction company to the railroad for operation on January 1, 1872. (Athearn, p. 20) Construction started immediately on the extension of the line to Pueblo. (Wilson, p. 20) On June 19, 1872 the road was completed to Pueblo. (Athearn, p. 23)

During the financial panic that began in September 1873, seventy-seven standard-gauge railroad companies failed, while the narrow gauge D&RG didn't. (LeMassena, p. 16) The financial panic of 1873 was caused by the schemes of Jay Gould. (LeMassena, p. 26)

Summer 1872:
During the summer of 1872, while Denver & Rio Grande was being completed to Pueblo, the mining industry was growing rapidly, including the new West Mountain Mining District, which encompassed Bingham Canyon, located twenty miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd Railroad was organized in September 1872 to build west from the Utah Southern at Sandy to the mines in Bingham Canyon. A month later, in October, the Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad was organized to build east from Sandy to the mines and granite quarries in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Both roads were completed and operating by December 1873.

September 10, 1872:
Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd Railroad was incorporated in Utah to build from Sandy, on the Utah Southern, to Bingham Canyon in the West Mountain Mining District. (Utah corporation index 4291)

October 24, 1872:
Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad incorporated in Utah to build a line from Sandy to the mines located in Little Cottonwood Canyon. (Reeder, p. 170)

November 1872:
Wasatch & Jordan Valley began work on repairing the old Utah Southern grade between Sandy and Little Cottonwood canyon, previously started by Utah Southern. (Reeder, p. 176)

(Utah Southern had begun the grade during the summer of 1872 as a means to get to the granite quarries at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, to transport blocks of granite for the construction of the Mormon Salt Lake temple.)

December 1872:
Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd began construction of their line. (Reeder, p. 152) Ground was broken at Sandy on October 24, 1872. Hugh White was Superintendent; Mr. White also celebrated his 27th birthday on the same day. (Salt Lake Herald, October 26, 1872)

January 1873:
Wasatch & Jordan Valley laid its first rail and by mid February the company had completed three miles of trackage. (Reeder, p. 180)

April 1873:
Wasatch & Jordan Valley completed five miles of track, from Sandy to the Davenport Smelter and on the 28th the road was completed to Granite, the site of the granite quarries. (Reeder, p. 181)

June 1873:
C. W. Scofield took control of Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd. Because of a lack of cash, Hugh White was forced to sell the stock and control of the Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd to investors in Salt Lake City and in the east, led by Scofield. (Reeder, p. 155)

September 1873:
Wasatch & Jordan Valley completed to Fairfield Flats. (Reeder, p. 182)

December 1, 1873:
Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd was completed to Bingham. (Poor's Railroad Manual, 1876-77)

December 1873:
Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd started service into Bingham, with the first train entering town on November 23, 1873. End of track was at the Winnamuck mill. (Salt Lake Herald, November 23, 1873) Service was begun with one locomotive, a second arrived in January 1874. (Salt Lake Herald, January 23, 1874) A one-mile extension was completed into the business center of Bingham Canyon a year later. (Reeder, p. 157, 159)

In Colorado:

During the four year period from 1872 to 1876 Denver & Rio Grande built feeder branches in Colorado; to Canon City in July 1874 and to the Trinidad coal mining region in April 1876. Also in 1876 construction was completed to La Veta, as the beginning of the road's line to the Rio Grande River, and El Paso to the south.

The Denver & Rio Grande's builders soon found that their destination of El Paso could best be reached by discontinuing their efforts over La Veta Pass and building south from Trinidad and into New Mexico over Raton Pass. Unfortunately, the AT&SF, which had completed its line to Pueblo in mid 1876, also had its sights on Raton Pass as part of its proposed transcontinental railroad. In April 1878 the Santa Fe's surveyors beat Rio Grande's crews to the 7,765 foot mountain pass.

The loss of the route over Raton Pass was a serious blow for Palmer and his Denver & Rio Grande. A line over Raton Pass had been seen as the best route to El Paso, with construction over any other pass seen as more costly to complete, and Colorado's "Baby Road" was already dangerously low on financial resources.

With the loss of a good route to El Paso, Palmer decided to concentrate the railroad's construction efforts towards completion of a line to Leadville, to get the traffic of that booming new mining camp. Of course, with the promise of transporting high value traffic such as the silver ores of Leadville, and as another way to block the efforts of its smaller rival, AT&SF also decided to build a line to the camp.

The ensuing battle for rights to the route through the canyon of the Arkansas River, west of Canon City ("the Royal Gorge Railroad War") was only finally settled two years later in February 1880. There was violence and threats of violence in the construction camps but most of the action was in the courts and corporate board rooms in Denver, New York and Boston. After the "Treaty of Boston" was signed by Palmer, Jay Gould, the AT&SF, and Denver & Rio Grande's bondholders, Palmer regained control of the destiny of his road in April 1880. The settlement allowed Denver & Rio Grande to take possession of the Santa Fe's route through the Royal Gorge and the road completed construction to Leadville on August 2.

D&RG was completed to Canon City, Colo., in July 1874. Construction started at Florence, on the branch completed to the Labran coal fields in October 1872. The coal fields were located thirty-six miles west of Pueblo, near Canon City. The construction of this eight mile branch between Florence and Canon City was the only construction activity for the D&RG between October 1872 and February 1876, due to the financial panic of 1873. (Wilson, pp. 24, 25; Rebel p. 26)

June 1875:
C. W. Scofield took control of Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad by purchase of stock. The Wasatch & Jordan Valley was not making enough revenue to pay the operating expenses and the interest on the construction bonds. By September, with Scofield's financial resources, the railroad completed an eight-mile mule tramway from Fairfield Flats to serve the mines at Alta. (Reeder, p. 184, 185)

(Two years before, in June 1873, Scofield had taken control of the Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd.)

Service began during the summer of 1875 on a two-mile, 5.6 percent grade, mule tramway in Bingham Canyon to the Jordan mine of the Utah Mining Company. Construction began in June 1874, with delays because of disputes in the right of way over located mining claims. (Reeder, p. 160; Salt Lake Herald, June 16, 1874; June 26, 1874; November 25, 1874) The tramway was built with a gauge "narrower than three feet." (Salt Lake Herald, July 10, 1874)

December 11, 1875:
Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway was organized by Milan O. Packard, M. P. Crandall, and Nephi Packard, all of Springville. These were the same individuals who had just recently organized the Pleasant valley Coal Co., beginning the commercial development of the coal resource in what is now Carbon County. The new railroad was organized to build a rail line between Provo and the owners' new mine in Pleasant Valley. (Utah corporation, index number 4301)

In Colorado:

D&RG began construction of their line south of Pueblo in January 1876. (Wilson, p. 27; Rebel p. 43) There had been no construction on the line since 1874 because of the financial crisis of the Panic of 1873 and because of a lack of revenue for the road between Denver and Pueblo. In April 1876 the road was completed to El Moro, five miles adjacent to Trinidad, as a terminal for the coal fields of the region. In July the road was completed to La Veta, at the base of La Veta Pass. And a year later, in July 1878 D&RG completed its line to the Rio Grande river, at Alamosa. (Wilson, pp. 27, 30)

Winter 1875-1876:
John Nelson and Abram Taylor camped at the site of Winter Quarters to stake out a coal mining claim on the area for the Pleasant Valley company. The town and mine were given its name in their honor. (Powell, Labor, p. 14)

Spring-Fall 1876:
A wagon road was constructed to move the coal from the Winter Quarters mine to Springville. The first opening for the Winter Quarters mine was made that summer of 1876. The coal was mined and packed by mule down the hillside and loaded onto wagons for the trip into Springville. The Pleasant Valley Coal Company began shipping coal in the fall of 1876, by way of the new wagon road to Springville, the round trip taking four days. At Springville the coal was sold locally for $4 to $5 per ton. (Watts: First Mine, pp. 33-35)

The Pleasant Valley Coal Co. mine owners had difficulties finding financial support for their Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway until they could show that it had sufficient traffic to pay its way. To show that the traffic truly existed, it was necessary to develop the coal mine and begin shipping the coal to market by wagon prior to building the railroad.

