UtahRails.net Copyright 2000-2008 Don Strack

UNION PACIFIC IN UTAH

Compiled by Don Strack

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

This page was last updated on March 23, 2008.

Index for this page

CHRONOLOGY HISTORY

1862-1867:
Union Pacific Rail Road was chartered by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 and was organized in Boston on October 29, 1863. (Athearn, pp. 21, 30) Track laying began at Omaha during July 1865 and was completed to Fremont, Nebraska Territory by January 1866. (Athearn, pp. 36, 55) A year later, in January 1867, Union Pacific tracks had been completed to North Platte and by November of that same year the trains were running into Cheyenne, Wyoming. (Athearn, pp. 55, 65) (COMMENT: On March 1, 1867 Nebraska became the 37th state.)

May 1868:
Brigham Young, as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons), contracted with Union Pacific to build the grade from the top of Echo canyon (present-day Wahsatch, near the present-day Wyoming/Utah state line) to the Great Salt Lake. As part of the contract Union Pacific agreed to provide free transportation from Omaha for men, tools, and teams, and to provide, at cost, the actual tools and materials necessary for the construction of the grade. (Athearn, p. 90) Subcontractors for Brigham Young included his sons Joseph A. Young, Brigham Young Jr., and John W. Young, and John Sharp (Brigham Young's attorney). (Athearn, p. 94) The grading contract was signed on May 21, 1868 at the Continental Hotel in Salt Lake City, between Brigham Young, for the church's School of Prophets (the actual business entity of the church at that time), and Samuel Reed, for Union Pacific. The contracts were in the amount of approximately $2,125,000. (Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, p. 261)

1867-1868:
Work on the laying of Union Pacific's tracks across Wyoming progressed rapidly. Union Pacific tracks had reached Cheyenne during mid November 1867. (Athearn, p. 65) In October 1868 the construction and track laying crews reached Green River, Wyoming Territory, and by December 4 they had reached Evanston, also in Wyoming Territory. Wyoming had been granted territorial status on July 25, 1868. (source not recorded)

October 1868:
As construction of the Union Pacific grade began in Echo and Weber canyons, Echo City was set up as the canyons' business center. The small settlement had been settled in 1853 with the construction of the Weber Stage Station, the most important stop between Fort Bridger in Wyoming and Salt Lake City. In 1854, the stage station was occupied by James E. Bromley, who on October 15, 1868, sold the a parcel of 200 acres in the bottom of the valley to Brigham Young, Jr. Young laid out Echo City with fourteen 80-feet wide avenues, with the east-west streets named in honor of his wives, and the north-south streets named in honor of UP dignitaries. The streets enclosed city blocks that were 280 feet by 290 feet. A report in the Deseret News stated that there just a half dozen buildings before Christmas 1868, but within four weeks there were over 50 buildings in the small town. Railroad coal chutes were built at Echo City, as were railroad warehouses, which stored groceries, hardware, and other goods for sale in the Summit County area. A flour mill was erected in 1871, and a large two-story hotel was also built. In later years, Union Pacific erected larger locomotive facilities, such as a roundhouse, coal chutes and water tanks. Echo was the station where helper locomotives were coupled to heavy trains as they climbed Echo Canyon. There were four to six locomotives kept at Echo to help trains up Echo Canyon. The first depot at Echo was a red building, with E-C-H-O spelled out in white-washed rocks. The earlier depot was replaced in 1911. In later years, Echo City was the home of over 300 railroad employees, including three section crews, a yard crew (the yard was expanded in the 1920s), two signal maintainers, a station agent, four to six telegraphers, and a buildings and bridges crew. All of the employees lived in houses furnished by UP. The town itself had two stores, two hotels, a gas station, and a school. There was a surge in residents when Echo reservoir was started in 1927. (unpublished single sheet history of Echo, obtained at the Echo Café, Echo, Utah, September 1999)

December 1868:
During the last week of December 1868 Union Pacific tracks were completed to "the Echo tunnels" near present-day Wahsatch, at the head of Echo Canyon. (Klein, p. 193; Athearn, p. 67; Griswold, p. 278, citing Samuel Reed's letter to his wife, dated December 26)

January 1869:
Within two weeks, on January 15, 1869, the tracks were completed down Echo Canyon to the settlement of Echo City, where Echo Creek joined the Weber River. (Reeder, p. 42) The first locomotive whistled into Echo City the next day. (Unpublished two-page history of Echo) Six days later, on the 22nd, the rails were laid to a point that was 1,000 miles from the starting point at Omaha. (Reeder p. 42) A 90-foot-tall pine tree was well established within 30 feet of that point and it immediately became known as "The Thousand Mile Tree". The Thousand Mile Tree had died and was removed in September 1900. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 16, 1900)

(COMMENT: The 1,000 mile point is today [1992] located near Mile Post 960, about two miles east of the present day Devils Slide station. In 1982 Union Pacific planted a new tree there to replace the original tree that had died in 1900.)

January 1869:
Brigham Young secured 133 acres of land in Ogden for use by Union Pacific as a railroad terminal. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 265)

February 19, 1869:
The Utah Territorial Legislature passed the Railroad Incorporation Act. The new law stipulated that each railroad corporation must have no less than ten incorporators, two-thirds of which must be residents of the territory, and that a corporation's initial capitalization must be equal to at least one thousand dollars per mile of railroad to be built, in shares of not more than one hundred dollars each. The new law also stated that each corporation must set forth the number of years of its existence, not more than fifty years. A railroad corporation would be able to acquire unavailable property, by court action, at a fair compensation (power of eminent domain). The construction of the corporation's railroad must begin within two years, using at least five percent of capitalization, and the railroad must be completed within six years, or the corporation would be dissolved. (Reeder, Appendix II, pp. 426-441) An amendment passed on February 16, 1876 provided for consolidation of two or more railroad companies. (Reeder p. 11)

February 28, 1869:
Union Pacific completed construction to the mouth of Weber Canyon by February 28, 1869. (Reeder p. 42) The tent town that sprang up at the end of track was called Uintah. Within four weeks the graders had completed the seven miles of line into Ogden and on March 7, 1869 Union Pacific operated the first train into the city. (Athearn, p. 97) The next day a large celebration was held. A month later, on April 8, 1869 the tracks were completed to Corinne. (Reeder p. 44)

Uintah became the trans-shipment point for 100-pound sacks of silver and lead ore, shipped by the Walker Brothers to San Francisco. A large portion of the ore came from the mines in the Cottonwood canyons and Ophir canyon. In one month in 1869, the brothers shipped four thousand tons of ore over the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. (Bliss, p. 169)

April 10, 1869:
Both Central Pacific and Union Pacific were each constructing parallel grades in hopes of receiving as much land-grant land as possible. The two companies soon realized that a meeting point must soon be designated to avoid additional expenditures on unneeded grade. After negotiations between the two companies had already produced an agreement on the meeting point, the United States Congress, on April 10, 1869, passed a Joint Resolution that formally set the meeting point at Promontory Summit, Utah. (Athearn, p. 98)

(COMMENT: Ames, p. 317, states that the agreement of April 9 called for the junction to be eight miles west of Ogden, near present day Hot Springs.)

May 10, 1869:
The ceremony was held for the meeting of the rails at Promontory. Between the end of the previous December and the first week in April, Union Pacific crews had completed the 91 miles of railroad from the head of Echo canyon to Corinne, by way of Ogden. During the four weeks between early April and early May Union Pacific completed the last 29 miles of their line from Corinne to Promontory Summit. (source not recorded)

June 1868 to May 1869:
The progress of the Central Pacific across Nevada had been even more rapid. By June 1868 Central Pacific had completed its rail line between Sacramento and Reno by crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains. During the following eleven months Central Pacific completed over 400 miles of railroad across the Nevada desert to a point near present day Cobre, about 40 miles east of Humboldt Wells (today known simply as Wells) and about 178 miles west of Ogden. In the four months between February and May 1869, Central Pacific crews completed the remaining 125 miles from that point in eastern Nevada to the meeting of the two companies' lines at Promontory Summit. (Reeder, p. 25; Klein, p. 210)

November 1869:
Central Pacific purchased from Union Pacific the 47.5 miles of track from Promontory to a point five miles west of Ogden. Central Pacific paid $2.8 Million in Central Pacific first mortgage bonds and U. S. Government securities. Central Pacific leased the last five miles into Ogden from Union Pacific for a period of 999 years. (Griswold, p. 293)

May 6, 1870:
A Joint Resolution of the United States Congress fixed the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads at that same, previously agreed-to arbitrary point five miles west of Ogden (northwest by the compass, near present day Harrisville). Between 1870 and 1874 work progressed on plans for a common terminal at that point, to be called Junction City. (Reeder, p. 63) In May 1874 the two railroads agreed to Ogden as the junction point and they each built "extensive shops and yards" there. (Reeder, p. 64) The tracks from Ogden to the point five miles west of Ogden remained in Union Pacific ownership, with Central Pacific leasing the mileage from Union Pacific for 999 years. (OSL corporate history) In September 1888 Union Pacific and Central Pacific organized the Ogden Union Railway & Depot Company to own the joint facilities in the Ogden terminal. (source not recorded)

UTAH CENTRAL RAILROAD

May 17, 1869:
Ground breaking for the Utah Central Railroad at Ogden, adjacent to the Union Pacific depot there. (Athearn, p. 265, Reeder, p. 67) Actual grading began in June. (source not recorded)

July 1869:
Brigham Young agreed to take rails, tools, and rolling stock from Union Pacific in partial settlement for the $1.14 million remaining on payment for the contract for grading between Echo Summit and Ogden, which was later extended to Promontory. The negotiations took place in Boston between Bishop John Sharp, along with Joseph Young, and the Union Pacific board of directors. The directors agreed to $940,138 and left $198,000 to arbitration. (Klein, pp. 246, 247) On September 2, Sharp agreed to accept rolling stock and track materials with an apparent value of approximately $600,000 as part payment of the agreed $940,000 amount. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 267) The Boston settlement for the grading contracts also gave the Utah Central trackage rights over the Union Pacific between Ogden and Echo Junction, for a period of five years, to get coal from the mines near Coalville into Ogden. (Athearn, p. 103)

September 22, 1869:
Utah Central began laying tracks at Ogden. (Deseret Evening News, January 3, 1870) On November 19, 1869 the Utah Central tracks were completed to Kaysville (Deseret Evening News, November 20, 1869, "last evening") and on November 29, 1869 the Utah Central tracks reached Farmington, with operations beginning between Ogden and Farmington on December 6. (OSL Corporate History) Brigham Young stopped the construction at Farmington to wait for sufficient rails to be delivered from Union Pacific to allow completion of the road to Bountiful. Track laying was resumed on December 22 (Deseret Evening News, December 23, 1869) and the tracks were completed to Salt Lake City during the first week of January 1870. (Athearn, p. 109; Reeder, pp. 72, 73, 76-78) Passenger service began on January 12. (Reeder, p. 85)

(COMMENT: The Oregon Short Line's corporate history shows the completion date as January 10th, the same date that other sources list as the date of the "last spike" ceremony.)

