Summit County Railroad (1871-1874)

This page was last updated on October 4, 2009.

Additional Information:

Corporate Information — Information about the Summit County Railroad corporate organization
Clarence Reeder — Information about Summit County Railroad from Reeder's manuscript
Newspaper Coverage — Information about Summit County Railroad from the local newspapers

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)

Locomotive Roster

Based in part on the research of George Pitchard

No.	Type	Builder	C/N	Date	Cylinders	Drivers	Engine Weight
1	2-6-0	Baldwin	3113	27 Jan 1873	11 x 16"	36"	35,000 lbs.
2	2-6-0	Baldwin	3663	11 Nov 1874	12 x 16"	36"	39,000 lbs.

Note: Specifications taken from 1885 UP roster, as U&N locomotives.

The first locomotive actually used on the Summit County Railroad was the Utah Northern's first engine, the 2-4-0 named 'John W. Young' which was loaned by John W. to his brother Joseph A. Young, builder of the Summit County. It was in use on the Summit County from October of 1872 until about July 1873.

Notes:

Summit County Railroad No. 1:

Named 'Weber';, arrived in Echo on April 22, 1873, and appears to have run for the first time on the 28th, with the Baldwin engineer who delivered the engine, Nathan Pettys, at the throttle. It appears, from the Baldwin list, that the No. 1 was built to be Cairo & St. Louis No. 8, but was not delivered. Baldwin entered John W. Young's order for an engine on March 28, 1873, and shipped the No. 1 on April 4, 1873. This engine was sold, according to the general journal of the Summit County Railroad, to the Utah & Northern in September of 1880, at a price of $5,000.00, and became No. 22 on the U. & N. Railway. In the 1885 renumbering, it became No. 2, class DF-1, and was dropped from equipment prior to January 1, 1891 and scrapped by the end of 1891, according to an entry in the U. P.'s general journal.

No. 1 was Baldwin Class 12D-16; ordered on March 28, 1873; construction number 3113; 11x16 inch cylinders, 36 inch drivers, six-wheel tender, water capacity of 750 gallons; car and messenger service, at $8.00 per day, 35 days, from April 5, 1873 to May 9, 1873, $280.00; cost of locomotive: $9,250 on a four-month note of J. W. Young, endorsed by Brigham Young.

Initially to be Cairo & St. Louis No. 8, "Jonesboro"; C&StL had ordered Baldwin 12D-16 class engine on March 19, 1872 at a cost of $8,150.00, class 12D-16 was built as Baldwin construction number 3113, with a date of trial of January 27, 1873, completed and ready to go as C&StL No. 8 about a week after that, but was not delivered, apparently owing to C&StL's money problems; diverted on March 27, 1873 to Montrose Railroad No. 2, but changed the next day to Summit County Railroad No. 1, repainted (from C&StL No. 8), shipped to Utah on April 4, 1873.

Summit County Railroad No. 2:

Received in October of 1875. It may have been an engine built for another road, but for some reason not delivered, and finally sold to the Summit County. That seems to be the most likely explanation for the differential between its construction date of November 1874 and its delivery date of October 1875. The likelihood of error is reduced substantially by the fact that the Summit County didn't go shopping for a No. 2 until September of 1875, when W. W. Riter went East for that purpose, and to get more cars. No. 2 was delivered to the Utah & Northern, at Jay Gould's behest, on March 26, 1878, and was 'officially' sold to the U & N in May 1878 for $5,000.00, according to the Summit County journal. On the U&N, it eventually became the second No. 1, on an as-yet uncertain date. And in the 1885 renumbering, it became No. 290, in the odd class. No. 290, like the No. 2 above, was dropped from equipment prior to January 1, 1891 and scrapped by the end of 1891, according to the same entry in the U. P. journal.

No. 2 was Baldwin Class 8/18D-11; construction number 3663; date of trial, November 11, 1874; date of proposition to Summit County Railroad, September 10, 1875; 12x16 inch cylinders, 36 inch drivers, tender with usual two trucks, at a cost of $6,550.00; shipped on September 16, 1875; car and messenger service fee, at $7.00 per day, 28 days, $196.00; UP charges for returning empty car, $266.95.

Some sources have been interpreted as stating that No. 2 was built for another road, but it is not very clear from the surviving information. By the time Summit County bought the engine, in September 1875, it was basically a "stock" engine, waiting for the first available purchaser.

Letter, Baldwin Locomotive Works (M. Baird & Co.) to John W. Young, March 1873:

28 March 1873

John W. Young, Esq.,

94 Broadway, New York

Dear Sir: We enter your order for one narrow gauge locomotive on the plan of the Sparta (photograph enclosed) Cylinders 11 x 16; Drivers 36" diam.; Weight 35000 pds.; steel firebox, steel tires and wristpins, iron boiler and tubes; to be marked Summit County Railroad No. 1. Price $9250.00, f.o.b. car here. Terms 4 months satisfactory paper, 7% interest added, and privilege of one renewal at current rates.

We cannot name a rate at which the engine can be delivered at Echo City. We telegraphed the Union Pacific Railroad Co. asking for a rate from Omaha, and have reply of general freight Agt. as per enclosed copy of telegram. We will, therefore, propose for delivery as follows: We will furnish our car to go through with the engine to Omaha and our messenger to accompany same and arrange rates where necessary, charging for service of car and messenger eight dollars per day from time of departure to retrun of car. The railroad charges to follow.

Please acknowledge and advise us if this arrangement will be satisfactory.

Yours very truly

M. Baird & Co.

/signature/ J. H. C.

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