April 1877:
Grading for the new railroad line was begun at Springville. Warren G. Childs of Ogden was the principle contractor, keeping between 160 and 300 men on the project throughout the summer through early winter 1877. By year's end, the road's construction engineer, J. Fewson Smith, reported that twenty-six miles of grading had been completed. (Reeder, p. 370, from Deseret News, March 28, 1877, May 30, 1877, December 26, 1877, Salt Lake Tribune, June 10, 1877, Salt Lake Herald, December 21, 1877)

May 1877:
Utah & Pleasant Valley began grading. (Territorial Enquirer, May 9, 1877)

September 1877:
Utah & Pleasant Valley had been graded for a distance of sixteen miles. (Deseret News, September 5, 1877)

June 1878:
Development work on the new Winter Quarters No. 1 mine began, with the prospects of the soon to be completed Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway. Twelve beehive coke ovens were built, but they found that the coal had poor coking qualities. (Watts: First Mine, pp. 35-37)

In Colorado:

After AT&SF beat D&RG to a route over Raton Pass to the south in February 1878, Palmer decided in April 1878 to abandon his efforts towards Santa Fe, and El Paso, and concentrate instead toward completion of a line to Leadville, to get the mining traffic of that booming, new camp. (Athearn, p. 56) As any true rival would, AT&SF also decided to head for Leadville, and the ensuing battle for rights to the route through the canyon of the Arkansas River west of Canon City, "the Royal Gorge Railroad War", was only finally settled by the D&RG actually being leased by the AT&SF for thirty years, beginning in October 1878. The terms of the lease not only provided that the AT&SF would not build any competing lines to the proposed lines of D&RG, including the extensions to the San Luis and San Juan Valleys and Leadville, but also that all future D&RG construction would only be of three foot gauge. (Athearn, pp. 58, 66) (Both sides immediately started to work on ways to get around the lease by numerous financial and legal maneuvers.)

By mid-1878 the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway had not yet laid any rail, and was having problems paying the interest on its construction bonds, which meant that it might not be able to complete its line to the mines. It was rescued in October 1878 by Charles W. Scofield, an investor from New York City who had also saved and taken control of both the Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd Railroad and the Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad—two narrow gauge lines which traversed the Salt Lake Valley between the mining camps of Alta and Bingham Canyon, meeting and connecting with the Utah Southern Railroad at Sandy. (Reeder, p. 372, from Poor's, 1879, p. 923)

With Scofield's support the Utah & Pleasant Valley was able to complete its line into Pleasant Valley and the coal company's mine there. In return Scofield was given control of the railroad which meant that he and his associates controlled three of the most important rail lines within the state at that time.

August 29, 1878:
Tracklaying began on the Utah & Pleasant Valley line at Springville. (Reeder, p. 370, from Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 29, 1878)

September 7, 1878:
The construction of the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway, the "Calico Road", was started. (Mendenhall, p. 150)

September 16, 1878:
Utah & Pleasant Valley's first locomotive was put on the rails, after a mile and a half of track was laid, using a construction train pulled by horses. (Reeder, p. 371, from Salt Lake Tribune, September 17, 1878)

The locomotive was a Porter & Bell 0-6-0, with a four-wheel tender. This first Utah & Pleasant Valley locomotive came from the defunct American Fork Railroad, and had been the American Fork company's second locomotive, purchased in 1874. The American Fork Railroad had shut down just two months earlier, in June 1878. (Reeder, p. 208, from Deseret News, June 12, 1878) Charles Scofield bought the rolling stock and rails of the American Fork company and used them in the construction of the Utah & Pleasant Valley. (Pitchard: Scrapbook, p. 26)

During the construction of the new Utah & Pleasant Valley line, coal was loaded from the wagons to the rail cars at the end of track, where ever that might be as construction proceeded up the canyon. By early and mid May 1879 coal was being hauled into Springville by rail. On May 9th, five cars of coal was received at Springville. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Territorial Enquirer, May 10, 1879)

The new line was built using rails that weighed twenty pounds to the yard (compared to today's regular use of 133-pound rails). Coal was hauled in five-ton wooden cars with twelve cars making up a train, sixty tons of coal per trip. (Watts: First Mine, pp. 35,36) (Today, a single coal car carries 100 tons, nearly twice as much coal as that early entire train.)

Mid March 1879:
Work resumed on Utah & Pleasant Valley. (Territorial Enquirer, March 15, 1879)

Early April 1879:
Seventeen miles of route completed on Utah & Pleasant Valley. Work is progressing at one half mile per day. (Territorial Enquirer, April 2, 1879)

April 29, 1879:
Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd and Wasatch & Jordan Valley were merged to form a new Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad. (Reeder, p. 168, 169)

(Some historians doubt that the merger took place. However, the fact that Scofield controlled both roads, along with the Utah & Pleasant Valley, should be just about the only argument needed. Also, Scofield filed all necessary documents with both the Auditor of Public Accounts and the Utah Territorial Secretary showing that the roads were merged. These files are available in the Utah state archives.)

(Historian Robert LeMassena writes on page 83 of his Rio Grande...to the Pacific of the 1881 D&RGW purchase of W&JV: "How this consolidation [D&RGW and W&JV] was accomplished was not revealed until a court case in 1916. The evidence showed that these two railroad companies [W&JV and BC&CF] had concocted a fraudulent combination in 1879 for the purpose of selling additional bonds, with the unannounced intention of defaulting upon their original ones. As was to be expected, the two companies were foreclosed and sold, Palmer and his associates purchasing them. The court records did not disclose who perpetrated this nefarious scheme, but it smacks of the crafty Jay Gould, who had obtained a controlling interest in Palmer's D&RG during 1878 and 1879.")

Early May 1879:
Thirty five miles of Utah & Pleasant Valley completed. All 52 miles miles of line to be completed by July 1, 1879. Five carloads of rail had been received at Springville on May 1. (Territorial Enquirer, May 2, 1879)

Early October 1879:
Utah & Pleasant Valley completed to within one mile of the Pleasant Valley coal mines. Work to stop for the season. (Territorial Enquirer, October 8, 1879)

Work was started on an extension of line north from Springville to Provo. (Territorial Enquirer, November 26, 1879)

November 5, 1879:
Utah & Pleasant Valley railroad was completed to the mines, and it immediately began hauling coal to Springville. (Reeder, p. 371, from "Spanish Fork", in Railway World, November 15, 1879)

(A. C. Watts, chief engineer of Utah Fuel, in his article in the March 15, 1913 issue of Coal Age magazine, wrongly stated that the Utah & Pleasant Valley commenced operations between the Pleasant Valley mines and Springville in 1876. This was the date that wagon operations began.)

In Colorado:

By September 1879, D&RG's "Royal Gorge War" with AT&SF was draining their financial resources. To get cash for expansion Palmer sold interest in D&RG to Jay Gould, who was given control of three of the five seats on the D&RG board. (Wilson, p. 59)

In April 1880 Palmer regained control of the D&RG. The "Treaty of Boston" was signed on March 27, 1880 to settle the dispute between Palmer, Jay Gould, the D&RG bondholders, and ATSF. At that time D&RG took possession of the disputed AT&SF line through the Royal Gorge. (Athearn, pp. 70-90) By May 1880 D&RG had completed its line from Pueblo to Salida and in July the line reached Leadville. (Wilson, p. 60) In September 1880 D&RG started construction of the extension of its line to Utah by building over Marshall Pass. (Wilson, p. 68)

October 21, 1880:
Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway was completed to Provo. (Territorial Enquirer, October 23, 1880)

December 1880:
Doctor William Bell, friend and close business associate of Palmer, organized Sevier Valley Railway in Utah to build from Ogden south to Arizona, with another route over Salina Pass and across Castle Valley to the Green River and the Colorado line. (Athearn, p. 115)

Dr. William Bell:

"Born in County Tipperary, Ireland, April 26, 1841, Willie Bell grew up in England where his father, Dr. William Bell Sr. was physician to high society in London. Bell Jr. finished his own medical training at Cambridge University, but he preferred adventure to ailments, so Bell Sr. sent his son to St. Louis to learn about the new homeopathic treatments."

In 1867, at the age of 26, Bell applied for a job on the Kansas Pacific railroad survey. He was hired as a photographer. "He spent three days learning how to use the cumbersome contraption called a camera. The next nine months were loaded with adventure, from the extremes of weather to Indian battles to lost trails. Bell shrugged off the hardships with afternoon tea. And in August 1867, he met a kindred soul who would be his partner and closest friend for life: William J. Palmer. Bell wrote a book describing the Kansas-Pacific survey."

