UtahRails.net

UtahRails.net

Crescent Mining Company, Locomotives (1882-1900)

This page was last updated on May 1, 2011.

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Overview

(Based in part on research done by George Pitchard.)

The tramway of the Crescent Mining Company was 30-inch narrow gauge.

Crescent Mining Company apparently did not initially own the tramway, but did own the right-of-way; trackage was owned and hauling was done by contract, by Dyer & White, who initially owned the first Shay locomotive, and were also the builders of the tramway in 1884.

The Park Record of April 4, 1885 carried an item noting that Frank H. Dyer, of Dyer & White, visited the New Orleans exhibition in early 1885, where Lima had a Shay locomotive (construction number 126) on exhibit; and that he later went through Lima, and "while in Lima, Ohio, he selected an engine for the Crescent Tramway..." (Park Record, April 4, 1885)

When No. 130 arrived in Park City on Monday, May 25, 1885, it was accompanied by "Mr. Shay, the gentleman who came from Lima, Ohio, to put the Crescent engine in working order, ..." (Park Record, May 30, 1885)

Presumably, Ephraim Shay himself delivered what appears to have been, by a couple of years, the first Shay locomotive delivered anywhere in, or west of, the Rocky Mountain area. (The next "western" Shay appears to be Gilpin Tram No. 181 (later No. 1), in about August 1887.)

In April 1886, Dyer noted that his contract with Crescent Mining Company, for haulage, had yet 2-1/2 years to run; but the Park Record of November 5, 1887 noted that "F. H. Dyer has sold the Crescent Tramway and its equipment to the company. This, it is understood, is in accordance with the original contract, just expired,..." the same paper, in its issue of December 31, 1887, in talking of "The Crescent's Exhibit" in 1887, comments that "Much of this year's revenue has been used to pay for the machinery and purchase the tramway from F. H. Dyer, according to contract."

Further, in the Park Record of October 13, 1888, a report of the annual meeting of Crescent Mining Company, held on October 10, 1888, noted that President L. H. Withey, in his report for the year ending October 1, 1888, says, "Since the last report (i.e., October 1, 1887), the directors purchased the interest of the contractor in the narrow gauge railroad between Park City and the mine,..."

The first engine changed ownership from Dyer & White to Crescent Mining Company in October 1887. When (or even if) it was renumbered to No. 1 is unclear; it was still "Maud Withey, No. 130" in January 1891. (Park Record, January 24, 1891) As the new engine was No. 2 at arrival in April 1891, one might suppose that old "Maud" was made No. 1 at about the same time, i.e., in April 1891.

The Silver Panic of 1893 caused the shutdown of the Crescent mine by July 1, 1893 (and still shut down at the end of October), and there was no use for the tramway in hauling ores from the mine. But the tramway was opened, with difficulty, in December 1893 to take coal and supplies to the mine. Engine No. 2 was used at this time, though it needed a set of wheels from the old engine to make it serviceable.

Neither mine nor tramway operated in 1894. In 1895 and 1896, the mine and tramway were used to some extent, but newspaper accounts do not make clear if locomotives were used (owing to poor condition of the track). In 1897, mine and tramway were operated, and in about August 1897, the mine was sold to Wasatch Mining Company, including the tramway, of course. Considerable ore was hauled over the tramway in 1898, but again, no specific mention of locomotive use is made.

In 1899, there is no indication that the tramway was in use.

"The two tram engines of the Crescent company were on Thursday [May 17, 1900] loaded on Union Pacific cars by T. M. Stringer and started on their journey to Palestine, Texas, where they are to be used in the lumber camps of that district." "J. G. Bywater and Bart Smoot were in the Park Thursday on business connected with the shipping of the Crescent engines." (Park Record, May 19, 1900)

Locomotives

Road Number	Previous Number	Builder	Type	Builder Number	Builder Date	Date To Crescent	Note
Crescent no. 1	130	Lima	2-Truck Shay	130	14 May 1885	25 May 1885	1
Crescent no. 2		Lima	2-Truck Shay	339	7 Apr 1891	19 Apr 1891	2

	Road Number	Lima Class	Cylinders	Drivers	Engine Weight	Tractive Effort
	Crescent no. 1	Class A	(2) 9x8 inches	26-1/2 inches	26,000 pounds	7,800 pounds
	Crescent no. 2	Class B	(3) 9x8 inches	26 inches	37,800 pounds

Lima "drawing card index" file

No. 130 (later No. 1):

No. 2:

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