Savage Industries

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This page was last updated on September 19, 2025.

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Overview

Savage Brothers, Inc., got its start in 1946, after C. A. Savage and son Kenneth purchased an International stake body truck and father and son began hauling cinder block from the manufacturer in Salt Lake City, to Provo and to Utah's Uintah Basin, and lumber on the return trips to American Fork. In those early years, the company also hauled coal from coal mines in Huntington and Castle Gate to American Fork, Utah. Kenneth briefly moved to California where another brother, Grant, was living. But after 18 months, returned to American Fork and began hauling 80-foot cedar poles. He and his father incorporated the company as C. A. Savage & Son in 1948 and began hauling coal, lots of coal. Their two biggest customers were Utah State Prison and the American Fork Training School. The younger Savage brothers, Neal and Luke, were still in school, but worked nights for the company shoveling coal as it was delivered to residential and business customers, as well as churches and hospitals.

"The history of Savage began in 1946 when Kenneth Savage returned home to American Fork, Utah after serving in the Navy. As partners, he and his father purchased an International KB-5 two axle stake bed truck and started C. A. Savage and Son." (Savage Companies History)

By the 1980s and 1990s Savage had branched out into various industries including operating the fourth largest underground coal mine in the United States, heavy truck manufacturing, aggregate mining, ready-mix concrete production, explosives manufacturing, tire sales, and land development. The company's business network was becoming too broad, so in 1988, senior management decided to return to the core business. "We decided that we are a materials management and transportation systems company, and we divested those companies that didn't fit our strategy," says Donald Alexander, Savage vice-president of operations. "As a privately held company, we can take a long-term view. We can be more proactive and less reactive."

(Visit the Savage Companies website)

Timeline

The Savage trucking enterprise was made up of the father, Cornelius A. Savage (1890-1958), and the three sons, Kenneth (1927-2001), Neal (1933-2013), and T. L. "Luke" (1937-2007).

C. A. Savage and his sons began hauling coal from to the Utah coal mines, as well as cutting timber in northeastern Idaho for sale to the coal mines as mine timbers. They also hauled timber from Wyoming, and potatoes and hay from Idaho. While the power plant at Castle Gate was being built in 1953-1954, Savage and his sons hauled bags of cement from Salt Lake City to Castle Gate, then hauled coal back to the Utah State Prison in Bluffdale.

The year 1957 was a tough year. The hauling jobs declined and the company almost folded. C. A. and Kenneth worked hard at finding jobs. To make some money and pay the bills, Kenneth and Neal began driving asphalt oil tankers for Hatchco, learning to drive diesel trucks at the same time. Luke replaced Neal when Neal went on his church mission in 1955, and soon Luke and Kenneth were pressuring C. A. to buy the company's first diesel rig, and a second and third diesel rig soon followed.

Cornelius A. Savage passed away in December 1958, literally working himself to death. The sons lost a father who was a larger than life business partner. All who knew him said he had a sixth sense about the business. He was slow to reach a far reaching business decision, but once he did there was no turning back. He went fast and faster and there was no reverse. After C. A.'s death, the three sons took over the family trucking business. Neal had the business mind, Kenneth knew more about the mechanical work to keep the trucks running, and Luke worked with the employees. The company grew quickly, becoming a major general trucking company in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. But the company was still small enough that their mother's kitchen table remained as the company office desk for a few more years.

February 1960
Savage Brothers, Inc., received permission from the Utah Public Service Commission to operate as a motor vehicle common carrier to haul asphalt paving, crushed stone, dirt, earth, gravel,non-metallic rock and sand in dump trucks from and to all points within the state.

March 1961
Savage Brothers, Inc. received permission from the Utah Public Service Commission to operate as a motor vehicle common carrier to transport coal throughout the state.

1971
The following comes from the September 22, 1971 issue of the Provo Daily Herald.

One of the largest and most rapidly expanding firms located in American Fork is Savage Brothers, Inc., parent firm of Construction Materials and Supplies, Ideal Ready Mix, and Ideal Sand and Gravel. The firm is the major producer of sand and gravel and concrete in Utah, with diversified interests in trucking, supply and allied industries.

