Salt Lake & Alta Railroad
This page was last updated on April 28, 2007.
Additional Sources:
- George Pitchard's research (about the single Shay locomotive) (Removed at author's request) [#]
1913:
D&RG leased its Wasatch Branch between Sandy and Wasatch to Salt Lake & Alta
Railroad, which agreed to reconstruct and operate the branch. (LeMassena,
p. 125)
March 1913:
News item about J. G. Jacobs planning to build a railroad
up Little Cottonwood Canyon, from Sand Pit to Wasatch. (Salt
Lake Mining Review, Volume 14, number 24, March 30, 1913, page 32)
August 26, 1913:
Salt Lake & Alta Railroad incorporated:
- To operate and maintain a railroad from Midvale, Utah to Wasatch, Utah, a distance of about 10 miles.
- To purchase from J. G. Jacobs the lease of the Alta Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad dated July 31, 1913, full payment being the entire capital stock of this corporation.
- The state capitol building was under construction from December 1912 to July 1915; granite blocks for the construction of the capitol building came from the granite quarries in Little Cottonwood Canyon, with the Salt Lake & Alta being used for transportation.
- (Utah Corporation Index 10268)
According to an article about the Utah Consolidated Stone Company in The Salt Lake Mining Review of June 30, 1914, upon obtaining the $608,000 contract to furnish 165,000 cubic feet of granite for the building of the Utah state capitol, the stone company advanced the funds needed to build the Salt Lake & Alta Railroad. The line was 10 miles long and connected directly with the stone company's dressing works in Midvale on the old smelter site of the Bingham Consolidated Co., which was adjacent to the United States smelter.
Utah railroads historian Robert Edwards stated on at least one occasion that the dressed and finished stone for the capitol building was moved by way of the street railway to Capitol Hill. (Utah Light & Railway's line along State Street to Murray, Midvale, and Sandy, had been completed in 1910.)
November 1913:
News item about the completion of the Salt Lake & Alta
Railroad, completed "to
the doors of the Wasatch Hotel, up the canyon." (Salt Lake Mining Review,
Volume 15, number 16, November 30, 1913, page 28)
"Salt Lake & Alta Railroad", article. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 16, Number 22, March 15, 1915, page 26)
Salt Lake & Alta Railroad -- One of the most important factors connected with the future prosperity of Alta and Little Cottonwood was the building, last year, of the Salt Lake & Alta railroad, which connects with the Denver & Rio Grande at Midvale, and terminates at Wasatch, a famed summer resort a short distance up from the mouth of Little Cottonwood canyon. The need of such a road has long been felt, and already, since its completion last summer, the shipping mining companies of the district have been materially and financially, benefited, and the tonnage handled, this year, will doubtless be much larger than it was last season, with a steady increase being noted in time to come. This road saves the wagon haul from Wasatch to Midvale, and this is quite an item when small profits are considered, and enables the mine-owner to ship who, hitherto, could not market his product because of the costly wagon haul. The road is ten miles in length, from Midvale to Wasatch, with an extension of a mile further from Wasatch to the granite quarries. The building of the road was hastened in order that it might be utilized in the haulage of the granite to be used in the construction of the capitol building in Salt Lake City. Its carrying capacity was taxed to the limit, last year, to care for both granite and ore shipments. The line was constructed by J. G. Jacobs, of Salt Lake, the veteran railroad builder who constructed the wonderful Mercur road a number of years ago, and who has unbounded confidence in the ultimate outcome of Little and Big Cottonwood districts. The company is capitalized at 4,000 shares of a par value of $25. J. G. Jacobs is president and manager, with office at Room 2, McIntosh Building, Salt Lake City.
October 1915:
News item about the Salt Lake & Alta hauling 2,014
tons in August 1915 from the Wasatch terminal, and 2,987 tons in September
1915, compared to less than 200 tons a year before. (Salt Lake Mining Review,
Volume 17, number 13, October 30, 1915, page 18)
April 1916:
"Salt Lake & Alta Railroad", article. Ties and rails
had been delivered. The "Shea" locomotives were "on their way." (Salt Lake
Mining Review, Volume 18, Number 12, April 15, 1916)
The contract for the construction of the new state capital building was held by Stewart Construction Company. The granite stone work was being done by Utah Consolidated Stone Company. The completion had been delayed from July 1, 1915 to January 1, 1916. (Eastern Utah Advocate, July 24, 1913, page 8, "Capital Completion Delayed")
1917:
D&RG took over the operation of its Little Cottonwood Branch between Midvale
and Wasatch, terminating the lease of the Sandy to Wasatch portion by
Salt Lake & Alta. (LeMassena, p. 131)
September 1917:
News item about the D&RG "taking over" the Salt Lake & Alta. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 19, number 11, September 15, 1917, page 43)
September 6, 1933:
D&RGW received ICC approval to abandon 6.8 miles of the Little Cottonwood
Branch between Sand Pit and Wasatch. The line was built as narrow gauge in
1873 by the Wasatch & Jordan Valley Railroad. Operation was discontinued
in 1899 and the line was relaid as standard gauge in 1913. It saw daily service
from 1913 to 1917, while leased to the Salt Lake & Alta Railroad. Between
1917 and 1923 there was only irregular service, about two or three times per
week. There was only occasional use after 1923, with two trips made in 1932
and none in 1933. No shipments of ore were made after June 1930. There was
no service on the branch after June 1932. Car loadings of granite building
stone furnished "considerable traffic, but all of that traffic now moves by
truck". (193 ICC 461)
(LeMassena, p. 149, says that the line between Sand Pit and Alta was removed in 1934.)
Locomotive Roster
| Road Number |
Description | Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Notes and Disposition |
| 1 | 42 Ton Two Truck Shay | Lima | 2715 | Nov 1913 | 1 |
| (9) | 60 Ton Three Truck Shay | Lima | 1787 | Dec 1906 | 2 |
General Notes:
| a. | Salt Lake & Alta number 1 had 10x12" cylinders and 29-1/2" wheels, and was shipped from the Lima factory on November 8, 1913. |
| b. | Salt Lake & Alta leased Salt Lake & Mercur number 9 from (?) to (?); built as Salt Lake & Mercur Railroad number 9; leased to Salt Lake & Alta Railroad (both roads owned by J. G. Jacobs) |
Notes:
| 1. | Salt Lake & Alta No. 1 was sold to Winton Lumber Co, at Bovill, Idaho, before February 1920; sold in February 1922 to Deer Park Lumber Co., Deer Park, Wash.; sold in February 1930 to Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. No. 4, Rock Island, Wash.; sold to Washington Electric Co. (same location); sold in July 1938 to Star Machinery Co. (dealer), Seattle, Wash.; sold in April 1939 to Jose Soriano & Co., Manila, Philippines. (source at ShayLocomotives.com) |
| 2. | Salt Lake & Mercur 9 leased to Salt Lake & Alta; sold in March 1914 to J. H. Chambers & Son 9, Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold to U. S. Logging Co., Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold in September 1919 to Brown Lumber Co., Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold to Western Lumber & Export Co. 9, Cottage Grove, Ore., by May 1920; sold in September 1924 to Anderson & Middleton Lumber Co. 9, Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold to Oregon, Pacific & Eastern Railroad 9, Cottage Grove, Ore.; sold in 1941 to Dallas Locomotive & Machine Co. (dealer), Dallas, Ore. (source at ShayLocomotives.com) |
***