Dr. Bell was a vice president of D&RG for many years. Together, Palmer and Bell founded Colorado Springs in 1871. Bell was an Englishman who served as a connection to English investors for Palmer's businesses. Bell founded Manitou Springs in 1873, and built Briarhurst Manor, his personal estate in Manitou Springs. After Palmer's death in 1909, he moved to New York City. Bell died in June 1921 in England.

(Information taken from several web sites, especially a history of El Paso County at the Campus Press site of University of Colorado at Boulder.)

December 7, 1880:
Sevier Valley Railway was incorporated to build south from Ogden to the north boundary of Arizona Territory, by way of Salt Lake City, Provo, Nephi, Salt Creek Canyon, and Salina, also to build east from Salina to the west boundary of the State of Colorado to meet the westward building D&RG. (from file for Utah corporation index 15038, approval for the D&RGW of 1921)

1881:
For the year 1881, LeMassena wrote, on page 83:

The D&RGW Railway Company filed its Articles of Association in the Territory of Utah on July 21. Its proposed capitalization of $48-million was to be used for the construction of a narrow-gauge railroad from Salt Lake City to a connection with the Denver & Rio Grande Railway at the Utah-Colorado line, plus fifteen branches, totalling some 3,000 miles. Its first (and only) president was the indefatigable General William J. Palmer, who was also president of the D&RG.

Before building any track of its own, the D&RGW absorbed two existing and operating railroads which were located in the midst of a domain dominated by Union Pacific railroad interests. How this consolidation was accomplished was not revealed until a court case in 1916. The evidence showed that these two railroad companies had concocted a fraudulent combination in 1879 for the purpose of selling additional bonds, with the unannounced intention of defaulting upon their original ones. As was to be expected, the two companies were foreclosed and sold, Palmer and his associates purchasing them. The court records did not disclose who perpetrated this nefarious scheme, but it smacks of the crafty Jay Gould, who had obtained a controlling interest in Palmer's D&RG during 1878 and 1879.

February 1881:
Scofield regained control of Utah & Pleasant Valley from the bondholders. G. M. Young was named as Superintendent, he also held the same position for the Wasatch & Jordan Valley. (Territorial Enquirer, February 26, 1881)

May 1881:
Construction started on D&RG grade in lower Price River Canyon. The route was surveyed starting in March 1881, and within 30 days, contractors had been hired and placed along the route. Work continued all through the summer of 1881. In mid August some of the grading contractors were moved to a spot near present-day Gilluly, on the west slope of Soldiers Summit to start work on a connection with the existing Utah & Pleasant Valley. (see "In the Mountains of Utah" by Jakcson Thode and James L. Ozment, in Dreams, Visions and Visionaries, Colorado Rail Annual No. 20, 1993, ISBN 0-918654-20-3)

June 1881:
D&RG organized the Rio Grande Western Construction Company to build the line into Utah, replacing the dissolved Rio Grande Extension Company. Contract for the construction was signed on August 1, 1881. (Wilson, p. 71)

July 1881:
When Denver & Rio Grande Railway changed its destination from El Paso to Salt Lake City in 1880 it soon found that the only practical and construction-cost effective route open to it from Denver to Salt lake City was by way of the Price River Canyon. To accomplish all of the construction in the territory of Utah, a new company by the name of Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway was organized in July 1881. To shorten the construction time needed to reach Salt Lake City the D&RGW made a deal with C. W. Scofield to take over his three railroads - the Utah & Pleasant Valley to shorten the line and the Wasatch & Jordan Valley and Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd lines to provide it with ready sources of traffic when it got to Salt Lake City. The three Scofield lines were purchased in December 1881 and the Rio Grande's rails reached Salt Lake City in June 1882. (Reeder, p. 387, from D&RG ICC valuation reports, pp. 806, 896, 901)

July 21, 1881:
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway organized to take over interests of Sevier Valley Railway and Salt Lake & Park City Railway. (Athearn, p. 115)

August 1881:
Wasatch & Jordan Valley in foreclosure. (Reeder, p. 192)

In Colorado:

After completing their line to Leadville, Denver & Rio Grande began an extension of their line west from Salida, where the line to Leadville turned north, Palmer began construction of a line west to Gunnison, by way of Marshall Pass. Construction was pushed at a rapid pace to beat out the competition that Palmer saw coming from Denver, South Park & Pacific. (Athearn, p. 106; Wilson, p. 70) The first train steamed into Gunnison on August 8, 1881. Denver & Rio Grande also completed its San Juan extension from Alamosa to Durango in August 1881. (Athearn, p. 104)

By September 1881, Spackman and Palmer owned the majority of bonds of the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway. (Territorial Enquirer, September 24, 1881)

(Wilson, on page 71, says D&RGW bought the Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd on September 1, 1881.)

(Reeder, on page 382, says that on September 22, 1881, Palmer wrote a letter to the U. S.  Secretary of the Interior announcing that he held controlling interest in the Utah & Pleasant Valley.)

November 1881:
D&RGW received cars purchased second--hand from the Utah & Northern. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 6, 1881; November 27, 1881)

(Locomotives used by D&RGW were borrowed from the D&RG.)

December 31, 1881:
D&RGW bought the Wasatch & Jordan Valley (which was the 1879 consolidation of the old Wasatch & Jordan Valley and the Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd) (Reeder, p. 192)

(Athearn, on pages 115 and 116, says D&RGW bought the Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd and Wasatch & Jordan Valley "Toward the end of the year...")

1882:
For the year 1882, LeMassena wrote, on page 83:

This was a busy year for the D&RGW. It picked up another railroad at a foreclosure sale and tied together its three pieces of acquired trackage. Then, it struck out eastward across the mountains and desert toward a connection with the D&RG at the Utah-Colorado border. On August 1, it leased its properties to the D&RG, which would operate them.

Rumors persisted that D&RGW was either interested in, or had purchased control of the Scofield roads as early as October 1880, although formal possession did not occur until June 14, 1882 upon completion of the D&RGW tracks into Salt Lake City. The Utah lines, called Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, connected with the Colorado lines, called Denver & Rio Grande Railway, on March 30, 1883, with the actual traffic beginning on April 1, 1883. D&RG had formally leased the D&RGW a year earlier, in April 1882. (Wilson, pp. 71-76)

In Colorado:

In the fall of 1881, Denver & Rio Grande's expansion efforts to beat the competition to reach any potential traffic had the road building into the region west of Gunnison. The transportation of agricultural products from the Mormon communities in Utah was traffic that the road wanted, along with the mineral traffic that was developing in Utah.

In the face of continuing problems, Palmer pushed the Rio Grande on, determined to reach into Utah, and Salt Lake City. The construction of the line into Utah was slowed by the costs of the previous rapid expansion, along with the costs of maneuvers to thwart Jay Gould and Union Pacific's expansion along Rio Grande's eastern flank between Denver and Pueblo.

In the 1881 Annual Report, Palmer said that "The primary object of the completion of the link of 618 miles between Pueblo and Salt Lake City is to meet the requirements of the tributary mining districts and the interchange of ores and general traffic between Colorado and Utah". (Athearn, p. 114) Part of that intended "general traffic" was the shipment of agricultural products from the Mormon farms in Utah to the mining camps in Colorado. (Athearn, p. 107) The first load moved east was potatoes from Utah Valley bound for the mining camps at Leadville. (Wilson, p. 76)

1882 — "The frantic expansion of the past two years had weakened the D&RG's financial resources and had aroused some doubt concerning its ability to carry the ever-increasing load of debt. Consequently, further expansions were curtailed and practically all the railroad's forces were concentrated upon completing the through line to Salt Lake City. On August 1 the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, which was building the line across Utah, was leased to D&RG." (LeMassena, p. 41)

1882 (Grand Junction to State Line - 37 miles of narrow gauge) — "West of Grand Junction the tracks followed the Grand River, but diverged to the northwest where the river headed southwestward into a long deep canyon. The climb away from the river, across the local drainage, necessitated some steep grades and sharp curves. Once the Colorado-Utah state line was crossed, the trackage was part of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, a Utah corporation formed by Palmer in 1881." (LeMassena, p. 41)

Construction of D&RGW tracks reached American Fork on April 15, 1882, by building north from a connection with Utah & Pleasant Valley at Provo. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 16, 1882)

April-June 1882:
D&RGW completed its line between American Fork and Salt Lake City by building through the narrows of the Jordan River to Midvale, and a connection with the Bingham & Camp Floyd and the Wasatch & Jordan Valley roads. Construction continued north into Salt Lake City.