Serving contractors throughout the Intermountain West, Savage Brothers operate a large coal hauling operation in Colorado and Price, Utah, as well as producing sand and gravel and ready mix concrete at their Salt Lake and Ogden plants. Portable plants serve remote areas as the firm works closely to meet contractor needs.

Operation as common carriers in the trucking business the firm hauls much of the cement moved in the Intermountain area. They also provide some warehousing for supplying Geneva Steel operations and are suppliers for contractors now working on the Huntington power plant as well as other ma]or construction jobs in the west.

The parent company was formed in 1946 when C. A. Savage and his oldest son began a modest trucking business. The firm flourished and today the three young men who grew up in the company head the enterprise. Neal Savage is president and general manager, assisted by brothers Kenneth and T. L. (Tex) Savage.

Grant now manages the sand and gravel operations in Ogden and Salt Lake and Dave Hansen directs concrete operations, with both serving as firm vice-presidents.

One of the largest trucking firms in the area, their rolling stock includes a fleet of ready mix concrete trucks, cement tankers, dry pneumatic rigs, end dumps and other trucks designed for specific needs, such as the 10 double-bottom hopper units which were recently purchased for a coal hauling account in Colorado. The beds hold 45 cubic yards of coal, about 75 tons each. All major equipment repair is done in the American Fork location.

1975
"The Western Coal Carriers, a subsidiary of Savage Brothers, haul coal from the Peabody Coal Deer Creek mine on a forty mile round trip to the Mohrland railroad loading ramp for shipment to Moapa. The road was graded, widened and paved by Peabody and Savage funds with County equipment and men. Deer Creek mine employs 265 men." (Emery County Progress, January 9, 1975)

1979
Growing differences over management policies and practices between Utah Power & Light and American Coal became public in March 1979 when Utah Power demanded that American Coal either sell its coal mining operations or face the loss of its coal contracts. American Coal had held the operating contracts to supply coal from captive coal mines owned by Utah Power, which were the source for coal for all of Utah Power's coal-fired power plants. In May American Coal sold almost all of its assets with the exception of its name to Savage Brothers, whose Western Coal Carriers already held the Utah Power haulage contract. Savage Brothers named their new company Emery Mining Corporation.

Including the mines and the trucking operation, Savage Brothers interests employed about 1,600 in Emery County by mid-1979. By 1980 Emery County, based on production from the UP&L mines, had become the largest coal producer in the state, with 6.32 million tons to Carbon County's 5.49 million and Sevier County's 1.82 million.

When Savage began hauling coal for UP&L's Huntington power plant at Huntington, Utah, in early 1974, they were using 18-wheel semi-trucks hauling 25 tons. To increase the capacity, Savage developed the two-axle trailer, bringing to total capacity to 50 tons. In 1978, when the 12-mile purpose-built road was constructed between the mines and the new Hunter power plant at Castle Dale, Savage continued using the standard "double" rig.

Then in 1981, Savage developed the "triple," an 18-wheel truck and trailer, with two two-axle trailers that hauled a total of 65 tons, with a length of 118 feet. These triples distributed the weight over 13 axles instead of the nine axles of the smaller doubles. All of the trailers were bottom-dump, with smooth aerodynamic design. To increase the safety as the loaded trucks descended the 12 percent grade between the mine and the power plant, Savage added a third braking system to the trucks and trailers that used electro-magnetic brakes.

Savage continued using the doubles on its haulage contracts with Anadalex's Tower mine, U. S. Fuel's Hiawatha mine, Coastal's Sufco mine, and Valley Camp's mine near Scofield. In addition, Savage was hauling 250,000 tons of coal per year from the Sufco mine near Salina, north to Kennecott's Magna power plant west of Salt Lake City.

1984
"Emery Mining was formed by Savage Brothers Inc., an American Fork-based transportation firm, to manage UP&L mines. Subsequent reorganization of the Savage holdings led to the creation of Savage Western Industries, which is the corporate parent to 23 separate subsidiaries, including Emery Mining Corp. and Savage Brothers Inc." (Sun Advocate, May 25, 1984)

It was also in 1984 that the Savage brothers decided to bring outside management to the company, hiring Allen Alexander as president along with three executive vice presidents to see to the day-to-day operations of the company. Neal and Luke remained at the top, as chairman and vice chairman, respectively. By 1989, Kenneth had retired, but remained as a member of the board.