February 1870:
Utah Central received two new locomotives, numbers 3 and 4, from builder McQueen. (Deseret Evening News, February 10, 1870)

(COMMENT: The September 1869 settlement for the grading contracts in Boston also provided the Utah Central with its first locomotive in October 1989, as Utah Central number 1, formerly Union Pacific number 15. During January, a second locomotive, Utah Central 2, was delivered new.)

March 1872:
For the month of March 1872 Utah Central's earnings were $26,832.21, compared to $6,518.89 for the same period in 1870 (the first year) and $18,740.96 for 1871. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes: Salt Lake Herald, April 5, 1872)

April 1872:
Brigham Young sold 5,000 of his 7,600 shares in the Utah Central to Union Pacific. Union Pacific bought the shares to keep them out the hands of Collis P. Huntington's Central Pacific. Young sold the shares to raise cash needed to pay the men that had worked on the Union Pacific grading contracts in Echo and Weber canyons. These men had stopped work on their own farms in order to work on the grading contracts, and they were suffering due to lack of cash, either from their unattended crops or the grading contracts. (Reeder, p. 103)

1878:
Union Pacific gained control of Utah Central by combining the shares owned by officers and directors of Union Pacific with the 5,300 shares the company had purchased from Brigham Young (of Brigham Young's original 7,600 shares). (Reeder, p. 103)

(COMMENT: Brigham Young died in August 1877. What happened to Brigham Young's shares in Utah Central?)

July 1881:
Utah Central Railroad merged with the Utah Southern Railroad and the Utah Southern Railroad Extension to form a new, Union Pacific-controlled, Utah Central Railway.

UTAH SOUTHERN RAILROAD

(NOTE: The later Utah Southern Railroad Extension is not covered in this section. It was a Union Pacific controlled company, and is covered in that section of this history.)

May 1, 1871:
The ground breaking ceremony for Utah Southern took place at 10:50 a.m., at the northwest corner of the Old Fort Block (today known as Pioneer Park, at the corner of Third South and Fourth West), in the Sixth Ward. ("The Year Of 1871", Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 15, 1972, pp. 5, 55)

May 2, 1871:
Construction of the Utah Southern Railroad began at Salt Lake City. (Reeder, p. 113; Athearn, p. 271) The road was organized on January 17, 1871. (Reeder, p. 109) The corporation was filed with the Utah Territorial Auditor of Public Accounts on February 5, 1871. (Utah corporation number 4305) Union Pacific bought the road's construction bonds, paying for them with rolling stock and enough track materials to complete 20 miles of road. (Reeder, p. 112)

(COMMENT: OSL corporate history shows May 1 as the date that construction "commenced".)

June 5, 1871:
Brigham Young drove the first spike on the Utah Southern. (Deseret Evening News, June 6, 1871, "yesterday afternoon")

July 15, 1871:
Utah Southern completed to "Cottonwood". (Reeder, p. 115)

September 6, 1871:
Utah Southern reached Sandy. (Reeder, p. 116) Two smelters were built at Sandy, near the railroad tracks; one of them is the Saturn Silver Smelter, the largest in the territory, with a capacity of 50 tons per day. (Reeder, p. 117) On August 3, ground was broken for a new Gerrish-patent smelting furnace located on Silver Fork of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The new smelter was owned by the Chicago Mining Bureau and was the first furnace in Big Cottonwood Canyon. ("The Year Of 1871", Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 15, 1972, p. 56)

A brief narrative of how Sandy got its name is here.

Quoting Andrew Jenson in Encyclopedic History of the Church, p.769

SANDY, East Jordan Stake, Salt Lake Co., Utah, is a town and business center on the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, about 12 miles south of the Temple Block, Salt Lake City. The origin of the name is uncertain, some claiming that it was given because of the sandy nature of the soil in this region of country, and others that it was named in honor of Alexander Kinghorn, commonly known as "Sandy", the engineer who ran the first locomotive into the station.

The site of Sandy, on account of its altitude, was chosen in 1871 by the location of a station from which a branch line could be built to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, mining operations in that canyon at the time being quite active, and for several years Sandy was the shipping point also for the mines at Bingham and Tintic in Utah, and Pioche in Nevada. After the advent of the railroad in 1871, several smelters were located in the vicinity of Sandy, among which may be mentioned the "Saturn", the "Flagstaff" and the "Mountain Chief" (also called Mingo). These mining operations drew into the district a somewhat rough element and several shooting frays are noted in the early history of Sandy. Smelting is still continued in the district.

September 23, 1871:
Utah Southern completed to Sandy. ("The Year Of 1871", Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 15, 1972, p. 6)

(On September 12, 1871-??) Brigham Young and a party of gentlemen and ladies left Salt Lake City at 4:30 in the afternoon. They proceeded to the end of track, at Little Cottonwood, to inspect the work there, where a 625-foot-long bridge was nearing completion, with trains expected to cross it that day, or the next "at farthest". "From Little Cottonwood to Dry Creek the distance is six miles." The track was being laid at the rate of one mile per day. "At Dry Creek, which will be crossed above Bro. Milo Andrus' place", there was to be a "very heavy job of trestle work". After leaving the city and entering the Five Acre Lots (assuming the area south of Ninth South) the road traveled along the route of West Temple, with little or no grading required. ("The Year Of 1871", Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 15, 1972, p. 13)

The crossing of Dry Creek was the reason for the delay in construction during that fall of 1871, while a trestle was completed to get the trains across what is known today as Dimple Dell. Located at approximately 10100 South, the creek bed has largely been filled in where the railroad crossing was made.

Transportation of granite:
The construction of the Utah Southern between Salt Lake City and Sandy was financed in part by the Mormon church from tithing resources because the completion of that portion of the road would provide better transportation access to the granite quarries in Little Cottonwood canyon; access that the church needed for granite to complete its Salt Lake City temple. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 277)

With the completion of the Utah Southern to Sandy, that station became the shipment point for granite blocks used in construction of the Salt Lake Temple and greatly speeded the construction of that sacred structure. (Reeder, p. 118) The previous method of transportation for the granite blocks had been through the use of large, heavy carts pulled by oxen; a journey that took about three days to complete. The availability of railroad transportation shortened the journey to just a half day. To allow the shipment of the huge granite blocks, a spur was built from the Utah Central depot in Salt Lake City east along South Temple Street direct to the temple block, construction site of the temple. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 278) One story has it that this was the first use of a point switch in the United States. Due to the extreme weight of the granite blocks (some as heavy as 10-12 tons), the design of the then-standard railroad stub switch simply spread the rails, allowing the loaded flat cars to settle onto the ties. The addition of the tapered "point" strengthened the turnout and kept the heavy cars on the track as they were pushed into the temple block. (Interview with Robert W. Edwards, circa 1979)

During the summer of 1872 the Utah Southern began construction of a standard-gauge line east from Sandy to the granite quarries in Little Cottonwood Canyon. On October 24, 1872 the Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad was incorporated to build a narrow-gauge line from Sandy to the mines further up Little Cottonwood Canyon. In November the Wasatch & Jordan Valley took over the Utah Southern grade and two months later they began laying track. On April 28, the line was completed to the quarries, at a new station appropriately called Granite. There was now an all-rail route from the granite quarries direct to Temple Square. (Reeder, pp. 170, 176, 180, 181)

(Additional information about the transportation of granite is here, and extended research notes are here.)

end 1871:
Utah Southern tracks were completed to Draper, which became the terminal for the winter of 1871/1872. (Reeder, p. 118)

early August 1872:
Utah Southern tracks were completed to the summit of Point of the Mountain. (Deseret Evening News, August 10, 1872; Reeder, p. 120)

(COMMENT: The SP,LA&SL corporate history shows the date as August 9. The OSL corporate history states that on August 9, operations began between Salt Lake City and Draper.)

September 1872:
Union Pacific bought an additional $400,000 in Utah Southern construction bonds. Union Pacific paid for the bonds with track materials needed to complete the road over the 20 miles between Sandy and Lehi. (Reeder, p. 119; Arrington: Great Basin, p. 280)

September 23, 1872:
Utah Southern began operating passenger trains to Lehi. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes: Salt Lake Herald, September 24, 1872)

(The OSL corporate history states that on September 23 the tracks were completed to Lehi Junction, which was later renamed Cutler.)

(Reeder, p. 120, states that the tracks were completed to Lehi "during 1872". Lehi Junction (now called Cutler) is located about three miles north of Lehi and was to be the junction with the proposed Lehi & Tintic Railroad, incorporated in November 1872 to build from the Utah Southern to the mines in the Tintic District. Because of hard times in the financial markets during 1872 and 1873, the Lehi & Tintic failed to gather enough support to allow construction to begin, and interest in the line faded.)