June 12, 1882:
D&RGW bought the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway at auction, at 2 p. m. at the Provo Courthouse. The Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway was sold to Spackman, who was acting as an agent for D&RGW. Spackman took the Utah Central down to Provo in the morning and the D&RGW back to Salt Lake City in the afternoon, the D&RGW tracks being only 1,500 feet from Salt Lake. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 13, 1882)

(Both Athearn, p. 116, and Wilson, p. 71, say that the sale was in December 1881.)

June 13, 1882:
First D&RGW train into Salt Lake City. (Reeder, p. 387)

July 1882:
D&RGW received locomotives from D&RG, they were shipped on the 15th. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 22, 1882)

July 24, 1882:
D&RGW began passenger service, to the coal mines at Pleasant Valley, over the former Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway, and to the mines in Alta and Bingham, over the former, combined, Wasatch & Jordan Valley and Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 23, 1882)

August 1, 1882:
D&RGW (of Utah) was leased to D&RG (of Colorado) for thirty years. (Athearn, p. 117; LeMassena, p. 41)

Following its original survey from the previous summer of 1881 by Micajah T. Burgess, D&RGW built a new line between the Utah & Pleasant Valley station at Clear Creek (later known as Tucker), and the point where the Price River is joined by the White River flowing down from Soldier's Summit. The new line crossed Soldier Summit by following the north fork of Soldier Creek up to Soldier Summit, then east down the White River to where it met the Price River. The new D&RGW line over Soldier Summit was completed on August 1, 1882, and had an easier grade, without the double switchbacks of the old Utah & Pleasant Valley line, allowing larger cars to be used.

The number of cars in each train stayed at twelve, but larger cars were used, with capacity increased from five tons to ten tons, giving each train a capacity of about 145 tons compared to the previous 60 tons. (Watts: First Mine, p. 36)

D&RGW took formal possession (from Rio Grande Western Construction Co.) of its 105 miles of line between Salt Lake City and the Pleasant Valley coal mines. (Wilson, p. 75)

In Colorado:

By the end of August 1882 the construction of Denver & Rio Grande had reached beyond Gunnison and through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River to Cimarron. In October 1882, the rapid construction reached Delta and by Christmas the railroad was completed to the Colorado/Utah line, 462 miles from Denver.

October 27, 1882:
Price River & Pleasant Valley Railway was incorporated to build a 25-mile railroad up Fish Creek, from its confluence with the White River which forms the Price River at today's Colton, to the coal mines at the head of Pleasant Valley. (Utah corporation numbers 163, 4316)

The Utah & Pleasant Valley had been completed in late 1879 by building up the South Fork of Soldier Creek from its station called Clear Creek (later called Tucker), crossing into Pleasant Valley through the use of a unique double switchback. This was a difficult and expensive route for operation. To overcome these operating problems, D&RGW built an easier route after it purchased control of the Utah & Pleasant Valley in June 1882.

Without using the Price River & Pleasant Valley Railway as the actual instrument of construction, the new line was completed on November 23, 1882 and placed into operation as D&RGW's Pleasant Valley Branch, replacing the old Utah & Pleasant Valley line between Clear Creek (later Tucker) and the Pleasant Valley mines. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 18, 1882, "rail to be laid in two weeks"; November 15, 1882, "new line to be done in few days"; November 19, 1882, "laying of rail completed"; November 23, 1882, "into operation today"; LeMassena, p. 85)

The operation of the new D&RGW Pleasant Valley Branch officially began on December 1, 1882. The new line connected with the old Utah & Pleasant Valley line at a point about two and a half miles north of Scofield at the north end of Pleasant Valley. Upon completion of the D&RGW line between Pleasant Valley Junction and the Utah/Colorado line on April 8, 1883, Pleasant Valley Junction became one of two division terminals in Utah and was the location of an eleven-stall brick roundhouse (the other division terminal was Green River, Utah). (Madsen, pp. 14, 15)

Pleasant Valley Junction was abandoned as a division terminal with the completion of the new division terminal at Helper in 1891 or 1892. (Madsen, p. 15)

Pleasant Valley Junction (earlier known as Fish Creek) was later renamed to Colton, after William F. Colton, an associate of William Palmer in Palmer's organization of other railroads in Utah. He was the principle organizer of the Price River & Pleasant Valley Railway. According to Higgins (Industries, p. 20), during late 1901, he was president and treasurer of Pleasant Valley Coal Company. In August 1898 to January 1899, he was also the president of the Salt Lake City School District. He and Palmer were in the 15th Regiment Calvary, Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the Civil War.

In Colorado:

D&RG was completed to the Colorado-Utah line on December 12, 1882, having reached Cimarron in August and Delta in October. (Athearn, p. 115; Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 13, 1882)

1883:
"The D&RGW completed the through line to Salt Lake City on March 30, and dispatched the first passenger train from Salt Lake City on April 8. Palmer resigned as president of D&RG shortly thereafter, since the new Board of Directors was composed primarily of Easterners who were hostile to Palmer's policy of expansion. However, he remained as President of D&RGW, while Frederick Lovejoy, replaced him on the D&RG. As was to be expected, new construction came to a virtual stop, only revenue-producing line completed." (LeMassena, p. 41)

January 1883:
Four D&RG board members loyal to Palmer resigned from the D&RG Board of Directors, over the board's displeasure with the lease of the D&RGW, when the D&RG couldn't even pay an annual dividend. (Athearn, p. 133)

March 27, 1883:
D&RG was completed to Green River on March 27, 1883, by building from the east. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 28, 1883) Construction was proceeding west to a connection with D&RGW, which was building south from Pleasant Valley Junction, along the Price River. By the end of 1882, D&RGW crews had reached Grassy Trail (today known as Grassy), 58 miles southeast of Pleasant Valley Junction. (LeMassena, p. 83)

March 30, 1883:
D&RGW and D&RG crews met at a a point a few miles west of Green River, completing their combined line from Denver to Salt Lake City. (Athearn, p. 122) D&RGW had completed their narrow gauge line from Salt Lake City by new construction between Salt Lake and Provo and from Tucker over Soldier Summit to the D&RG connection west of Green River. The portion of the line from Provo to Tucker was constructed by the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway and was purchased by the D&RGW in June 1882. The D&RGW's new line between Salt Lake and Provo connected with the Wasatch & Jordan Valley and Bingham Canyon & Camp Floyd feeder lines at Bingham Junction in the Salt Lake valley. (Reeder, p. 387) The first train from Salt Lake City to Denver left Salt Lake City on April 8, 1883. (LeMassena, pp. 41, 85)

On March 30, 1883 when the construction forces of D&RGW (of Utah) and D&RG (of Colorado) met at the point later named Desert Switch (now known simply as Desert), about half way between Green River and Woodside, Utah, the entire portion of the D&RG track west of a station called State Line was actually D&RGW track, constructed by D&RG for the benefit of D&RGW. The legal ownership of the track itself became sort of a moot point when D&RG formally leased D&RGW on or about May 1, 1883, but LeMassena says on page 41 that, "Once the Colorado-Utah state line was crossed, the trackage was part of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, a Utah company formed by Palmer in 1881."

May 1883:
D&RGW reached Ogden on the 16th, although the bridge over the Weber River was not yet completed. (Wilson, p. 76) D&RGW entered Ogden Union Depot on the 19th by laying a third rail on the Central Pacific tracks. (Reeder, p. 388)

(The Utah Central and Union Pacific would not allow the D&RG to cross their tracks to get access to Ogden Union Station.)