During the mid 1990s the company made a further decision to reorganize into three customer-focused industry units: Coal and Coke Services, Power Generation Services, and Industrial and Rail Services.

By the late 1980s, Savage Brothers, Inc., had expanded into a variety of logistics companies, which they called "systemized transportation." Savage trucks were hauling a million tons per year of sand, gravel and rock, and 16 million tons of coal.

Savage Manufacturing was a leader in producing state-of-the-art front discharge concrete mixers. Savage had developed the unique front-disharge mixer. The company was sold to Mack Trucks in January 1989. At the time of the sale, Neal Savage was chairman of Savage Industries, and Allen Alexander was president. Up to that time, Savage Industries was the largest supplier of ready-mix concrete in Utah, as well as having ready-mix operations in Wyoming and Arizona. It was reported that there were 50,000 concrete mixers in the nation, and front-disharge mixers accounted for 15 percent of that total.

1986
On April 16, 1986, Utah Power & Light bought for cash all of Emery Mining's assets with respect to the operation of all of its mines in Emery County, and for the first time assumed operating control of the Cottonwood-Wilberg Mine.

(The result of the above transaction was that Savage exited the business of coal mine operation.)

In 1988, Savage Industries hauled almost half of the 18 million tons of coal produced in Utah.

In August 1989, Savage opened a coal terminal in Wasco, California (near Bakersfield), where coal shipped Utah to California by rail, would be unloaded then trucked to co-generation plants near Bakersfield.

1993
In September 1993 Savage Industries made a special move of the former Southern Pacific turntable from its home since 1905 at Carlin, Nevada , to a new home in Heber, Utah, on the historic Heber Valley Railroad tourist line. The special heavy-haul truck that Savage used was 148 feet long. The turntable itself was 100 feet long and weighed 90 tons.

1994
Savage Industries purchased Mountain Coal Company's coal terminal south of Wellington, on September 9, 1994. Mountain Coal, owned by Arco, had been previously known as Beaver Creek Coal Company, and the site had been built by Swisher Coal Company. Savage and Arco had signed the deal in March, with Savage leasing the site until the sale was finalized. The site, located at the south end of C.V. Spur, had loaded 5 million tons of coal the previous year, and could store 300,000 tons. Adding the coal terminal on C.V. Spur would add to Savage's existing 35 material handling facilities in 15 states. The facility would be renamed as the Savage Coal Terminal.

Since 1995, Savage has owned and operated the Savage Coal Terminal, located four miles south of Price, Utah. Previously known as C. V. Spur Coal Processing and Loadout Facility, the loadout was built by Utah Power & Light Co. in 1973 and sold in August 1984 to Beaver Creek Coal Company, subsequently Mountain Coal Company. Savage took over the 154-acre facility in July 1995. Although the loadout has a stated capacity of eight million tons per year, it typically handles about three million tons of coal per year. (documents on file at Utah Office of Oil, Gas and Mining)

The Savage Coal Terminal (SCT) could load 115-car unit trains in less than three hours and 84-car unit trains in less than two hours. The facility could also receive at least three different qualities of coal simultaneously and had ample storage capacity for several customers. Planned improvements for SCT included the installation of a sophisticated batch weigh-bin system and more automation to store and stack multiple customers' coals.

(The sale had been agreed upon in March 1994, pending due diligence by both parties. Mountain Coal, as a subsidiary of Arco Coal, no longer had any coal operations in Utah, and had no need for the C.V. Spur loading site.) (Mountain Coal had sold its Trail Mountain mine to PacifiCorp in October 1992.)

(Read more about the Savage Coal Terminal on UP's C.V. Spur)

1995
In January 1995 Savage Industries began operation of the newly completed Flint Coal Distribution Facility, near the CSX yard in Flint, Michigan. The facility had been completed in October. Coal was to arrive via CSX trains from West Virginia and Kentucky.

During 1995 Savage Transportation was hauling waste coal (known as culm) from mines in the area of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, about 57 miles to a co-generation plant at Northampton, Pennsylvania. A total of 20 trucks and 28 drivers were used for the contract.

