Small Arms Plant

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The page was last updated on July 30, 2024.

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Although today what may appear to be one large industrial development, the industrial district on Salt Lake City's west side was developed by Union Pacific Railroad and Salt Lake City as three separate districts:

It all began with the former Small Arms Plant in 1948 when the U. S. government's War Assets Administration sold its Utah Ordnance Depot at the end of World War II to a group of local businessmen.

The Small Arms Plant was a joint facility served by both UP and D&RGW due to its original government beginnings. D&RGW served the Small Arms Plant by way of a spur along 1800 South that crossed the Jordan River, the surplus canal, and Redwood Road to access the joint trackage area. UP served the joint trackage by way of a spur along the west side of the surplus canal off of its Buena Vista passenger line.

Small Arms Plant

The Small Arms Plant is located just west of Redwood Road, and south of California Avenue, along the west side of the Surplus Canal. This area is served by UP from the north, from its Passenger Line, and by D&RGW from the southeast.

The Small Arms Plant was built in 1941 as the Utah Ordnance Depot (also known as the Utah Ordnance Plant) by the U. S. government as part of the effort to support the needs of World War II. Ground was broken in July 1941 and operations began in January 1942, with the plant being operated under contract by Remington Arms Company. It was one of eight similar small arms plants nationwide that employed 80,000 people. The plant operated for two short years employing 10,000 persons who manufactured thousands of pistols, rifles and 10 billion individual 30 caliber and 50 caliber bullets to support the war effort. The plant was closed in December 1943 and placed on standby status, having met its purpose as an interim emergency facility pending the completion of higher capacity facilities located elsewhere in the country. The Utah Ordnance Depot was just one of several other defense related locations in Utah that included the Ogden Arsenal, located in the west area of today's Hill Air Force Base, along with the Tooele Ordnance Depot, the Clearfield Navy Supply Depot, and the Utah Quartermaster Depot north of Ogden.

After the war, the Small Arms Plant real estate was sold by the government to local developers (Harold H. Bennett, Leland B. Swaner, and John M. Wallace) and became one of Utah's first industrial parks. It was known in those early years as the "Industrial Center." UP and D&RGW provided rail service throughout the 1950s and 1960s. UP saw the potential for the area to the west and southwest, and created the Centennial Business Park.

The Remington Arms plant (or Utah Ordnance plant) served during the war for the production of small arms ammunition. The War Assets Administration sold the small arms plant to a group of Salt Lake City businessmen for use as a storage and commercial center.

August 4, 1941
D&RGW received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to construct the Small Arms Spur, to serve the Remington Small Arms Plant in Salt Lake City. (Utah Public Service Commission case 2484)

A D&RGW engineering drawing dated July 23, 1941, showed the "Proposed Spur To Serve Small Arms Plant."

(LeMassena, p. 156, says that the Small Arms Plant Spur, from Roper to Ordnance Plant, 2 miles of new construction, was completed in 1942 as part of the Salt Lake City terminal as joint track with Western Pacific.)

November 2000
Salt Lake City Southern, as an operating subsidiary of Utah Railway since September 1999, leased and assumed switching operations from Union Pacific for the former D&RGW Small Arms Industrial Park on Salt Lake City's west side, at about 1300 South, west of Redwood Road. As of mid 2024, Utah Railway continues to serve the Small Arms Plant, by way of its "SAP Local".

Although leased to Utah Railway for operation, the area tracks are still owned by Union Pacific, which calls the entire facility the Small Arms Plant Industrial Lead. After the abandonment of D&RGW's Samll Arms Spur from its mainline just north of Roper Yard, and after the abandonment of UP's 9th South former passenger line, the Samll Arms Plant tracks are accessed today from UP's west side mainline, from a siding known as Buena Vista.

Sources

Deseret News, June 21, 1943

Thomas G. Alexander and Leonard J. Arrington, "Utah's Small Arms Ammunition Plant During World War II," Pacific Historical Review, XXXIV (May, 1965), 185-96

McConahay, "Economic Impact," 16; Salt Lake Tribune, February 12, 1946

Leonard J. Arrington and Anthony T. Cluff. "Federally-Financed Industrial Plants Constructed in Utah during World War II" Logan, Utah. Utah State University Press, 1969

Maps

UP-D&RGW Small Arms Plant

UP Centennial Business Park

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