May 1883:
The lease of the D&RGW to the D&RG went into effect. (Athearn, p. 131)

June 1883:
D&RGW was to lay a third rail from Salt Lake City to Ogden, for the Central Pacific traffic. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 21, 1883)

August 9, 1883:
Palmer resigned as president of the D&RG, and was replaced by Frederick Lovejoy. Palmer retained his seat on Board of Directors. (Athearn, pp. 134, 135)

November 1883:
W. H. Bancroft became Superintendent of the D&RGW, called the "Utah Division", replacing Henry Wood who quit in September to take another job in Arkansas. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 20, 1883)

November 1, 1883:
D&RGW completed its first depot in Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 1, 1883) Under construction since April. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 1, 1883)

January 1884:
D&RGW renamed Castle Valley station to Price. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 13, 1884)

March 1884:
D&RG president Lovejoy tried to replace Dodge as General Superintendent of D&RGW. Palmer wouldn't allow it. W. H. Bancroft was Superintendent of D&RGW. (Athearn, p. 137)

April 1884:
Dodge resigned as General Manager of D&RG. (Athearn, p. 137) David H. Moffat was elected to D&RG board. (Athearn, p. 140) D&RGW obtained injunction restraining the D&RG from interfering in operation and management of D&RGW. (Athearn, p. 140)

end of May 1884:
D&RG went to court to break its lease of the D&RGW. (Athearn, p. 143)

June 1884:
Palmer resigns as member of board of D&RG. (Athearn, p. 145)

July 2, 1884:
D&RGW files to have a receiver appointed for D&RG because D&RG has failed to pay the rent. (Athearn, p. 145)

July 3, 1884:
Lovejoy "cuts the line" by having D&RG crews tear up a mile of track just east of the Colorado-Utah line. (Athearn, p. 145; LeMassena, p. 87)

In Colorado:

D&RG was placed into receivership on July 9, 1884, with W. S. Jackson appointed as receiver. Jackson ordered that the two lines be re-connected at the point where they were cut by Lovejoy, near Grand Junction. (Athearn, p. 146) The receiver took control on July 12, 1884. (LeMassena, p. 43)

August 12, 1884:
D&RGW was placed into receivership, with W. H. Bancroft appointed receiver. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 13, 1884; Rebel p. 147)

December 10, 1884:
A D&RGW train was blown off the tracks a the wind at "Wood's Cross" on December 10, 1884. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 11, 1884)

March 1886:
D&RGW released D&RG from its lease in return for the D&RG surrendering rolling stock being rented by D&RGW. (Athearn, p. 153)

In Colorado:

Denver & Rio Grande Railway was sold at auction to the bondholders on July 14, 1886 and reorganized as Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. (Athearn, p. 153) (LeMassena, p. 46, says the sale was on July 13, 1886.)

July 31, 1886:
The D&RG lease of D&RGW was terminated. In return for damages while under the lease, ownership of several D&RG locomotives being leased to D&RGW was turned over to D&RGW. (LeMassena, pp. 51, 87)

August 1, 1886:
D&RGW released from receivership and Palmer regains control. (Athearn, p. 153)

(The road was completely independent from the D&RG at this time.)

October 1886:
D&RG completed construction of line to Glenwood Springs, from Red Cliff, on Tennessee Pass line. (Athearn, p. 161) Begun in April. (Athearn, p. 156)

1887:
D&RGW completed the two-mile long Lake Park Branch, from its line at Farmington west to Great Salt Lake. (LeMassena, p. 87) Converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge in 1889. (LeMassena, p. 89) The line ran along the immediate north side of today's Clark Lane in Farmington.

1887:
D&RGW completed the one-mile Diamond Quarry Spur, from Diamond Junction to Diamond Quarry. Diamond Quarry was a stone quarry at the mouth of Diamond Creek, just west of Thistle. (LeMassena, p. 87) Converted to standard gauge in 1890. (LeMassena, p. 91)

May 1889:
D&RGW completed laying rails to allow both narrow gauge and standard gauge locomotives to be repaired in Salt Lake roundhouse, using four rails (narrow gauge inside of the standard gauge rails). (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 16, 1889) Project was begun in March. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 16, 1889)

Summary of the 1880s:
The 1880s were turbulent times for the Rio Grande. After D&RGW entered Ogden in May 1883, and for the next year, there began a series of serious disagreements among the men who were officers and directors of the two D&RG and D&RGW companies over the Colorado company's lease and operation of the Utah company. The fight climaxed on July 3, 1884 when the president of D&RG ordered the line to be cut, which resulted in a mile of trackage being taken up just east of the Utah/Colorado line. Both companies knew, both before and after, how important they were to each other, but each side felt that a point had to be made. The break in the line lasted only two weeks. The courts forced both companies into receivership, with the D&RG emerging with new leadership in July 1886. The D&RGW recovered in August 1886, with Palmer still in control. During 1886, western Colorado was alive with railroad surveyors, and the two companies needed to cooperate against new competition. Union Pacific had location engineers driving stakes in the region, and the Burlington Route was also showing interest. J. J. Hagerman's standard gauge Colorado Midland built into D&RG's territory at Leadville in September 1886, and was headed for Aspen.

The Colorado Midland reached Aspen in February 1888, and was purchased by Santa Fe interests in September 1890. (Athearn, pp. 164, 173)

Robert G. Athearn described the situation in the late 1880s (Athearn, p. 166):

By 1887 it became apparent to Rio Grande management that unless it offered the bigger roads an efficient and easily made interchange, one or more of them would build across Colorado to seek a western outlet from the Salt Lake region. The Rio Grande held an advantage in the fact that except for the Union Pacific, it was the only road offering service between Denver and Ogden. It could connect the AT&SF [at the east end of its line] with the Central Pacific [at Ogden] and form a link in a new transcontinental system.

The great drawback to the plan was the Rio Grande's narrow gauge tracks.

There was but one answer: to standard gauge the whole mainline.

The line from Salt Lake City to Ogden of the Rio Grande Western Railway, as the July 1889 successor to the D&RGW, was changed to standard gauge on March 6, 1890. On June 10, 1890, RGW completed conversion of tracks between Ogden and Grand Junction from narrow gauge to standard gauge. D&RG did not complete its standard gauge connection, via Tennessee Pass and Glenwood Springs, until mid November 1890, by-passing the original narrow gauge route to the south over Marshall Pass. On November 17, 1890 the first standard gauge through train from Denver entered Salt Lake City. (Athearn, pp. 134-173)

June 24, 1889:
Rio Grande Western Railway was incorporated to finance conversion of the D&RGW to standard gauge. The company was formally organized on May 16, 1889, and was a consolidation of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, in Utah, and the State Line & Denver Railway, in Colorado. The State Line & Denver was organized by Palmer as a connection between the D&RGW at State Line and the soon-to-be-completed Colorado Midland at Glenwood Springs. (Utah corporation index 565; LeMassena, p. 89) The reorganization took place on July 1, 1889, using the name Rio Grande Western Railway instead of the planned Utah & Colorado Railway. (Wilson, pp. 93, 94)

In Colorado:

July 1889 — D&RG and Colorado Midland organized a jointly owned Rio Grande Junction Railway to build a standard gauge line from Rifle to Grand Junction. (Athearn, p. 171) Connecting with D&RG's own Rio Grande & Pacific Railroad that was organized to build a standard gauge line from Glenwood Springs to Rifle. (Athearn, p. 170) Construction began on July 15, 1890 and was completed in November 1890, with operations over the new 62.08 miles of standard gauge line starting during the same month. (Wilson, p. 94)

LeMassena summarizes 1889 for the RGW on page 89:

The RGW Railway Company was formed on May 16, 1889, as a consolidation of the D&RGW Railway and the State Line & Denver Railway, filing its Articles of Incorporation in both Colorado and Utah on June 24. The D&RGW had been the "Utah Lines" of the D&RG, while the SL&D had been organized to acquire a right-of-way between the Utah-Colorado state line and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, terminus for both the D&RG and the Colorado Midland railroads. Reconstruction and gauge-widening of the former D&RGW N-G line across eastern Utah began immediately at Salt Lake City. During the period of conversion the RGW continued main-line passenger and freight service, apparently transferring persons and merchandise from car to car at the various locations where the track gauge differed. (During the summer and fall S-G trains were composed of N-G cars mounted temporarily on S-G trucks, the locomotives having been N-G power hastily widened to S-G. This interesting expedient ended late in the year when new S-G equipment began to arrive.) In December the RGW leased 17 miles of D&RG track between Grand Junction and Crevasse, Colorado, the new junction point of RGW and D&RG trackage.

September 1889:
RGW's Bingham Branch was in the process of being relaid as standard gauge using 45-pound rails from the original narrow gauge Salt Lake City to Ogden line. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 24, 1889)

October 4, 1889:
RGW received its first standard gauge locomotives. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 5, 1889)

December 1889:
Prior to being converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge, the D&RG line between Crevasse and Grand Junction (17 miles) was leased to RGW for ease of operation,  to allow Grand Junction to serve as a more efficient connection between the two now-independent lines. (LeMassena, p. 89) The earlier State Line & Denver had been organized for this exact purpose, to build a line from State Line to Grand Junction, and to continue on to Glenwood Springs and a connection with the projected Colorado Midland.