September 25, 1872:
Utah Southern began operating freight trains between Salt Lake City and Lehi. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes: Salt Lake Herald, September 25, 1872)

July 1873:
To speed the construction of the Utah Southern, Brigham Young called on members of the wards of the LDS Church in Utah County to build the Utah Southern south of Lehi. As an incentive the Utah Southern transferred over 3,700 shares to the bishops of these same wards for distribution to the members. (Reeder, p. 125)

September 24, 1873:
Utah Southern completed to American Fork. (Reeder, p. 126, from Salt Lake Herald, September 24, 1873)

(The SP,LA&SL corporate history shows the completion date as September 23)

(The OSL corporate history states that operations began to American Fork on September 23.)

November 25, 1873:
Utah Southern tracks were completed to Provo. (Reeder, p. 127) The end-of-track remained at Provo until early November 1874, when additional bonds were sold and construction resumed. (Reeder, p. 131)

December 23, 1874:
Utah Southern tracks completed to Spanish Fork. In early November construction had resumed at Provo with members of the local Mormon wards again doing the work, this time in return for cash instead of stock shares in the company. (Reeder, p. 131)

December 29, 1874:
The same Mormon leaders that controlled the Utah Southern organized the first Utah Southern Railroad Extension (a later, second company was organized in January 1879). No work was completed by this company except to survey a three foot gauge route from Nephi to the San Pete coal fields, along with another narrow-gauge route from Nephi to the Tintic mining district. (Reeder, p. 124)

January 23, 1875:
Utah Southern was completed to Payson. Work was continued beyond Payson for another six miles, until the supply of rails was exhausted at York. (Reeder, p. 131)

February 16, 1875:
Utah Southern was completed to York. (Salt Lake Herald, February 17, 1875; Athearn, p. 276; SP,LA&SL corporate history) The end of track remained at York for another four years. (Reeder, p. 131)

June 1875:
Union Pacific officers purchased controlling interest of Utah Southern. (Reeder, p. 135)

(Remember that Union Pacific already owned several of Utah Southern's construction bonds which UP had received in exchange for furnishing the Utah Southern with rail and hardware.)

1879:
Work resumed on the tracks south from York in 1879 by the Union Pacific-controlled Utah Southern Railroad Extension.

July 1881:
Utah Southern Railroad merged with the Utah Central Railroad and the Utah Southern Railroad Extension in July 1881 to form a new, Union Pacific-controlled, Utah Central Railway.

UTAH NORTHERN RAILWAY

August 23, 1871:
The Utah Northern Railway corporation was organized. (Reeder, p. 218; Athearn, p. 238)

August 26, 1871:
Ground was broken at Three Mile Creek (now called Perry), four miles south of Brigham City. Present were Brigham Young and James Camell, President of the Utah Division of the Central Pacific. (Box Elder, pp. 30, 31)

(OSL corporate history says that construction began at Brigham City on September 26.)

September 1871:
The work of grading the Utah Northern began during the first week of September 1871, at a connection with the Central Pacific just southwest of Three Mile Creek (now called Perry), four miles south of Brigham City. (Reeder, p. 222; Box Elder p. 30)

March 25, 1872:
Utah Northern drove its first spike, at station which Central Pacific appropriately named "Utah Northern RR Junction". (Deseret Evening News, March 25, 1872; March 30, 1872)

March 29, 1872:
Utah Northern laid first rail, connecting with the Central Pacific. (Box Elder, p. 31) (Where??)

June 8, 1872:
The Utah Northern had operated its first passenger train, northward from Brigham City. (OSL corporate history)

June 13, 1872:
Utah Northern tracks reached the foothills about one mile east of Hamptons (or Bear River Bridge), near Hamptons Crossing, a toll bridge and stage station on the Bear River, 23 miles from Three Mile Creek, and the connection with Central Pacific. (Deseret Evening News, June 18, 1872; Reeder, p. 227)

(The station at Hamptons was later renamed to Collinston; this should not to be confused with the present day station of the same name which is located on the relocated 1890 standard-gauge line.)

June 13, 1872:
Regular freight and passenger service began and the railroad formally opened for business. (source not recorded)

December 19, 1872:
Utah Northern tracks completed to Mendon, after having crossed over the Collinston Divide and entering the Cache Valley. (OSL corporate history)

January 31, 1873:
Utah Northern the tracks were completed to Logan. Completed to within a mile of town on the 19. (Beal, p. 17) There were many delays caused by the frigid temperatures and winter storms. The winter conditions were the reason that the completion ceremony at Logan was postponed until February 3, and still a snow storm prevented residents of Salt Lake City and Ogden from attending. (Salt Lake Herald, January 19, 1873; Reeder, p. 229)

(Athearn, p. 239, says the road reached Logan "in January".)

(OSL corporate history says the road was completed to Logan on January 31.)

April 14, 1873:
Utah Northern started work on the bridge over the Bear River, for the Corinne extension. Grading for the extension was almost complete. It was also reported that the ties were on hand for the completion of the road from Logan to Franklin. (Salt Lake Herald, April 13, 1873)

June 9, 1873:
The four-mile branch from "Brigham City Junction" to Corinne was completed on Monday June 9, 1873. ("The Year Of 1873", Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 17, 1974, p. 5)

June 11, 1873:
Utah Northern tracks completed to Corinne. (Reeder, p. 231, from Salt Lake Herald, October 9, 1873; October 15, 1873; December 24, 1873; Athearn, p. 240)

(OSL corporate history, p. 14, says that the 4.11 mile branch between Brigham City and Corinne was completed on the 9.)

(The 1913 ICC Valuation map for Corinne shows the old U&N grade heading north out of Corinne, crossing the Bear River and heading northeast to Bakers, which is 4.5 miles north of Brigham City.)

(QUESTION: Was the spur to the Ogden Portland cement plant, built in May 1918, constructed on the old Utah Northern narrow-gauge roadbed west from Bakers?)

February 5, 1874:
Utah Northern tracks completed to Ogden. Work had begun in November 1872 but it was stopped to complete work on other parts of the road. In September 1873 work of grading the line to Ogden was resumed. On January 15 track laying began at Brigham Junction. (Athearn, p. 240; Deseret Evening News, January 15, 1874; Ogden Junction, February 6, 1874)

(OSL corporate history says that operation began between Brigham City and Ogden on February 4, 1874.)

May 2, 1874:
Utah Northern tracks completed to Franklin, Idaho. (Salt Lake Herald, February 3, 1874) Work had begun from Logan on September 17, 1873. Tracks had reached Hyde Park on October 9 and Smithfield on November 17, where work was halted for the winter. Work resumed at Smithfield in late March 1874. (Reeder, p. 234)

April 3, 1878:
Utah Northern was sold under foreclosure to the Utah & Northern Railroad, a Union Pacific controlled organization. The foreclosure sale resulted from a Third District Court order of January 31 in case Union Trust Company versus Utah Northern. (Ogden Junction, February 6, 1878; March 21, 1878) Sold to S. H. H. Clark for $100,000 (Ogden Junction, April 4, 1878) who took possession on the 22. Clark, who was the General Superintendent of the Union Pacific, deeded the old Utah Northern to the new Utah & Northern on May 3. (OSL corporate history). Franklin remained the terminal of the road from May 1874 until the foreclosure sale in April 1878. The old Utah Northern had completed 14.5 miles of grading towards Soda Springs, northeast of Franklin, but when Union Pacific resumed construction on November 8, 1877 (Salt Lake Herald, November 9, 1877) they built in a northwesterly direction and abandoned the grade to Soda Springs. Three years later, on December 15, 1881, the road was completed to Butte, Montana, 466 miles from Ogden, Utah. (Reeder, pp. 243-252; OSL corporate history)

In an attempt to reorganize the Utah Northern, Jay Gould and other Union Pacific directors, along with the stockholders of the Utah Northern, organized the Utah & Northern Railroad on October 4, 1877. The corporation filed with Utah Territory on December 31, 1877. This corporation was "not acted on" because other Union Pacific interests bought out Jay Gould's interests and organized the new, Union Pacific-controlled, Utah & Northern Railway on April 30, 1878, with the same directors as the Union Pacific. (Arrington: Great Basin, pp. 288, 289; also Athearn, pp. 253, 254)

SUMMIT COUNTY RAILROAD

November 29, 1871:
Summit County Railroad was incorporated by Mormon leaders in Summit County and Salt Lake City to build from Echo to the Park City mines. The company took over the uncompleted grade of the Coalville & Echo Railroad between those two towns in exchange for stock in the new company. (source not recorded)

August 1872:
Work on repairing the old Coalville & Echo grade began in the spring of 1872 and by mid August the work was completed. (Salt Lake Herald, August 29, 1872) Track materials were delivered in early 1873 and the line was completed between Echo and Coalville by early April 1873. (Reeder, pp. 319-328) In July 1875 the former C&E grade was formally purchased. (Union Pacific corporate history, in 44 Val Rep 196)

April 6, 1873:
Summit County Railroad was completed to Coalville, from Echo. (Deseret Evening News, April 7, 1873) The work of laying the rails was begun in March. (Salt Lake Herald, March 28, 1873)

April 22, 1873:
Summit County Railroad received a new locomotive from Baldwin. The locomotive was named the "Weber" and was to be in service by the 28th. (Salt Lake Herald, April 26, 1873)

May 14, 1873:
First day of formal operation for the Summit County, with earnings first recorded and the line formally completed on July 1, 1873. (Union Pacific corporate history, in 44 Val Rep 196)

August 1873:
Summit County Railroad completed a 2.5-mile line to the coal mines above Coalville, built in spots using grades of 309 feet per mile (5.8 percent). The Wasatch mine was not yet reached. (Salt Lake Herald, August 17, 1873) Construction was begun on the spur to the coal mines in April, after the line was completed to Coalville. The mines included the Wasatch, Crimson, and Robinson mines. (Deseret Evening News, April 7, 1873)

Late 1874:
The transportation of coal from the Summit County coal mines was the major attraction of several newly organized railroad companies. By late 1874 there were three active mines in the Coalville area: the Crimson Coal Mine; the John Robinson Mine; and the Wasatch Number 2. The Crimson Coal Mine was located 2.5 miles up Chalk Creek canyon above Coalville. Its coal vein was thirteen feet thick and the mine was producing fifty tone per day. The mine was first opened in 1864 but was not actively worked until 1867. The John Robinson Mine was located near the Crimson mine and was opened in about 1872. here, fifteen men were producing also fifty tons of coal per day. The coal from both these mines was transported from the mine to the rail cars at Coalville by use of wagons. The Wasatch Number 2 mine was just above Coalville and was served by the spur of the Summit County Railroad. The coal in Summit County was generally situated in veins twelve feet thick. According to the Engineering & Mining Journal, there were twenty mines opened in the region, producing 200 tons per day. The town of Coalville had a population of about 1,000 souls, most of whom were engaged in the coal mines. The coal was loaded into rail cars at Coalville, then shipped over the Summit County Railroad to its connection with Union Pacific at Echo. The coal was then "re-shipped" (change of cars from narrow-gauge to standard-gauge?) to Salt Lake City without a change of cars. (Engineering & Mining Journal, December 12, 1874, p. 369, quoting from an article in the Mining & Scientific Press.)

