OGDEN RAILS
Union Pacific's Little Mountain Branch
by Don Strack
During the mid-1960s, laboratory studies showed that it was commercially feasible to extract minerals, in addition to salt, from Great Salt Lake. In May 1967, Great Salt Lake Minerals and Chemicals Corp. began building a large plant for commercial extraction of potassium sulfate, sodium sulfate, and magnesium chloride, along with common salt. The plant included 17,000 acres of evaporation ponds just north of Little Mountain, west of Ogden on the lake's eastern shore.[1] In February 1969, Union Pacific secured Interstate Commerce Commission approval to construct its Little Mountain Branch. The line was to extend 13.27 miles southwesterly from Hot Springs to mineral industry trackage on the east shore of Great Salt Lake, where Great Salt Lake Minerals and Chemicals was developing its extensive facility. Union Pacific's application was protested by both Southern Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, arguing that the new trackage would duplicate SP's already existing 1.7-mile spur, and that shippers had not shown that they required duplicate service from two railroads. The two roads argued that SP, as the existing carrier, was entitled to an opportunity to serve the shippers prior to Union Pacific being granted entry into the area. SP had constructed its 1.7-mile spur northward from its main line to transport construction materials to the site, intending further extension into the area to connect with industry trackage as the area developed and industrial plants were completed. The ICC found that the Little Mountain industrial area was not exclusive SP territory, and that the area was as yet undeveloped and not generating any substantial traffic. Great Salt Lake Minerals, the largest potential shipper, testified that it required single-line service access to Union Pacific, because its markets were all located within Union Pacific territory in the Pacific Northwest, southern California, and in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming. Other shippers in the area wanting competitive Union Pacific service included Prior Chemical Co., Boise Cascade Corp., Potlatch Forests, Inc., and Amalgamated Sugar Co. Construction was completed by the end of 1969.[2]
[1] Peter Behrens, "Industrial Processing of Great Salt Lake Brines by Great Salt Lake Minerals & Chemicals Corporation", Great Salt Lake, a Scientific, Historical and Economic Overview, p. 223
[2] ICC Financial Docket 24635, in 334 ICC 267-272
