Salt Lake & Denver Railroad
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This page was last updated on April 13, 2025.
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Overview
The original incorporation papers for the Salt Lake & Denver Railroad, "The Uinta Basin Route," show that the railroad was organized on December 30, 1919 by Simon Bamberger to build from Provo to a connection with the Denver & Salt Lake at Craig.
(Read more about the spelling and use of Unita vs. Uintah)
The route was basically south-southwest from Craig to the White River, along the White River to its meeting with the Green River, then up the Duchesne River and the Strawberry River to the Wasatch Mountains. It was then to cross the Wasatch Mountains and head west down Hobble Creek Canyon to Springville and Provo. Its major business was to be agricultural and oil, including oil from shale, with a bit of coal and timber, plus taking away the entire Gilsonite traffic from the narrow gauge Uintah Railway. A large portion was also to be bridge traffic between Denver and Salt Lake City.
The proposed route from Craig followed the Yampa River to Milk Creek, then south along Milk Creek to Good Spring Creek, then over the ridge to Curtis Creek and south to Meeker. Then west along the White River to a crossing of the Green River, then up the Duchesne River to the Strawberry River, across the ridge to either Diamond Fork to Spanish Fork, or Hobble Creek to Springville, and a connection with either UP or D&RGW.
Here is the proposed route, taken from the articles of incorporation.
- From Provo, in Utah County, then southeast across Township 7 and 8 South, Range 3 East, then northeast across Township 7 South, Range 4, 5 and 6 East to the Wasatch County line, a distance of about 49 miles
- Then east through Wasatch County across Township 7 South, Range 6 East, Salt Lake Meridian, Township 4 South, Range 11, 10, 9 West, Uintah Special Meridian to the Duchesne County line, a distance of about 20 miles
- Then east through Duchesne County across Township 4 South, Range 9, 8, 7, and 6 West and Township 3 South, Range 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 West, Uintah Special Meridian, to the Uintah County line, a distance of about 45 miles
- Then southeast through Uintah County across Township 3 South, Range 1 West, 1, and 2 East, Uintah Special Meridian, and Township 9 South, Range 20 and 21 East and Township 10 South, Range 22, 23, 24, and 25 East, Ashley Meridian to the Colorado state line, a distance of about 70 miles
- Then northeast through Rio Blanco County, in Colorado, across Township 1 North, Range 103 and 102 West, Township 2 North, Range 101 and 100 West, Township 3 North, Range 99 and 98 West, Township 2 North, Range 97 West, Township 1 North, Range 96, 95, 94, and 93 West, Township 2 North, Range 93 West, Township 3 North, Range 93 West, U. S. M., 6th P. N., to the Moffat County line, a distance of about 90 miles
- Then north through Moffat County across Township 3 and 4 North, Range 93 West, Township 5 and 6 North, Range 92 West, Township 6 North, Range 91 West, U. S. M., 6th P. M. to the City of Craig in Moffat County, a distance of about 36 miles
The line was never built, or even seriously planned, much like the original Denver Northwestern & Pacific (later Denver & Salt Lake) west of Craig, Colorado. In the case of the Salt Lake & Denver, the ICC hearings of July 1925 were unproductive, showing that the line would not make any money. These ICC hearings are interesting in that they are quite detailed about the potential traffic (or lack thereof) for any road operating across the Uinta Basin. The ICC denied the application based on the lack of need, and the anticipated completion of the Dotsero Cutoff, which it saw as taking away the bridge-traffic component of the proposed line's traffic base.
After the ICC filed a negative examiner's report in 1925, the Salt Lake & Denver continued to hang on as a proposed railroad, hoping to take advantage of the shorter route to Denver by using the Moffat tunnel. Officers of the Salt Lake & Denver gave testimony at the hearings for the Moffat tunnel, in favor of the tunnel being open to all railroads, especially after the tunnel opened in 1927. The idea for a railroad across the Uinta Basin continued in the newspapers until 1930, with the Bamberger interests continuing to promote the railroad. The idea finally slipped away when the Dotsero Cut-Off became a serious proposal connecting the Denver & Salt Lake with the Denver & Rio Grande Western, and the idea for the Salt Lake & Denver died completely when the Dotsero line was completed in 1934.
Timeline
January 3, 1920
The Salt Lake & Denver Railroad filed its articles of incorporation. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 4, 1920, "yesterday")
July 27, 1925
The Interstate Commerce Commission held hearings in Salt Lake City to hear comments and testimony from both Simon Bamberger's Salt Lake & Denver Railroad, and from Denver & Rio Grande Western, concerning which railroad would be allowed to build into the Uinta Basin. D&RGW argued that the construction of a parallel railroad would do significant harm to its recovery while under the protection of a receivership. (Ogden Standard Examiner, July 27, 1925)
D&RGW's argument included testimony that the completion of the Moffat Tunnel, to be completed within two years, along with a cutoff connection between the tunnel's west end and the D&RGW would shorten the distance between Denver and Salt Lake City, and ensure the railroad's recovery.