February 24, 1877:
Union Pacific took control of the Summit County Railroad by purchasing from Brigham Young 3,361 shares of stock (valued at $134,500), along with the church-owned coal lands in Chalk Creek canyon, above Coalville, for $60,000. (Union Pacific corporate history, in 44 Val Rep 196) Brigham Young received the $60,000 on March 10th. (Reeder, p. 338)

(UP corporate history says that on February 24, Union Pacific purchased all of the first mortgage bonds and a majority of the capital stock. Athearn, p. 276, says that Union Pacific took control of the Summit County in autumn 1880.)

November 23, 1880:
Summit County Railroad was sold under foreclosure. Financial books closed December 31, 1880. At time of sale the road had 31.21 miles, including 27.27 miles between Echo & Park City, and a 3.94 -mile branch, completed earlier in the year up Grass Creek canyon to the Church coal mine. The purchase price was $75,000. (Arrington: Coal Road, p. 53) The road was sold to Sidney Dillon, president of the Union Pacific. The line between Coalville and Park City was built as standard-gauge, with construction starting in 1878. Upon completion of the line to Park City, the original narrow-gauge line between Echo and Coalville was converted to standard-gauge. (Union Pacific corporate history, in 44 Val Rep 196)

January 17, 1881:
Echo & Park City Railway incorporated by Union Pacific interests "to buy, own, and operate the railroad property formerly known as the Summit County Rail Road". (Utah corporation number 69)

January 19, 1881:
Summit County Railroad completed to Park City. (Arrington: Coal Road, p. 54, from Deseret Evening News, January 19, 1881)

UTAH EASTERN RAILROAD

December 26, 1879:
Utah Eastern Railroad incorporated to build from Salt Lake City to Coalville. The company was organized with special provisions to keep Union Pacific, or any other road, from gaining control of it and getting a strangle hold on the coal traffic into Salt Lake City. (Reeder, pp. 339-342)

October 1880:
Utah Eastern directors organize Home Coal Company to operate several coal mines in vicinity of Coalville, to furnish reliable coal sources to fulfill contracts with Ontario Silver Mining Company in Park City. (Arrington: Coal Road, p. 51)

October 26, 1880:
Utah Eastern began track laying, at Coalville. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 27, 1880, "yesterday")

December 5, 1880:
Utah Eastern 2-6-0 number 3, actually its second locomotive, is received at Echo, formerly Nevada Central number 1. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 8, 1880)

December 9, 1880:
Utah Eastern completed to Park City. Grading had begun in May and track laying began in early November. The tracks were completed to Kimballs Junction, near the Kimballs Overland Stage station, on November 26. (Arrington: Coal Road, pp. 50-52)

(The Salt Lake Daily Tribune of December 8 says that the Utah Eastern had been completed to within three miles of Park City, which is the approximate location of Kimballs Junction.)

March 1881:
Utah Eastern built a two stall engine house at the end of the wye at Park City. The road had also received a new locomotive. (Salt Lake Herald, March 3, 1881; March 25, 1881)

November 19, 1883:
Union Pacific elected its own choice of directors at the November 19 annual meeting. By autumn 1883 Union Pacific had secretly gained control of the Utah Eastern stock and bonds. (Reeder, p. 349)

UTAH WESTERN RAILWAY

May 3, 1872:
Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche Railroad incorporated to build from Salt Lake City west to Stockton and the western line of Utah territory, through the valley of the Sevier River. (Utah corporation number 4349)

Although the stated purpose of the Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche was to be the western line of Utah Territory, its real destination was most likely the mines along the western slope of the Oquirrh range, just 35 to 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Smelters located at Stockton, 40 miles from Salt Lake, included General Conner's original 1864 smelter, the Monheim & Johnson smelter, built in 1866, the Waterman & Smith smelter, built in 1871, the Jack smelter, built in 1872, Chicago Silver Mining Company's "Chicago Smelter", completed in 1873, and the Carson & Bozo smelter, also completed in 1873. Other mines in the area included the Mercur (originally Lewiston) mines, with the Last Chance, Sparrow Hawk, and Marion claims all filed in 1872. The first placer claim was located in Mercur on April 20, 1870. There were also claims in the Ophir district, including the Mountain Lion, the Petalume, the Silver Chief, the Tampico, and the Blue Wing. The first claim in the Ophir district was filed on August 23, 1870, as the Silveropities. Ophir also had the distinction of being the location of the first stamp mill in the Territory, when the Walker Brothers located their 15-stamp Pioneer Mill at Ophir in June 1871, processing about 30 tons of ore per day. (Tooele County, pp. 343, 362, 376; Bliss, p. 176)

April 14, 1873:
"Official" ground breaking for the Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche Railroad. Seven miles of grade had already been completed. (Salt Lake Herald, April 15, 1873)

July 7, 1873:
Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche locomotive arrived, along with two flat cars. The locomotive was named "Kate Connor", after General Connor's daughter. The locomotive was built by the Brooks Locomotive Works, of Dunkirk, New York. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 8, 1873, "yesterday"; Deseret Evening News, July 10, 1873) Katherine "Kate" Francis Connor was born in Salt Lake City on September 7, 1863. After 1870, General Connor's wife and children lived in Redwood City, California. In 1872, Kate visited her father, and again in 1879. Her married name was Kate Connor Oliver and she lived until at least late 1931. (Varley, pp. 172, 270, 291)

September 24, 1873:
Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche received "a full train of iron and material." Twenty miles of grade completed. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 25, 1873, "yesterday") Track laying began the same day. Track laying began on the west side of the Babbitt Block. The construction train consisted of the locomotive, the "Kate Conner", ten flat cars, and two boxcars. Construction foreman was William F. Tully. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Utah Mining Gazette, September 27, 1873)

late September 1873:
Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche stopped work "owing to the recent financial crisis in the east". (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 30, 1873) Throughout the next six to nine months there were accusations by other officers of the company of mismanagement by H. S. Jacobs. (Reeder, pp. 268-276)

June 15, 1874:
Utah Western Railway organized, as a reorganization of the defunct Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche Railroad. The SL, SV&P had been organized in May 1872 to build west from Salt Lake City to Tooele and south to the mining camps in Nevada. The SL,SV&P began grading west from Salt Lake in April 1873, but before they could get tracks laid, financial and management problems developed which caused the company to fail. The new Utah Western assumed the previous road's debt and acquired its unfinished grade between Salt Lake City and Lake Point, "Point of the Mountain", 20 miles to the west. In return for the reorganization, and control by John W. Young, the officers of the SL, SV&P took stock in the Utah Western. The rails for the SL, SV&P, which had remained on the flatcars in Salt Lake City, were sold for use on the Utah Northern because the freight charges had not been paid. (Reeder, pp. 257-280; Athearn, p. 278; Deseret Evening News, August 31, 1874)

November 1874:
Utah Western began laying tracks west from Salt Lake City on the former Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche grade on November 12. Seven cars of iron rail had arrived the day before, on November 11. The rail had arrived in Ogden on November 10. Enough rail for the balance of track for the road, 22 miles, was supposedly on its way. By November 19, sixteen cars of rail had arrived. Also on November 19, the Utah Western's new locomotive, the "Oquirrh", was steamed up for the first time and run out onto the line's new trackage along South Temple Street. On November 28, a large shipment of ties from Cache valley arrived via the Utah Northern at Ogden, reportedly bound for the new construction on the Utah Western. By November 20th the construction had reached the Jordan river bridge. The road was to be completed to Lake Point by December. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Salt Lake Herald, November 11, 1874; November 19, 1874; November 21, 1874; Utah County Times, November 12, 1874; Daily Ogden Junction, November 28, 1874)

January 10, 1875:
Utah Western tracks completed to Black Rock, near Lake Point. (Reeder, p. 282, from Salt Lake Herald, January 10, 1875; Athearn, p. 278)

February 7, 1875:
Utah Western completed to Clintons, site of Clintons Lake House hotel, near present day Lakepoint. (Reeder, p. 282; from Salt Lake Herald, February 7, 1875)