The line between Salt Lake City and Provo was still narrow gauge during mid December 1889, without provision for standard gauge equipment. Standard gauge engines were being shipped from Salt Lake City to Provo over the standard gauge OSL&UN (UP). (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, from Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 15, 1889)

When the new standard gauge line was completed between Whitehouse and Crevasse in 1890, it was completed by the Rio Grande Western Railway, which was the reorganized D&RGW. The 17 miles of line from Crevasse to Grand Junction was converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge by D&RG, then leased to RGW for operation in December 1889. Crevasse then became the new junction point, and legal point of separation, between D&RG and RGW, as opposed to the old junction point at State Line on the old narrow gauge line. (LeMassena, p. 89)

1890:
The original narrow gauge line between Whitehouse in Utah and Crevasse in Colorado, was removed in 1890. (LeMassena, p. 91)

1890:
RGW converted the one-mile Diamond Quarry Spur from narrow gauge to standard gauge, from Diamond Junction to Diamond Quarry. (LeMassena, p. 91) Diamond Quarry was a stone quarry at the mouth of Diamond Creek, just west of Thistle. The spur was completed in 1887. (LeMassena, p. 87)

early January 1890:
No more narrow gauge engines were being used between Provo to Pleasant Valley Junction. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, from Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 2, 1890)

March 6, 1890:
RGW line from Salt Lake City to Ogden was changed to standard gauge. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 8, 1890)

March 10, 1890:
RGW line between Pleasant Valley Junction and Winter Quarters mine was changed to standard gauge. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 11, 1890; LeMassena, p. 91))

June 2, 1890:
RGW operated first standard gauge train into Bingham. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 3, 1890)

(LeMassena, on page 91, says that in 1890, both the Bingham Branch, from Bingham Junction to Bingham (16 miles), and the Wasatch Branch, from Bingham Junction to Wasatch (8 miles) were converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge, with service between Wasatch and Alta being intermittent by way of a narrow gauge tramway.)

June 10, 1890:
RGW completed conversion of tracks to standard gauge, between Ogden and Grand Junction. (Johnson, p. 62; Wilson, p. 94; LeMassena, p. 89)

In Colorado:

D&RG did not complete its standard gauge connection, via Tennessee Pass and Glenwood Springs, until mid November 1890. The route was standard gauge from Ogden to Grand Junction, narrow gauge from Grand Junction to Pueblo, and standard gauge again from Pueblo to Denver.

late June 1890:
W. H. Bancroft resigned as general manager of Rio Grande Western, "a surprise to everyone". Effective July 1, 1890. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, from Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 21, 1890) Bancroft returned to Salt Lake City from Denver, to find a letter from D. C. Dodge saying that Bancroft's letter of resignation would be accepted. Bancroft announced that he would leave on July 1, 1890. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, from Salt Lake Evening Times, June 21, 1890)

(Athearn says on page 147 that Bancroft had been with the D&RG since 1881, and later became Superintendent of the Oregon Short Line.)

In Colorado:

November 14, 1890 — D&RG's new standard gauge route between Rifle and Grand Junction (63 miles) was completed, completing D&RG's standard gauge route between Grand Junction and Denver, by way of Rifle, Glenwood Springs, Tennessee Pass, Salida, and Pueblo. The new line between Rifle and Grand Junction was built by the Rio Grande Junction Railway, a company equally owned by both D&RG and its competitor Colorado Midland, which itself was controlled by arch rival AT&SF. This new connection at Grand Junction gave Rio Grande Western a competitive connection other than D&RG, via Colorado Midland and AT&SF. (LeMassena, p. 57)

November 17, 1890:
First standard gauge through train from Denver arrived in Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 18, 1890)

December 13, 1890:
RGW's narrow gauge line south from Thistle to Ephraim was completed. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 13, 1890)

(LeMassena, on page 89, says that this line was between Thistle and Manti.)

1891:
RGW extended the narrow-gauge, mule-powered tramway in Bingham Canyon two miles, from Bingham to Upper Bingham. (LeMassena, p. 92)

April 1891:
RGW's Sevier Branch between Thistle and Manti was still narrow gauge. Narrow gauge equipment was being shipped to Thistle from other parts of the system. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 30, 1891)

May 1891:
Construction of the extension of the Sevier Branch south of Manti reached 15 miles south of Manti and graders were at work all the way to Salina. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 9, 1891)

May 6, 1891:
Sevier Railway was incorporated by RGW interests to build from Manti, and a connection with the RGW from Thistle, south to Parowan by way of Salina and Marysvale, with branches to the gypsum beds near Salina, to the Clear Creek coal lands west of Marysvale, and east up Salina Canyon, through Castle Valley, to a connection with the RGW near Green River Station. (Utah corporation index 909, 4355)

May 11, 1891:
Tintic Range Railway was incorporated by RGW interests to build from Spanish Fork or Provo, or some point between, to the Tintic Mining District. (Utah corporation index 910, 4354; Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 12, 1891)

June 1891:
Wasatch Branch, formerly the Wasatch & Jordan Valley, was changed to standard gauge. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 10, 1891)

July 15, 1891:
The San Pete Division, between Thistle and Manti was changed to standard gauge on a single day. (Poor's, 1892, p. 543)

July 16, 1891:
Sevier Branch from Manti to Salina was changed to standard gauge on a single day. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 10, 1891)

August 17, 1891:
Sevier Branch reached Salina. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 18, 1891)

(Poor's 1896 report, p. 329, says that the Sevier Railway completed the 25.7 miles between Manti and Salina in July 1891.)

(Wilson, p. 97, says that the "Sevier Valley Railway" was completed from Manti to Salina in 1891.)

(LeMassena, p. 92, says Sevier Railway was built between Manti and Salina (26 miles), as standard gauge, in 1891.)

August 25, 1891:
David H. Moffat resigned as president of D&RG over foreign bondholder's displeasure with Denver management of company. (Athearn, p. 175) Replaced by Edward T. Jeffery. (Athearn, p. 176)

(LeMassena, page 67, says that the costs of completion of the standard gauge route, along with D&RG's financing of the Rio Grande Southern in southwest Colorado, forced D&RG to not pay a dividend in 1891, angering the bond holders against Moffat's plans for the railroad, and he resigned because of it.)

September 10, 1891:
Tintic Range Railway completed to Payson. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 11, 1891) Being laid with 58-pound rail. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 7, 1891)

(Wilson, p. 97, says that the Tintic Range Railway was completed from Springville to Eureka in 1891.)

(LeMassena, p. 92, says Tintic Range Railway built from Springville to Eureka, as standard gauge, in 1891.)

December 1891:
Tintic Branch was four miles from Eureka, with the tunnel at Homanville not yet completed, and graders at work beyond Eureka, to Mammoth and Silver City. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 2, 1891)

1892:
RGW completed a new three-mile spur between Jennings Junction and the Jennings stone quarry. Jennings Junction was located east of Pleasant Valley Junction, later known as Colton. (LeMassena, p. 101) The Jennings spur was extended in 1900 to reach the Potters Quarry. (LeMassena, p. 109) The combined spurs were removed in 1917 after the closure of both stone quarries. The entry for the 1917 removal referred to Kyune as being the point of connection, shown as Jennings Junction above. (LeMassena, p. 131)

1892:
RGW completed a new two mile line between Eureka and Mammoth Junction to serve the new Mammoth Mill. The new line included an additional mile of joint (with OSL) trackage to reach the mill itself. (LeMassena, p. 101)

1892:
RGW completed a one-mile spur, jointly owned with OSL, to serve the new Salt Lake City Union Stock Yards in North Salt Lake. (LeMassena, p. 101)

1893:
RGW completed a two-mile spur between Mammoth Junction and Silver City, along with seven miles of yard trackage at Silver City, all to serve the new Tintic Standard Mill at Silver City. (LeMassena, p. 101)

1893:
RGW completed a one-mile spur from Copper Plant Junction, north of Salt Lake City, to the newly completed copper mill and smelter of the Salt Lake Copper Co., located at about 1500 North in Salt Lake City. (part from LeMassena, p. 101)

November 27, 1893:
Receivers appointed for Utah Central Railway. (Poor's, 1899, p. 262)

(This Utah Central was John W. Young's reorganization of his previous Salt Lake & Eastern railroad, under construction up Parleys Canyon toward Park City.)