(Powerful financial forces held the bonds of the D&RGW and worked behind the scene to do whatever was needed to ensure the successful recovery of the bankrupt D&RGW, including stifling any proposed competition. The completion of the Moffat Tunnel, and the completion of the Salt Lake & Denver as a competing, parallel railroad, would have been the death knell of D&RGW.)
The hearings continued through to the evening of July 31, 1925. (Ogden Standard Examiner, August 1, 1925)
January 28, 1926
The Salt Lake & Denver exercised its right to file a "bill of exceptions" to the examiner's negative report. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 28, 1926)
February 9, 1926
The following comes from the February 9, 1926 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper.
Favorable action of the Interstate commerce commission is regarded as vital to the best interests of the intermountain west, as construction of the line will provide railroad transportation for the Uintah basin and will result in the greater utilization of the Moffat tunnel, now more than three-fourths complete. The Salt Lake & Denver would connect with the Denver & Salt Lake (Moffat) railroad at Craig and thus furnish a new route between Salt Lake and Denver. The Moffat road will operate through the Moffat tunnel, which pierces the continental divide.
Utah and Colorado interests are amassing their protests against the adverse report of the examiner, who recommended that the commission deny the Salt Lake & Denver petition. The Allied Council of Improvement Associations, representing 30,000 Denver taxpayers has begun an active campaign to secure favorable action on the application to build the railroad from Provo to Craig. The transportation committee of the Denver chamber of commerce has filed with the board of directors its unqualified approval of the Salt Lake & Denver project.
Proponents of the railroad are definitely prepared to stage a vigorous fight for the rejection of the examiner's report. Sentiment in Utah and Colorado has been coordinated to such an extent that a unified front will be presented the interstate commerce commission.
Denial of the Salt Lake £ Denver applications" for permission to construct the Provo-Craig railroad, it is pointed out, will prevent the tapping of the Uintah Basin, a plateau of from 5000 to 7000 feet in elevation and 300 miles east to west and 100 miles north to south in dimension. The basin is rich in coal, iron, copper, oil, gas and other minerals; has an enormous timber supply, and is potentially rich as an agricultural and livestock section, in addition to possessing vast hydroelectric resources.
September 20, 1927
"Application for a certificate of convenience and necessity for construction of a railroad from Craig, Colo., to Provo, will be made by the Salt Lake & Denver railroad and the Utah-Colorado Industrial corporation to the interstate commerce commission, according to a decision reached at a meeting of stockholders and directors of the companies. The original application for a writ of convenience was denied, on the ground that sufficient financial showing had not been made. This objection to the granting of the certificate has been overcome, it is reported." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 20, 1927)
October 4, 1928
The Salt Lake & Denver filed a petition the ICC asking that the application for the construction of the Dotsero Cutoff be denied, and that the Salt Lake & Denver be allowed to immediately build its proposed railroad. The petition was denied by the examiner, not by the commission. (Salt Lake Telegram, October 4, 1928)
(Research suggests that as late as March 1930, there was plenty of anti-D&RGW sentiment in Utah and Colorado, and that sufficient financing would be available to build the Salt Lake & Denver, and connect it with the Denver & Salt Lake, which at that time was not yet controlled by D&RGW. But every petition and application was denied by the pro-D&RGW, anti-competition ICC examiners, with the decision never reaching the commission itself. The final attempt was in March 1930, when the Salt Lake & Denver asked the ICC to make the Moffat Tunnel a public utility, as was the original intent when the commission approved the tunnel in the early 1920s. Making the Moffat Tunnel a public utility would have allowed any railroad company to use the tunnel. The petition to make the tunnel a public utility was denied by the *examiner* and not by the commission.)
Maps
Map of Salt Lake & Denver Railroad -- A Google Map showing the proposed route of Simon Bamberger's Salt Lake & Denver Railroad, from Craig, Colorado, west to either Springville or Spanish Fork, Utah.
Many, many, many years ago, I was given a rolled drawing dating from 1923, showing Simon Bamberger's proposed Salt Lake & Denver Railroad. It was used when the road's promoters were asking both the Utah Public Utilities Commission, and the federal Interstate Commerce Commission for the approvals to build the road. After each agency's hearings, both did not approve the new railroad, stating that there was not enough business in the Uinta Basin to justify a railroad.
(View the scanned map of the proposed Salt Lake & Denver Railroad)
And, it did not help that after the Salt Lake & Denver submitted its proposal, both UP and D&RGW came forward saying that they were already planning to build their own lines into the basin, which they never did. Simon Bamberger died soon after, in 1926, at age 79.
More Information
Salt Lake & Denver Corporate Information -- Read more about the proposed Salt Lake & Denver, a railroad proposed in 1919, but never built.
Unita Basin Railway -- Information about the Uinta Basin Railway, first proposed in 2014, with regulatory approval in December 2021.
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