Information about Clintons:
Clintons (or Clinton's) was built by Dr. Jeter Fielding Clinton in late 1870 and spring 1871. It was first called "Lake House". The station was also at times called Lake Point, Steamboat Landing, Steamboat Point, Clinton's Landing, and Short Branch. The hotel was a new three-story stone building built in the fall of 1874. On May 14, 1875, an "Old Folks Sociable" was held at Clinton Beach. The excursion was free to aged people, and was the first excursion of 1875. The Overland Stage stopped at Clinton's Hotel. There was a railroad wye track, to turn the trains around, built just southeast of the hotel. By 1885 the receding Great Salt Lake exposed sand bars that doomed the resort. Thirty-five head of buffalo, part of herd of 100 head transplanted from Montana, were moved to the park in December 1890. Clinton moved back to Salt Lake City, where he died in May 1892. His wife sold the property to the Buffalo Park Land Company in September 1892. The Buffalo Park Land Company was promoted by William Glassman and a Mr. Lynch. The company built Old Buffalo Park. The buffalo herd was later moved to Antelope Island. ("History of Tooele County", by Tooele County Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1961, pp. 148, 151, 152)

March 31, 1875:
Utah Western completed to Half Way House, which remained the terminal for the road from 1875 until mid 1877. (Salt Lake Herald, March 31, 1875; Reeder, pp. 283, 287)

August 8, 1877:
Utah Western tracks completed to Tooele Station, about three miles from Tooele (west of town?). (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Utah County Enquirer, August 4, 1877; August 8, 1877)

September 10, 1877:
Utah Western tracks completed to "Terminus", the location of the proposed 1,000 foot tunnel through the Stockton gravel bar, 37.24 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Grading for the line from Half Way House had begun in March 1876 and was completed to "Tunnel" by mid May 1877. (Salt Lake Herald, March 16, 1876; May 17, 1877) Track laying resumed in July 1877 at Half Way House after John W. Young had arranged additional financing for the rails, which were ordered in May by LeGrand Young while he was "in the East". The rails began arriving on June 6. (Salt Lake Herald, May 17, 1877; June 6, 1877; July 4, 1877; Reeder, p. 287)

April 16, 1878:
The bondholders took control of the Utah Western. The revenues of the road had failed to pay expenses and the interest on the construction bonds. (Reeder, p. 289)

November 3, 1880:
Utah Western sold under foreclosure on August 2 by order of the Third District Court, resulting from a suit brought by the bondholders. Purchased by Theodore S. Bassett, who took possession on April 2, 1881. Bassett deeded the Utah Western to the new Utah & Nevada on April 30th, 1881. (OSL corporate history) W. W. Riter bought the Utah Western on November 3, 1880, as a agent for Theodore Bassett, who held the bonds of the Utah Western. (Salt Lake Herald, February 17, 1881)

(Reeder, p. 289, says that the sale took place on the October 14. The Salt Lake Daily Tribune of October 13, 1880 says sale will be "today". Later research has shown that the sale was delayed for two weeks by the Salt Lake County Sheriff.)

UTAH & NEVADA RAILWAY

February 15, 1881:
Utah & Nevada Railway organized to take over the property of the Utah Western, which had been sold in foreclosure on November 18, 1880. (Reeder, p. 290) The Utah & Nevada intended to extend the road south to Tanner's Springs, 87 miles from Salt Lake City. They were unable to complete the new line. (OSL corporate history)

July 1, 1881:
Utah & Nevada operations began on July 1, 1881. (Poor's, 1882, p. 858)

August 20, 1881:
Union Pacific gained control of the Utah & Nevada by stock purchase. At the first annual meeting on April 29, 1882, Union Pacific exercised its control and voted in its choice of directors for the road. Because of excursions from Salt Lake City to the Great Salt Lake, which began in 1875 while the road was still the Utah Western, the Utah & Nevada was the only road in Utah, other than the street car lines, to show more income from passenger traffic than from freight traffic. This trend continued until 1885 when the mines in the Rush Valley District, at Stockton, began producing ores and generating additional freight traffic from the mines to the Salt Lake smelters. (Reeder, pp. 291-299)

UNION PACIFIC CONTROLLED COMPANIES

Railroads controlled by Union Pacific, either by its directors or the corporation itself, are covered from here on, even though they retained their old names, or names of new Union Pacific-controlled corporations. This method is chosen to show how Union Pacific managed its interests in Utah usually as a single effort, with a common interest. These interests included the Utah Central, the Utah Southern, the Utah Southern Railroad Extension, the Utah & Northern, the Summit County, the Utah Eastern, the Utah Western, and the Salt Lake & Western.

February 21, 1874:
Jay Gould gained control of Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 308)

April 1874:
Silas H. H. Clark was promoted by Jay Gould to General Superintendent of Union Pacific Railroad. He started as General Freight Agent in 1867. (Klein, p. 311)

June 30, 1874:
Union Pacific raised its rates for moving coal from Summit County to Salt Lake City from $1.50 to $3.80 per ton and started a public outrage about Union Pacific's monopoly over coal into Utah. The public outcry over the monopoly and the need for competition was the reason that both the Utah Eastern Railroad and the Salt Lake & Coalville Railroad were organized on June 13, 1874, joining the Salt Lake & Echo Railroad which was organized on January 25, 1873. Union Pacific yielded to the pressure of public opinion and lowered the coal rate back down to $1.75 per ton on August 8. (Reeder, pp. 330-336; Utah corporation number 4289)

March 10, 1875:
Bishop John Sharp was elected to the board of directors for Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 317)

August 29, 1877:
Brigham Young died, at the age of 76. (Arrington: American Moses, p. 398)

September 20, 1878:
Utah & Northern trains began using new depot in Ogden. (Salt Lake Herald, September 21, 1878)

January 11, 1879:
Utah Southern Railroad Extension organized to build south of York, to the Horn Silver mine at Frisco. (Reeder, p. 139; Athearn, p. 280) The organization was by the Gould-controlled Union Pacific. Jay Gould, Sidney Dillon, John Sharp, and other Union Pacific directors had bought large interests in the Horn Silver mine in 1878. (Reeder, p. 137)

March 1, 1879:
Work resumed on the Utah Southern at York. The tracks were completed to Nephi on May 9 (Territorial Enquirer, May 10, 1879), and on June 5, the road was completed to Juab (formerly called Chicken Creek), 30 miles south of York. Juab was where the connection was made with the Utah Southern Railroad Extension. Work on the "Extension" from Juab began immediately. (Reeder, pp. 140, 141)

(SP,LA&SL corporate history says operation between Salt Lake and Juab began on June 13th.)

Late October 1879:
Utah Southern Railroad Extension tracks were completed to Deseret. (Reeder, p. 143)

January 30, 1880:
The new Utah & Northern roundhouse at Logan was "nearing completion". (Logan Leader, January 30, 1880)

February 1880:
Hamptons Station on Utah & Northern renamed to Collinston. (Logan Leader, February 6, 1880)

February 1880:
Utah & Northern being operated with 16 locomotives and 287 cars; 10 passenger coaches, seven mail, baggage and express cars, 170 box cars, 81 flat cars, 12 stock cars, six cabooses, and one pay car. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 18, 1880)

May 15, 1880:
Utah Southern Railroad Extension tracks completed to Milford. (SP,LA&SL corporate history)

June 23, 1880:
Utah Southern Railroad Extension tracks completed to Frisco, 137.24 miles from the Utah Southern connection at Juab. The next day the railroad began shipping ore from the Horn Silver Mine. (Salt Lake Herald, June 25, 1880; Reeder, p. 143; Athearn, p. 280)

August 1880:
Utah & Northern began operating Pullman cars, between Ogden and Blackfoot, Idaho. First cars were named "Argo" and "Advance". (Ogden Junction, August 13, 1880; Blackfoot Register, August 21, 1880)

December 1880:
Utah Central completed the new roundhouse in Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Herald, December 12, 1880) Construction of the 60 x 270 roundhouse, along with a 35 x 93 machine shop, began in June. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 27, 1880)

March 1881:
Echo & Park City completed a depot at Park City. (Salt Lake Herald, March 3, 1881)

March 31, 1881:
Utah & Northern six stall roundhouse in Logan burned to the ground, leaving only the heavy timber framework standing. (Salt Lake Herald, April 2, 1881; Blackfoot Register April 2, 1881) Five locomotives in for repairs were damaged in the fire. Four of the five were repaired by the end of April, two by Union Pacific at Evanston and two by Utah & Northern at Logan. The repairs on the fifth, and smallest, was completed sometime after April. (Salt Lake Herald, April 30, 1881)

early 1881:
Jay Gould turned his interests towards developing the Missouri Pacific/Texas and Pacific system, and sold most of his stock in Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 432)

April 14, 1881:
The Oregon Short Line Railway was incorporated in Wyoming. Construction of the line began in May at a connection with Union Pacific at Granger, Wyoming. The tracks were completed to Montpelier, Idaho on August 5, 1882 and to Pocatello during the fall of the same year. The tracks between McCammon, Idaho and Pocatello were used jointly with the Utah & Northern by laying a third rail along side the narrow-gauge U&N rails. (OSL corporate history)

(Trottman, p. 180, says that Oregon Short Line Railway was chartered by an act of Congress.)

May 6, 1881:
Sidney Dillon sold the property and interests of the Summit County Railroad to the Echo & Park City Railway for $1,006,600 in stocks and bonds of the E&PC company. (Arrington: Coal Road, p. 55)

(UP corporate history shows July 1 as the date of purchase.)

(ICC Valuation, 44 Val Rep 193, shows July 1 as the date that Union Pacific took control of the Echo & Park City Railway.)

May 30, 1881:
Salt Lake & Western Railway incorporated to build a line from Lehi Junction, on the Utah Southern, to the Utah/Nevada territory line near the 40th parallel. (OSL corporate history) Union Pacific also organized a separate Salt Lake & Western Railway in both California and Nevada, to serve as the method of building a line to San Francisco in competition with Central Pacific. In March 1882, because of the poor financial outlook, Union Pacific postponed the expansion of the SL&W into California. (Reeder, pp. 361-363)

(Remember that Lehi Junction had been the planned starting point of the defunct Lehi & Tintic Railroad of 1872.)