Neither the RGW nor the D&RG were badly affected by the financial crisis of the Panic of 1893. (Athearn, pp. 181, 183; LeMassena, p. 101)

January 1895:
Sevier Branch south from Salina to Belknap (40 miles) was laid as standard gauge using light narrow gauge rail and was operated with widened narrow gauge locomotives. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 27, 1895)

September 1895:
RGW built new depot at Lehi. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 2, 1895)

July 1896:
Sevier Railway was completed between Salina and Sevier. (Poor's, 1896 p. 329)

(Poor's for 1899, p. 682, says the line to Richfield was completed on this date.)

November 1, 1896:
Sevier Railway completed to Belknap. (Poor's, 1899, p. 682)

(LeMassena, p. 101, says that the 40 miles between Salina and Belknap were completed as an extension of the Sevier Railway in 1896.)

May 8, 1897:
Utah Central Railway sold under foreclosure, for $277,000.00. (Poor's, 1898 p. 262)

(Wilson, on p. 97, says that RGW bought the Utah Central, a narrow gauge line from Salt Lake City to Park City in 1898.)

December 29, 1897:
Utah Central Railroad incorporated by RGW interests to purchase the property, rights and interests of the Salt Lake & Fort Douglas Railway, the Salt Lake & Eastern Railway, and the Utah Central Railway in and around Salt Lake City and up Parleys Canyon to Park City. The new Utah Central did not include the portions of the original Salt Lake & Eastern that had been graded east and south of Park City towards Kamas, which were transferred to the new Utah Eastern, also organized by RGW. (Utah corporation index 2146)

December 29, 1897:
Utah Eastern Railway incorporated by RGW interests to build from Heber east to the Colorado State line. Also to take over the interests of the former Utah Central Railway in Wasatch and Summit Counties, east and south of Park City. (Utah corporation index 2145)

1898:
According to LeMassena, p. 101, the newly acquired Utah Central Railroad consisted of the following:

(Mill Creek would likely be today's Sugar House, with the Utah Central line being along and on today's Highland Drive. Wilford was likely the location of the Interstate Brick plant at 3300 South, the location of today's Brickyard Plaza shopping center.)

(This writer was told in 1979 by Robert W. Edwards that the Parleys Canyon extension of the Salt Lake & Fort Douglas, known as Salt Lake & Eastern, was along the bank of the Salt Lake & Jordan irrigation canal, which is the alignment followed by today's McClelland Street, at about 1050 East between 800 South and 1700 South, then along today's Highland Drive. At 2100 South, the canal is located at 1250 East. The canal was completed in July 1882. A good history of the Salt Lake & Jordan Canal is located on Salt Lake City's web site, here.)

1898:
Most of the former Salt Lake & Fort Douglas line was removed, from Lincoln Park Junction to Fort Douglas, Red Butte Quarry, and Emigration. (LeMassena, p. 101)

(Since the Fort Douglas line separated from the Mill Creek line at about 900 South and 1000 East, Lincoln Park Junction was likely near today's Lincoln Street at about 950 East. The mainline of the former Salt Lake & Fort Douglas line was along 800 South from its connection in the west with RGW, to 700 East, then along 700 East to 900 South, then along 900 South to "Lincoln Park Junction".)

1898:
RGW added a second track to the steepest part of the Soldier's Summit grade, from Tucker to Soldiers Summit. (LeMassena, p. 101)

January 1, 1898:
RGW leased the Utah Central Railroad for operation, lease period was for 49 years. RGW owned all of the stock and guaranteed all of the road's bonds. (Poor's, 1900, p. 611)

January 18, 1898:
RGW "secured" the deeds to Utah Central. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1899)

June 1898:
Pleasant Valley Junction station was renamed to Colton. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 7, 1898)

1899:
RGW completed an 11 Mile branch from Provo to Upper Falls. From Upper Falls to Heber City, 15 miles, the continuation of the line to Heber was completed by the Utah Eastern Railway, incorporated in December 1897. (LeMassena, p. 107)

1899:
RGW completed a five mile branch from Utah Mine, near Scofield, to Clear Creek Mine No. 2. The new line was owned by the newly organized RGW subsidiary, Carbon County Railway. (LeMassena, p. 107)

1899:
RGW completed a 17 mile branch from Mounds, on the mainline east of Price, to Sunnyside. The new line was owned by the newly organized RGW subsidiary, Carbon County Railway. (LeMassena, p. 107)

1899:
RGW completed a two mile spur from Ogden Sugar Junction to the Ogden Sugar Works. This was jointly owned with OSL. (LeMassena, p. 107)

September 1899:
RGW to lay third rail over the narrow gauge Utah Central from Salt Lake City to the cement plant in Parleys Canyon, and will use a standard gauge locomotive to "shuttle" cars from the plant to Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 3, 1899; September 19, 1899)

September 21, 1899:
RGW completed to Heber. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 22, 1899) Work began in February. (Wilson, p. 97)

November 20, 1899:
Carbon County Railway (first) incorporated by RGW interests to operate a railway from Mounds on the RGW to the Sunnyside coal mines, and from Scofield on the RGW to the Pleasant Valley coal mines. (Utah corporation index 2749)

1900:
George Gould's Missouri Pacific began buying stock in D&RG, and D&RG in turn began buying stock of RGW. (Athearn, p. 191) In 1901 Gould became Chairman of the D&RG, and since D&RG also now controlled RGW, Gould directed that Edward Jeffery, President of D&RG, replace Palmer as President of RGW. The two companies became one, although their names remained separate for eight more years. With George Gould's control of Missouri Pacific, D&RG, and RGW, he had a continuous route from St. Louis to Ogden. (LeMassena, pp. 74, 109)

(George Gould was the oldest son, born in 1864, of Jay Gould, born in 1836, one of the most notorious of the Wall Street rail barons. Gould was less active in the last two or three years of his life, but his son George ran parts of his shrinking empire after 1891. Jay Gould died in December 1892 and his empire fell apart, leaving only the Missouri Pacific to be controlled by Gould's family and associates. After trying to build a transcontinental line with the combined MP, D&RG, RGW, and WP, and losing the contest to both heavy debt and E. H. Harriman, Gould himself lost control of MP and was removed as president of MP in 1911. At the same time, his Equitable Trust lost control of WP and D&RG, by this time merged with RGW.)

1900:
RGW built a new two-mile line from Roper station east to Sugar House to connect with its Utah Central line to Park City. This new line was owned by the Utah Central Railway. (LeMassena, p. 109)

1900:
RGW completed the rebuilding, and conversion from narrow gauge to standard gauge, of the former Utah Central line from Sugar House (Mill Creek) to Park City. (part from Wilson, p. 97) Nine miles of the line, from Barclay to Gorgoza, over the summit, was built by way of a new alignment and included a new tunnel under the summit. The original narrow gauge line between Barclay and Gorgoza was removed at the same time. (part for LeMassena, p. 109)

1900:
RGW completed a new two-mile spur south from Park City to the Ontario Tunnel. (LeMassena, p. 109)

1900:
RGW removed the one-mile Diamond Quarry Spur, from Diamond Junction to Diamond Quarry. (LeMassena, p. 109) Diamond Quarry was a stone quarry at the mouth of Diamond Creek, just west of Thistle. The spur was completed in 1887. (LeMassena, p. 87) Converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge in 1890. (LeMassena, p. 91)

1900:
RGW completed the construction of a two mile spur from Jennings to Potters Quarry. (LeMassena, p. 109) The three mile Jennings Quarry Spur was completed in 1892, and this two miles of new construction extended the Jennings Spur to Potters Quarry.

1900:
RGW removed the trackage of the former Salt Lake & Fort Douglas Railway in Salt Lake City, along 800 South to Sugar House (Mill Creek). (part from LeMassena, p. 109)

(Sugar House was an area of eastern Salt Lake City near today's 2100 South and 1100 East where the pioneers had attempted to build and operate a sugar factory. The factory was under construction during 1854 and was closed as a failure in the fall of 1855 after operating only one season. The Mill Creek name possibly came from the creek that was used as a source of power for the sugar factory.)