In 1997 Savage Industries acquired 11 Conrail Corporation Flexi-Flo facilities in the northeastern and midwestern United States. This acquisition gave Savage a network of 26 rail transfer terminals in 14 states, relieving Conrail of the need to operate its own rail-to-truck and truck-to-rail transloading facilities. By 1997, Savage had been in business for 50 years, and had facilities in 22 states. "We are the largest over-the-road coal transporter in the United States, and much of the coal is handled in conjunction with transloading activities," according to Robin K. Davidson, director of marketing and business development for the industrial and rail services unit at Savage. "We transported approximately 40 million tons of bulk commodities in 1997, and coal accounted for a majority of our volume."

At the time of the 1997 acquisition of Flexi-Flo, Savage had transloading locations in Flint, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Chicago, Illinois; Salt Lake City and American Fork, Utah; Portland, Oregon; Bowbells, North Dakota; Encino and Thoreau, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; Rifle, Colorado; and Dallas, Lubbock, and San Antonio, Texas. The Flint and Louisville locations were operated under contract to CSX TransFlo.

The former Conrail locations were renamed to Savage/Flexi-Flo, and the terminals were located in Boston, Massachusetts; Buffalo and Syracuse, New York; Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Indiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan. Boston, Buffalo, and Philadelphia each have two facilities. (BulkTransporter.com, December 1, 1997)

2002
In April 2002 Savage acquired the former McMoRan Sulfur terminals in Galveston, Texas, and Tampa and Pensacola, Florida. The purchase was a joint venture between Savage and IMC Global, with a reported price of $58 million.

In May 2004, Savage Industries purchased 100 percent of the stock of Canadian National's CANAC, Inc. (Canac.com) (broken link)

In May 2005, Savage Industries, through its Savage CANAC subsidiary, purchased Alberta RailNet based in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. Alberta RailNet (ARN) operations consisted of 345 miles of railway in energy-rich northwestern Alberta and connected the Canadian National Railway to move its shipments of coal, lumber, grain, fertilizer, aggregates and many other products. At the time of the sale, ARN moved about 25,000 carloads per year, but that figure was expected to increase to more than 40,000 carloads by 2006. (Savage Companies press release) (broken link)

On December 1, 2006, CN bought Savage Albert Railway, the former Alberta RailNet, from Savage for C$25 million. (CN press release dated December 1, 2006)

2007
Savage Bingham & Garfield Railroad (SBGR) started freight service on October 1, 2007 over UP's former D&RGW Bingham and Garfield branches. Savage acquired the rights to freight operations along the UTA Mid Jordan light rail line, and along UP's Garfield and Bacchus branches.

In 2017, Savage Inland Marine, a subsidiary of Savage Companies, acquired the Settoon Towing Company's bulk division. The acquisition included 35 towboats and 63 liquid tank barges.

(In 2020, Savage Inland Marine was acquired by the Kirby Corporation of Channelview, Texas.)

2018
By 2018, at the time of its acquisition of Bartlet & Company of Kansas City, the company had grown to "provide services to industries including oil refinery, power generation, railroad, oil and gas, mining, fertilizer, food shipping, chemicals and construction," with 4,000 employees and 250 operating sites around the United States, Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

2021
In November 2021 the Savage Tooele Railroad was organized to operate the remaining portion of Union Pacific's former WP Warner Branch. This action was to allow the new railroad to acquire Union Pacific's rights to operate over the former WP branch. In April 2024 the STB approved the application, allowing the Savage Tooele Railroad to begin refurbishing the seven miles of tracks and right-of-way between Burmester and the Lakeside Business Park that was under development north and west of the Deseret Peak Motorsports Park.

In November 2021, Savage worked with the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway to have the AC&W's mechanical shop in Candor, North Carolina, rebuild two EMD GP40s and an EMD GP38 for lease to Savage customers. The AC&W shop is a new and modern five-bay shop capable of full service locomotive and rail car maintenance and rebuild.

Savage Railroads In Utah

Savage Bingham & Garfield Railroad -- Information about the Savage Bingham & Garfiled Railroad, operating over the former D&RGW Bingham Branch since 2007.

Savage Tooele Railroad -- Information about the Savage Tooele Railroad, operating over the former Western Pacific Tooele Branch since 2025.

More Information

(Visit the Savage Companies website)

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