May 31, 1881:
Salt Lake & Western began construction, at Lehi Junction. (Riter, Pacific Railway Commission hearings, p. 2200)

June 11, 1881:
Utah Southern locomotive number 6 made its first trip. It arrived on June 9. (Salt Lake Herald, June 9, 1881 and June 12, 1881)

July 21, 1881:
Competition for UP came to Utah with the incorporation of rival Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway. This new company included seven routes throughout the territory in its plans.

June 24, 1882:
Salt Lake & Western tracks completed to "Mammoth" smelters. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 25, 1882, "last night") (COMMENT: The Mammoth smelters were at Tintic, sometimes called "Tintic Mills".) The line was completed to Tintic, 53.77 miles from Lehi Junction. Operation began on June 10th. (OSL corporate history) In the July 1889 Pacific Railway Commission hearings, W. W. Riter stated that the road was completed on July 1. Union Pacific had furnished the cash to pay for the grading and ties and also furnished all of the rail and other track materials needed for construction of the road. (Riter, Pacific Railway Commission hearings, p. 2200)

July 1881:
Utah & Northern completed a new depot at Smithfield. The railroad also planned to build a new depot at Logan. (Salt Lake Herald, July 15, 1881)

July 31, 1881:
Utah Southern Railroad, Utah Southern Railroad Extension, and Utah Central Railroad merge to form the new Union Pacific controlled Utah Central Railway, incorporated on July 1, 1881 for the purpose. (Reeder, p. 98; Athearn, p. 280; OSL corporate history)

September 1881:
Utah & Northern completed a new roundhouse in Logan, to replace the one that burned in March. (Logan Leader, September 2, 1881)

February 1882:
Utah & Northern completed a new depot at Brigham City. (Logan Leader, February 17, 1882)

August 1882:
Utah Central replaced its original iron rails with steel rails. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 20, 1882)

(Some of the original iron rail may have been used in the construction of the Salt Lake & Western. A piece of original iron rail, dated 1869, still existed as a vertical "post" in a railroad tie retaining wall located at Tintic Mills as late as 1981.)

October 1882:
Utah Central tore down its original Ogden engine house, located at Fifth Street (now 25th Street). The new engine house which replaced it was located near the Weber River bridge. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 5, 1882)

November 15, 1882:
Salt Lake & Western received new locomotive. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 15, 1882)

1883:
Echo & Park City extended its line into Park City, 1.04 miles beyond end of track at Mile Post 27.27. (UP corporate history)

(By examination of the ICC valuation map of 1923 (prior to the Echo Reservoir relocation) Mile Post 27.27 is about a half mile east of the wye where the tracks turned south towards Park City. The extension took the tracks up to the foot of Main Street, where a depot was built. The depot still stands at the northern, lower end of Main Street. It suffered some fire damage but the damage was repaired by the private individual who owns it.)

January 3, 1883:
Utah Central received a new locomotive. (Salt Lake Herald, January 4, 1883)

June 1883:
Utah & Northern completed a new depot at Franklin, Idaho. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Salt Lake Herald, June 23, 1883)

August 9, 1883:
Salt Lake & Western was extended three miles northeast to Silver City. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Ogden Herald, August 9, 1883) In the 1887 Pacific Railway Commission hearings W. W. Riter testified that a 3.94-mile branch was built from Ironton, about three miles north of Tintic, to Silver City (called Cedar City at the time), using second-hand iron rail from the original Utah Central of 1870. (Riter, Pacific Railway Commission hearings, p. 2200)

December 20, 1883:
Union Pacific suspended operation of the Utah Eastern, after completing a connection between its subsidiary Echo & Park City and the Utah Eastern at Coalville. (The Utah Eastern owned the spur from Coalville up to the Weber coal mine, which was owned by the Ontario Silver Mine in Park City.) The contract to deliver coal to the Ontario mine was transferred to Union Pacific's Echo & Park City. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Park Mining Record, February 16, 1884) The Echo & Park City operated the coal spur at Coalville first by transferring the coal from narrow-gauge cars to standard-gauge cars at Coalville and later by converting the branch to standard-gauge and running their cars directly to the mine. (UP corporate history; Union Pacific control and disposal of Utah Eastern is in Athearn, pp. 283, 284)

May 1884:
Utah Central to build a new depot in Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 8, 1884)

May 1884:
Union Pacific's stock fell from 60 to 35-1/4, due to failure of several Wall Street financial brokerage houses. (Klein, p. 455) The stock had been selling for 131-3/4 in July 1881. (Trottman p. 209)

June 1884:
Sidney Dillon resigned as president of Union Pacific and was replaced by Charles F. Adams. Congress forced Union Pacific to begin payments into a "sinking fund" that would retire the government construction bonds that were coming due in the early 1890s. (Klein, p. 457)

July 1884:
Utah & Nevada moved their Salt Lake City depot one block south. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 1, 1884)

July 25, 1884
Utah Central began the demolition of the the original Utah Central depot in Salt Lake City. ("Railroad Notes", Salt Lake Tribune, July 26, 1884, Utah Digital Newspapers Project, "The work of tearing down the old Utah Central passenger depot began yesterday, and there is now no mistaking the fact that the old eye-sore will go.")

1885:
The Horn Silver mine "failed" and the Utah Central suffered the loss of traffic of 14,000 tons of bullion shipped from the mine. (Klein, p. 504)

(Trottman, p. 202, says the mine "gave out" in 1883.)

(Athearn, p. 286, says that the mine closed in the mid 1880s.)

early 1885:
Charles Adams forced S. H. H. Clark to resign as Vice President and General Manager of Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 464)

February 1885:
Receiver appointed for the Utah Eastern, controlled by Union Pacific since November 1883. (Park Record, February 14, 1885)

March 1885:
Jay Gould and S. H. H. Clark resign from Union Pacific board of directors. (Klein, p. 464)

May 1885:
Utah & Northern freight trains are now equipped with air brakes. (Utah Journal, May 13, 1885)

August 1885:
Jay Gould started buying Union Pacific stock, driving price up from 28 to 57. (Klein, p. 468)

1886:
Standard-gauge is adopted by "all" U. S. railroads. (Klein, p. 497)

September 1886:
By September 1886, Charles Adams had paid off Union Pacific's floating debt, but the company soon took on new debt because of expansion plans to meet the road's competition. (Klein, p. 478) In late 1884 the Transcontinental Association (a pool of the railroads organized to stabilize freight rates, and to stop cut-throat rate wars) had collapsed and the rate wars and merciless competition started all over again. Within a year the rates had been cut by 40 percent. By April 1886 the cost of a passenger ticket from Omaha to San Francisco went from $60.00 to $5.00, and freight rates plunged from $4.00 per hundred pounds to only a $1.00. The Midwestern and western roads (Burlington, Santa Fe, GN, NP, UP, and SP) all began a flurry of construction of new lines to expand into new territory, so that they could each control more of the traffic. (Klein, pp. 472-475)

November 1886:
The Utah & Northern roundhouse in Logan was dismantled and moved to Pocatello, after being vacant since February. There had been another fire in the roundhouse in March 1885 (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 13, 1885) but the damage was not repaired. The last locomotive repairs were done in late February 1886, and the Logan Shops were formally closed in May 1886. (Utah Journal, February 20, 1886; May 5, 1886; November 3, 1886; Idaho Register, May 8, 1886)

Eagle Rock shops:
The Eagle Rock, Idaho shops were also moved to Pocatello, in September and October 1887. On May 19, 1886 the Eagle Rock roundhouse "blew down", with an engine in each stall. By September 1886 the Eagle Rock roundhouse still had not been rebuilt and in August 1887 the railroad announced that they would move the shops to Pocatello. (Idaho Register, May 22, 1886; September 4, 1886; August 27, 1887; Salt Lake Herald, September 1, 1887) The Eagle Rock shops were built in November 1880. (Logan Leader, October 29, 1880)

1887:
Echo & Park City abandoned and removed the track of the 3.94-mile Grass Creek Branch, up Grass Creek canyon to the Church Coal Mine. (UP corporate history)

(The Grass Creek Branch was removed because the church-owned coal mine that it served was closed after being confiscated by the federal government, in the government's anti-polygamy moves against the LDS church under provisions of the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887.)

January 1887:
Utah Central was being operated with 20 locomotives (17 of which they owned), 22 passenger cars, eight baggage cars, 480 freight cars, and seven cabooses. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1887)

March 2, 1887:
Ogden & Syracuse Railway was incorporated to build from Ogden, southwest to Syracuse, a distance of 15 miles. Construction actually began in January (prior to incorporation) at a connection with the Utah Central at Syracuse Junction (name later changed to Clearfield) and was completed to Syracuse, 5.85 miles from Syracuse Junction, in July. (OSL corporate history)

(The major source of traffic was salt for the Montana mines. Salt was being hauled (in sacks?) by wagon from Great Salt Lake, east about seven miles to rail cars of the Utah Central. The salt was transferred to the Utah & Northern at Ogden for shipment to Montana. This researcher's wife's great grandfather was involved in both Utah's early salt industry and the wagon traffic. Syracuse, Utah, was named after Syracuse, New York, due to the salt business at both locations.)

May 18, 1887:
Echo & Park City purchased the property of the abandoned Utah Eastern, from the trustee Edward Dickinson. Dickinson purchased the Utah Eastern under foreclosure on April 30, 1887. (UP corporate history)

(The Park Record of February 26 said that on February 21, 1887 the Utah Eastern was sold to P. L. Williams, Union Pacific's Western Division attorney.)

June 1887:
Union Pacific opened the new Garfield Beach Resort, located on the Utah & Nevada. A wye was built at the resort to turn the trains. The resort was operated by the Pacific Hotel Company and consisted of a restaurant, hotel and a 160 x 165 dance pavilion, located 270 feet offshore. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 14, 1887; June 28, 1887)

July 9, 1887:
Union Pacific moved its Wanship depot (on the Echo & Park City line) to Wahsatch, to replace the Wahsatch depot that burned on June 18. (Park Record, June 18, 1887; July 9, 1887)

July 24, 1887:
The Utah & Northern line between Butte and Pocatello was converted to standard-gauge. Men, tools, and materials were distributed along the line and the job was done in one day. (Reeder, p. 252)

(The line between Ogden to Pocatello took longer because it required almost 50 miles of new construction. That portion was completed in October 1890.)