This activity on the former Utah Central line did away with the former SL&FD line along the streets in Salt Lake City, and replaced the Utah Central (originally Salt Lake & Eastern) line along 800 South to Sugar House (Mill Creek) with a new direct east-west line between Sugar House and the RGW mainline further south of Salt Lake City at Roper. The new connection, along with the rebuilt Utah Central line from Sugar House to Park City, then became the new Park City Branch. When the Park City Branch was cut back to Sugar House in 1956, it became just the Sugar House Branch.

1900:
RGW completed a two mile extension of the Jennings Quarry Spur, extended to another stone quarry at Potters. (LeMassena, p. 109)

1900:
RGW completed a one mile spur from Springville to a nearby sugar factory (in Spanish Fork?). (LeMassena, p. 109)

July 30, 1900:
RGW operated first standard gauge train to Park City. The new line was built from Lambs Canyon over Parleys summit, gauge widened from Gogorza to Park City. The last narrow gauge train was operated on the July 29th. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 30, 1900; Park Record, August 4, 1900)

October 1900:
Sevier Valley Railway completed line from Salina to Marysvale. (Wilson, p. 97)

(LeMassena, p. 109, says that RGW completed six miles of standard gauge from Belknap to Marysvale in 1900.)

December 15, 1900:
Rio Grande Western operated its largest coal train to date, thirty-six cars with 1,000 tons of coal was shipped east from the Sunnyside No. 3 mine. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 17, 1900)

1901:
Copper Belt Railroad leased (and converted to standard gauge) the three-mile long old RGW narrow gauge tramway from Bingham to the Old Jordan and Commercial mines in Bingham Canyon. Copper Belt later, in 1905, acquired title to the line in exchange turning over its stock to D&RG (not RGW). (LeMassena, p. 111)

January 15, 1901:
Castle Valley Railway (second) incorporated by RGW interests to build east from Salina, over Salina Pass, to a point in Castle Valley. (Utah corporation index 3028)

March 19, 1901:
RGW completed a new section of the Park City Branch, connecting with the old branch at the Utah state penitentiary in Sugar House. The new line ran along 12th South (now 21st South). Construction began in November 1900. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 13, 1900)

May 1901:
D&RG bought RGW and Utah Fuel Company for $15 million. (Athearn, p. 195) George Gould in full control of entire Rio Grande "System". (Athearn, p. 196)

June 14, 1901:
All six seats on RGW board are replaced by Gould interests and D&RG president Jeffery replaced Palmer as president of RGW. (Wilson, pp. 108, 109)

July 1, 1901:
D&RG gained full control of RGW by stock transfer. (LeMassena, pp. 76, 111)

1902:
D&RG owned 99.8 percent of RGW, and RGW ceased to operate separately from D&RG. (LeMassena, p. 111)

1902:
RGW resumed work on the Castle Valley Railway line from Salina, over Salina Pass to Nioche, as a short cut to beat UP's OSL in a connection with the planned San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt lake Railroad. (LeMassena, p. 111)

1902:
RGW completed a one-mile spur to serve the U. P. coal mine, above Scofield. (LeMassena, p. 111)

March 3, 1902:
Western Pacific Railway organized to build from Salt Lake City to Oakland. (Athearn, p. 200) Construction work began in the fall of 1905, after Gould saddled the Rio Grande roads with debt of construction of WP. (Athearn, p. 207, 208)

1903:
RGW interests organize the Castle Valley Railway in January 1901 to build from Salina, on the Marysvale Branch, east to the Castle Valley. Twenty miles of the route were completed in 1903, from Salina to Nioche, including four new tunnels. (Utah incorporation index 3028; LeMassena, p. 111) During 1904, the line was washed out in several places and would remain only partially completed for several years. (LeMassena, p. 115)

According to LeMassena, Rio Grande to the Pacific, pages 263-264, the Castle Valley Railway was organized "to build a cutoff between Farnham (on the main-line) and Salina (on the Marysvale Branch), thence perhaps to Milford (on the SPLA&SL railroad), all in Utah. The 1902 Annual Report contains this intriguing comment:

The Castle Valley cutoff on the RGW was commenced last spring. The surveys and location were completed and a contract was let for 21 miles of grading. The cutoff will extend from Farnham to Salina, a distance of 116 miles, and when completed will afford a route 38 miles shorter than the present one to Southwestern Utah. Important coalfields in the vicinity of Salina Canyon and in contiguous districts can be opened up and the coal made avail-able for commercial use to meet the growing demands for Utah fuel. The construction of the cutoff will be prosecuted from time to time according to the requirements of the various classes of traffic which it is believed can be developed in the territory to be traversed.

LeMassena goes on to say, "The 1903 Report stated that 21 miles of the CV had been completed; that it was not contemplated to extend the CV during the current year; and that $400,000 of RGW bonds were issued to pay for the work. Never again was the CV mentioned in a D&RG Annual Report, and its actual status is open to inquiry. Was it to be a cutoff, affording a shorter route to the coast? If so, its severe gradients and curvature were not of main-line calibre. Was it to open up coal deposits? If so, the line was built in the wrong location. If it were important, why were its objectives and completion so indefinite? The timing of the CV's birth, and the peculiarities of its brief active existence, are highly suggestive that the CV may have been used by Gould to cover his preliminary Western Pacific activities."

1903:
RGW added a second track to its 10 miles of mainline between Salt Lake City and Bingham Junction (later known as Midvale). (LeMassena, p. 111)

November 3, 1903:
RGW bought the "Dalton & Lark Railroad" from Bingham Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company. The mining company had begun construction of the spur in October 1901 at Reese on the RGW's Bingham Branch and continued to the lower portal of the mining company's Dalton & Lark Drain Tunnel. The spur was completed in January 1902 and was operated by the mining company with a Shay locomotive. (26 ICC 809; Engineering & Mining Journal, July 24, 1902, p. 59; Destiny, p. 273) The line was four miles of standard gauge railroad. (LeMassena, p. 111)

1905:
RGW built the Hooper Branch from Hooper Junction (later known as Roy) west to Hooper, five miles of new construction. (LeMassena, p. 115)

January 1, 1905:
D&RG (not RGW) took control of Copper Belt Railroad. (26 ICC 927) The Copper Belt had been completed in February 1901 (construction began in November 1900) by the owners of the Bingham Copper & Gold Mining Company. In April 1901 the mining company was reorganized as the Bingham Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company, partly to finance the organization (on May 18, 1901) and purchase of the Copper Belt Railroad. (Engineering News, July 24, 1902, p. 59; Engineering & Mining Journal, May 4, 1901 p. 572; USGS Professional Paper 38, p. 99)

November 1905:
RGW completed Garfield Branch, from Garfield Junction (later Welby) on the Bingham Branch to the site of the Garfield smelter. Construction had begun in August. Sixteen miles of new construction. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1905, p. 31; October 30, 1911, p. 18; LeMassena, p. 115)

1906:
RGW built the new "Low Grade" line in Bingham Canyon, 12 miles of new construction. To connect its existing trackage at Bingham with the new line, the road converted to standard gauge, two miles of trackage from Bingham to Copper Belt Junction, further up the canyon. (LeMassena, p. 115)

1906:
RGW added a second track to seven miles of its mainline between Colton and Soldier Summit, on the east side of the hill. (LeMassena, p. 115)

1906:
RGW made an agreement with Continental Mines & Smelters for that company to lease and reconstruct the Alta Branch. The reconstruction work was never undertaken and the lease was revoked. (LeMassena, p. 115)

September 1906:
Newspapers announced that Gould was about to build west from the D&RG at either Salina or Marysvale. The new road would cross the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake near Milford, then strike for the Pioche country. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, September 6, 1906, p. 1, "Gould To Build South Of Price")

January 2, 1907:
RGW operated the first train over the new "Low Grade Line" into Bingham Canyon. (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 30, 1911, p. 18) Surveys had begun in July 1905 (Salt Lake Mining Review, July 30, 1905, p. 31) and construction was begun in April 1906. (1909 Bingham Commercial Club souvenir booklet) In September the shovels of the Utah Construction Company hit copper ore while excavating for the line. (Salt Lake Mining Review, September 15, 1906, p. 39)

1907:
RGW bought the San Pete Valley Railway, from Nephi to Manti. (LeMassena, p. 115)

August 1907:
The mortgage was foreclosed on RGW's Bingham Branch. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 22, 1907, p. 5)

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