December 1887:
Utah Eastern tracks between Coalville and Park City were removed. (Salt Lake Herald, December 20, 1887)

September 19, 1888:
Ogden Union Railway & Depot Company was organized by Union Pacific and Central Pacific to own the joint facilities in the Ogden terminal, from a point on the Central Pacific a quarter-mile north of its crossing of First Street (now 21st Street, the line crosses the Ogden River at about 19th Street) to a point a half-mile south of Union Pacific's crossing of Eighth Street (now 28th Street). (Utah corporation number 486 and 4324)

(The later Union Pacific roundhouse in Ogden was located on 29th Street.)

September 21, 1888:
Utah & Nevada completed their Saltair Branch. (Salt Lake Herald, September 22, 1888)

(Both the SP,LA&SL and OSL corporate histories say that the operation of the 2.42-mile branch, from Saltair Junction to Saltair, began on October 17.)

October 1888:
Utah & Nevada replaced its 30 pound iron rail with 40 pound steel rail. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 3, 1888)

July 27, 1889:
Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway is organized by merging the Utah & Northern Railway, the Utah Central Railway, the Utah & Nevada Railway, the Salt Lake & Western Railway, and the Ogden & Syracuse Railway (all in Utah), the Oregon Short Line Railway and Idaho Central Railway (both in Idaho), and the unbuilt Nevada Pacific Railway in Nevada. (OSL corporate history)

September 9, 1889:
OSL&UN completed 3.24 branch to Eureka. Construction of the line was begun on April 9 by the Salt Lake & Western. (OSL corporate history)

November 1889:
OSL&UN (Utah & Nevada) is sharing Salt Lake City depot with John W. Young's Salt Lake & Fort Douglas and Salt Lake & Eastern lines. (Salt Lake Herald, November 15, 1889)

1889-1890:
OSL&UN began grading a line from Milford to Pioche, Nevada, a distance of 145 miles. In March 1887 Union Pacific president Charles Adams had asked that a route be surveyed to California, from the Utah Central at Milford, and the route was found "worthy of consideration". At the time of the survey, the silver mining town of Pioche was almost a ghost town. (Athearn, p. 288) The grade to Uvada was completed and some bridges were built along that portion of the line. The grade from Uvada to Clover Valley Junction (later Caliente) and then north to Pioche was only partially completed, although six tunnels were completed on the line between Uvada and Clover Valley Junction. Early completion of 7.75 miles of track laid south from Milford ended when financial difficulties developed in 1890 and construction was halted and the track was taken up. (SP,LA&SL corporate history)

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, Salt Lake Evening Times, June 21, 1890)

(Bancroft had been with D&RG, and its successor RGW, since 1881 [Athearn: Rebel, p. 147] and became Superintendent of the Oregon Short Line.)

October 1, 1890:
OSL&UN completed the new standard-gauge line between Ogden and Pocatello. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 2, 1890, "last rail in widening of old line and building new line") The new line included 48.58 miles of new construction between Dewey, Utah and Oxford, Idaho (20.64 miles north of the Utah/Idaho line) by way of the Bear River gorge, along with an 8.58-mile connection between Cache Junction, on the new standard-gauge line, and Mendon, on the old narrow-gauge line. Operation of the new standard-gauge connection between Cache Junction and Mendon line began on October 24. (OSL corporate history) The conversion of the old (original narrow-gauge) line between Mendon and Preston, through Logan, was completed on Sunday, October 26. (Utah Journal, October 22, 1890) This line became the Cache Valley Branch. (ICC Financial Docket 15790, 267 ICC 638)

The 15-section of the old narrow-gauge main line north from Preston to Oxford, Idaho was abandoned upon completion of the new standard-gauge line, as was the twelve mile narrow-gauge line between Dewey and Mendon, by way of Collinston Summit. This original line over Collinston Divide was used 25 years later by the Ogden, Logan & Idaho Railway to build their electric line between Ogden and Logan in October 1915. (Swett, p. 76)

November 1890:
New Union Pacific depots were being painted "Indian Red with dark olive trim". (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 18, 1890)

November 1890:
Jay Gould again took control of Union Pacific, after not having an interest for six years. (Klein, p. 630) Charles F. Adams resigned as president on November 24, and was replaced by Sidney Dillon, the man that Adams had replaced in June 1884. (Trottman, p. 238)

April 1891:
OSL&UN relaid 11 miles of former Utah & Nevada with 40-pound steel rail. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 5, 1891)

1892:
OSL&UN completed the 1.09-mile Five Points Branch, from Five Points Junction, on the main line, 2.94 miles north of Ogden, to Five Points, Utah. (OSL corporate history)

January 1892:
The narrow-gauge (former Utah & Nevada) district of the OSL&UN was operating standard-gauge cars on narrow-gauge trucks for the salt traffic between the south shore of the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City. The change in trucks is being made at Salt Lake. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1892) The change was done using a Ramsey Transfer device. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 11, 1900)

February 1892:
OSL&UN completed the 3.03-mile Northern Spy Extension, from Silver City on the Silver City Branch to the Northern Spy Mine. Construction was begun in August 1891. (SP,LA&SL corporate history, LA&SL drawing 8111-D; OSL corporate history)

December 2, 1892:
Jay Gould died, leaving Union Pacific effectively without leadership. Sidney Dillon had died in June and Bishop John Sharp (very much a part of the Union Pacific leadership and representative of the interests of Brigham Young and the Mormon Church) had died the previous December. S. H. H. Clark had taken over as president when Dillon died, but Clark was a Gould man and when Gould died, Clark lost his influence against the bankers and the government in the fight over repaying the floating debt and the government bonds. (Klein, pp. 645-652)

October 13, 1893:
The bondholders and the federal government forced Union Pacific into receivership. The government construction bonds issued between 1865 and 1869 were due and the railroad still owed $11.8 million of the original $18.8 million. Fred Ames died on September 12. He was the last of the directors that had been fighting receivership. (Klein, pp. 657, 658) The receivership also included the Echo & Park City Railway, which Union Pacific had controlled since July 1, 1881. (44 Val Rep 193)

December 1893:
OSL&UN completed the 1.82-mile Mammoth Branch from Mammoth Junction, on the Silver City Branch, to the Mammoth Mill. Construction was begun in September. The last 5,047 feet (.96 mile) of the branch, from the crossing of Rio Grande Western's Tintic Range Railway to the mill, was joint trackage to allow RGW access to the mill's traffic. (SP,LA&SL corporate history; OSL corporate history)

September 19, 1894:
The Grass Creek Terminal Railway was incorporated to construct a branch from the Echo & Park City line, about three miles north of Coalville, to the Grass Creek coal mine located in Grass Creek canyon. The company built 2.87 miles of line on the grade and alignment of Echo & Park City's original Grass Creek branch, along with an additional 2.7 miles of new construction. The entire 5.59-mile line was owned by private individuals who were also leaders of the LDS church, which owned the coal mine. The line was constructed in 1895-96 by Union Pacific forces and upon completion it was operated by the E&PC, and later by the Union Pacific, as the Grass Creek Branch. (UP corporate history) In July 1907 David Eccles purchased the 1,040 acres of coal lands that comprised the Grass Creek coal mine and organized the Grass Creek Coal Company of Utah. (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 15, 1907, p. 38; Arrington: Eccles p. 122) The purchase of the Grass Creek coal lands also included the Grass Creek Terminal Railway. (Salt Lake Mining Review, July 15, 1907, p. 33) By early 1910 the coal mines in the Coalville area included the Weber Coal Company, the Union Fuel Company, and the Rees Grass Creek Company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 30, 1910, p. 29)

January 1895:
Weber Station, in Weber canyon, was renamed Morgan. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 17, 1895)

spring 1895:
A separate receiver is named for the OSL&UN. (Trottman p. 261)

February 23, 1897:
The property of old Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway was sold to the new Oregon Short Line Railroad, incorporated for the purpose in Utah on February 1, 1897. On January 9, the receivers had sold the property to the reorganization committee, who then sold it to the OSL. (OSL corporate history)

March 5, 1897:
The new OSL took possession of the OSL&UN on March 5, 1897. (OSL corporate history)

(Trottman, p. 261, gives date as "early 1897".)

(The Salt Lake Daily Tribune of March 16, 1897 says that the transfer took place "last night, at midnight", March 15, 1897.)

November 1, 1897:
The property of the Union Pacific Railway was sold at foreclosure to a new corporation, incorporated in Utah, called the Union Pacific Railroad, incorporated for the purpose on July 1, 1897. (Utah corporation number 2083) The organization of the new Union Pacific had been approved by an act of the Utah Legislature on January 22, 1897. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1051) The new Union Pacific took possession of the old Union Pacific on January 31, 1898. (Trottman, p. 269)

August 20, 1898:
Utah & Pacific Railroad was incorporated, in Utah. (Utah corporation number 2263, click here for more corporate information)

(The Salt Lake Tribune of January 1, 1899 says that Utah & Pacific was incorporated on August 19, 1898; the Salt Lake City Daily Tribune of January 1, 1897 says that the road was organized in March 1896.)

In his David Eccles, Pioneer Western Industrialist, published in 1975, Leonard Arrington wrote on pages 230-232:

Operating under the name "Utah and Pacific Railroad," a group of Ogden men began planning in 1895 for a railroad line which would connect Utah with Los Angeles and other cities of Southern California. As a first step, they proposed to build a road from Milford, Utah to Uvada, Nevada, a distance of about seventy-five miles. The Union Pacific terminus had been at Milford since the late 1870s. Surveys were made and construction commenced, but the continuation of the Cleveland depression complicated the financing.

The organizing group included Joseph A. West of Ogden, an engineer for the Oregon Short Line, Abraham H. Cannon, enterprising son of George Q. Cannon, an apostle of the Mormon Church, and others. Cannon's untimely death in 1896 interrupted the company's progress. On February 8, 1897, the vacant place left in Utah and Pacific was filled by David Eccles, who was elected director to replace Cannon; thereafter Eccles was a dominant force in the firm's business.

On August 16, 1898, a contract was entered into between the Oregon Short Line Railroad (owned by Union Pacific interests) and Utah and Pacific whereby Utah and Pacific was given those grading rights south of Milford previously granted to OSL, as well as an option to buy second-hand rails at a favorable price. OSL obtained in return a five-year option for the purchase of the Utah and Pacific line when completed.

Formal articles of incorporation of the Utah and Pacific Railroad were signed on August 19, 1898. These listed A. W. McCune, president; David Eccles, vice-president; William L. Hoge, secretary; and Charles W. Nibley, treasurer. Joseph F. Smith, Richard McIntosh, Thomas D. Dee, and Robert C. Lund were listed as directors. The road was bonded for $1,500,000 - $20,000 per mile - and stock to the amount of $75,000 had already been purchased at the time of incorporation.

Two groups of associates joined together in the enterprise. One group which owned half of the stock consisted of David Eccles, principal owner, plus Charles W. Nibley, Joseph F. Smith, Thomas D. Dee, and Robert C. Lund. The stock and with it the voting power, of all of these men was placed in the hands of David Eccles. The other group consisted of A. W. McCune interests. (McCune was principal owner of Salt Lake City's street railroad system.)

At the time of incorporation the Utah Construction Company was also organized for the purpose of handling the construction of the road. Construction began immediately and the track was completed to Uvada on the Nevada-Utah border by July 1, 1899.

On February 2, 1899, Oregon Short Line interests organized a subsidiary of the company, the Utah, Nevada, and California Railway Company, to continue the line from Uvada to California. Some work was done by this subsidiary company, but the plan was abandoned in early 1901.

During the last part of March 1901, David Eccles and A. W. McCune went to New York to negotiate with the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company for sale of the Utah and Pacific Railroad line.

After ten days of talks, on April 4, 1901, the railroad was sold for $1.5 million. Half of this sum went to Eccles and his friends, the other half to McCune. The decision of Union Pacific interests to complete the line to Los Angeles had made this sale, at a good price, possible. Fair value of the railroad was $1.2 million. The 272-mile line from Milford to Los Angeles, called the Salt Lake, Los Angeles, and San Pedro, was completed in the spring of 1905.

October 3, 1898:
Utah & Pacific began laying track, at Milford. OSL is providing locomotives and cars. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 27, 1898; September 29, 1898; October 1, 1898; and October 4, 1898, "yesterday")

January 24, 1899:
Utah & Pacific completed to Cedar City Junction, 37 miles from Milford. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, 1/25/1899, "yesterday") (COMMENT: The current station of Lund is 35 miles south of Milford.)

May 1899:
Utah & Pacific was operating more than 66 miles of completed railroad between Milford and Modena. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 30, 1899)

July 31, 1899:
Utah & Pacific reached its end of track at Uvada, 75.6 miles from Milford. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 1, 1899, "yesterday")

December 31, 1899:
Echo & Park City sold under foreclosure, to Union Pacific Railroad. In receivership since October 12, 1893. (44 Val rep 193) A separate receiver appointed. (source not recorded)

(UP corporate history shows December 30, 1899 as the date that Union Pacific bought the E&PC.)

UNION PACIFIC COAL COMPANY

April 1890:
Union Pacific organized the Union Pacific Coal Company as a subsidiary to manage all its coal properties in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. In May 1868 Union Pacific had signed an agreement with two coal dealers in Missouri, Thomas Wardell and Cyrus O. Godfrey, to operate and manage coal properties that might be developed from Union Pacific's government land grant. (source not recorded)

(Trottman, p. 42, gives July 16, 1868 as the date of the agreement.)

The fifteen year contract provided that the two men would mine the coal at their own expense and furnish it, at least for the first two years, to the railroad at $6.00 per ton. It also provided the men at least a 10 percent profit over the term of the agreement, which was signed on July 16, 1868. (Athearn, p. 139)

Wardell and Godfrey organized Wyoming Coal Company in August 1868. The Wyoming Coal Company was reorganized as the Wyoming Coal & Mining Company in January 1869, with Union Pacific's directors having 90 percent control. Wyoming Coal owned seven mines in Wyoming; four in Rock Springs, two in Carbon, and one in Almy, near Evanston. (source not recorded)

(Central Pacific owned the Rocky Mountain Coal Company near Evanston.)

The Wyoming Coal Company made high profits from the "exorbitant" prices that it charged the railroad, which used coal as fuel for its locomotives. When the management of the railroad changed in 1874, the coal contract was ended and the railroad took control of the coal company, through its "coal department". (Trottman, pp. 43, 110; Klein, pp. 329, 330, 518) Union Pacific president Charles Adams called the coal operations "the salvation of Union Pacific; those mines saved it". (Klein, p. 334)

SAN PETE VALLEY RAILWAY

During the 1890s Union Pacific was heavily interested in the San Pete Valley Railway. In July 1880 the SPV had completed its line between Nephi (and a connection with Utah Southern) and the coal mines at Wales, via Salt Creek canyon, having started construction the previous November. (Salt Lake Herald, November 4, 1879; July 2, 1880)

In 1887 Union Pacific bought the San Pete Valley Railway to give it a line that could be built into California. (Klein, pp. 594, 595) In March 1888 the "English owners" replaced Simon Bamberger, the road's general manager, with Thomas Bruback, formerly the road's secretary. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 4, 1888)

On July 14, 1890 Union Pacific took possession of San Pete Valley Railway. (Pitchard: Newspaper Notes, Salt Lake Evening Times, July 15, 1890, "ownership transferred yesterday")

(The Salt Lake Daily Tribune of January 1, 1891 says that Union Pacific "took over the San Pete Valley Railroad" in April 1890.)

(The Home Sentinel, of Manti, on April 18, 1890 says that the San Pete Valley was sold and that Union Pacific was the purchaser, for $120,000, and that "the bargain was completed last week".)

(Union Pacific bought interest in the San Pete Valley in competition to Rio Grande Western's expansion into the region. The Rio Grande Western line south from Thistle was completed to Ephraim in December 1890; to Manti in May 1891; and to Salina in July 1891.)

In early April 1893 the San Pete Valley started an expansion program, after "opening up" the road on April 1; shut down for the winter since December 1892. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 12, 1893) In June and August 1893 Union Pacific sent narrow-gauge locomotives down to the SPV at Nephi. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, June 23, 1893, "yesterday" and Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 13, 1893, "yesterday") In early September 1893 San Pete Valley's Clinton (President) and Kerr (General Manager) were "huddled" with Union Pacific's Eccles in Manti (Home Sentinel, September 9, 1893) -- presumably over San Pete Valley's expansion into RGW's territory of Manti. The tracks were completed to Ephraim on September 5 (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 6, 1893) and on November 29 the road was completed to Manti (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 2, 1893). In January 1894 the SPV issued $75,000 in bonds (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 9, 1894) and bought a narrow-gauge locomotive, which was shipped to Nephi on January 18 (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 19, 1894).

By mid January 1894, and since its receivership of Union Pacific in October 1893, the Union Pacific apparently had lost its financial interest in the little narrow-gauge line because in mid January 1894 Union Pacific and RGW "are in league with each other to freeze out the SPV". (source not recorded)

San Pete Valley completed their line to the Sterling coal mines at Morrison on November 2, 1894. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 3, 1894, "yesterday")

On July 9, 1896 the San Pete Valley completed its conversion to standard-gauge. Work was begun on July 7. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 10, 1896, "yesterday") The extension of the line to Ephraim, Manti, and Morrison had been constructed using standard-gauge length ties. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1895) The road had received their two new standard-gauge locomotives on July 1. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 2, 1896, "yesterday") This left only the RGW's Utah Central, between Salt Lake City and Park City, and the former Utah & Nevada line of the OSL&UN, between Salt Lake City and Tooele, as the only narrow-gauge roads in the state. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1897)

NEW EAST TINTIC RAILWAY

May 20, 1896:
The New East Tintic Railway was organized by James Cunningham and his associates to build a rail line from Mammoth Station, on the OSL&UN, east up Mammoth Hollow, past the Mammoth Mill, the Sioux Mill, the Ajax Mine, and the Mammoth Mine to the Sioux Mine at the east end of the Hollow. The corporation was filed on the 22nd. (Utah corporation number 1439 and 4368)

(SP,LA&SL corporate history says that the company was incorporated on May 23, 1896.)

June 1896:
The company's Shay locomotive (construction number 511, built in June 1895) "will be delivered next week". (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 24, 1896)

During 1896 and 1897 the New East Tintic Railway completed their 1.99-mile line from the Mammoth station, near the Mammoth Mill, to the Mammoth Mine, by using a switchback, 6 percent grades, and curves as sharp as 30 and 31 degrees.

James Cunningham had earlier been involved in the East Tintic Railway of January 1894, which was an earlier attempt at organizing, together with Samuel and William McIntyre, a company to build a rail line along the same route. (Utah corporation number 1408) Cunningham and the McIntyre brothers were also involved in the Tintic Railway of January 1891 that was projected to build from Provo to the Tintic mining district. (Utah corporation number 820 and 4356) The plans for the Tintic Railway were abandoned because in May 1891 the Rio Grande Western organized its Tintic Range Railway and completed the line between Springville and Silver City in early 1892.

(See UP in Utah, 1900-1996, for continuation of this chronology history.)

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