Echo & Park City Railway (1881-1898)

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This page was last updated on June 15, 2011.

Timeline

January 17, 1881
Echo & Park City Railway was organized by Union Pacific interests to buy, own, and operate the railroad property formerly known as the Summit County Rail Road.

January 19, 1881
Echo & Park City Railway was incorporated and filed with the Territory of Utah. (UP Corporate History)

January 19, 1881
Articles of Incorporation filed yesterday for the Echo & Park City Railway Company; capital stock is $500,000 in 5,000 shares. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 19, 1881)

At least one early photo shows passenger cars lettered as "Echo & Park City Railroad."

March 1881
Echo & Park City completed a depot at Park City. (Salt Lake Herald, March 3, 1881)

May 6, 1881
Sidney Dillon sold the property and interests of the Summit County Railroad to the Echo & Park City Railway for $1,006,600 in stocks and bonds of the E&PC company. (Arrington: Coal Road, p. 55)

(UP corporate history shows July 1 as the date of purchase.)

(ICC Valuation, 44 Val Rep 193, shows July 1 as the date that Union Pacific took control of the Echo & Park City Railway.)

December 3, 1881
Echo & Park City to put up a new depot in Park this winter. (Park Mining Record, Park City, December 3, 1881)

April 22, 1882
Timetable No. 4, effective April 22, 1882, on the Echo & Park City Railroad. (Ogden Herald, April 22, 1882)

1883
Echo & Park City extended its line into Park City, 1.04 miles beyond end of track at Mile Post 27.27. (UP corporate history)

(By examination of the ICC valuation map of 1923 (prior to the Echo Reservoir relocation) Mile Post 27.27 is about a half mile east of the wye where the tracks turned south towards Park City. The extension took the tracks up to the foot of Main Street, where a depot was built. The depot still stands at the northern, lower end of Main Street. It suffered some fire damage but the damage was repaired by the private individual who owns it.)

November 29, 1884
"And now it transpires that W. B. Doddridge has resigned as a superintendent of the U. P. Mr. Doddridge ought to have resigned when he planted a building in the sagebrush a mile and a half from town, and undertook to palm it off on the people of this city as the Park City depot." (Park Record, Park City, November 29, 1884)

August 29, 1885
UP to build a depot at the foot of Main Street, Park City. (Park Record, Park City, August 29, 1885)

March 13, 1886
"We never hear anything more of the new passenger depot building that was to have been built this winter at the foot of Main Street." (Park Record, Park City, March 13, 1886)

July 10, 1886
"The New Depot" of the Union Pacific at the foot of Main Street, upon which work will commence Monday; "the old freight depot" will be moved up to the new site, and "a fine front, 27 x 34 feet in size," will be added onto it. (Park Record, Park City, July 10, 1886)

July 27, 1886
"Local Briefs" "The Park City depot, which has for so long been a source of inconvenience to the residents of that place, has been removed up town. It is a change that will be appreciated by the travelling public." (Salt Lake Daily Herald, July 27, 1886)

July 31, 1886
"The old freight depot has been moved up to the bottom of main street, and work on the depot buildings is progressing favorably." (Park Record, Park City, July 31, 1886)

August 1, 1886
"Park City Letter" of 30 July 1886 says that the freight building of the Echo & Park City line has been moved up to town, as also the agent's office. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 1, 1886)

August 28, 1886
"The framework of the roof and the finishing lumber have arrived and are being put up at the new depot of the U. P." (Park Record, Park City, August 28, 1886)

October 23, 1886
"On the numerous buildings in course of erection in the Park rapid headway is being made. The Ontario company's new shops,... Ed Kimball's boarding house..., and already trains are running up to the elegant new passenger and freight depot of the Union Pacific." (Park Record, Park City, October 23, 1886)

October 30, 1886
"The New Depot." "After four months work the finishing touches are being put on the elegant new depot of the Union Pacific railway at the foot of Main street. Trains pull up now to the platform, and all the conveniences of a model, thoroughly equipped depot are at hand and utilized. The building is one of the finest in the Park, the design is modern and tasteful, and brilliant paint adorns it on all sides. The story and a half, four-gabled front is 27 x 34 feet in size, and is used for freight and ticket offices, baggage and waiting roams, warehouses, etc. The freight house, like the rest of the building, is large, roomy and substantial. A large platform encircles the building, and ample roam is given freight teams to load and unload. Agent Nichols and family occupy the convenient quarters upstairs. The telegraph and other necessaries and conveniences are located in the building." "The U. P.'s new depot, which has cost about $5,000, is a credit to the Park and at the same time reflects the business enterprise and justice of the railroad toward the public." Item continues in that vein. (Park Record, Park City, October 30, 1886)

November 20, 1886
"The new U. P. depot has been photographed and several of the fine pictures are to be seen in many haunts of the railroad companies." (Park Record, Park City, November 20, 1886)

1887
Echo & Park City abandoned and removed the track of the 3.94-mile Grass Creek Branch, up Grass Creek canyon to the Church Coal Mine. (UP corporate history)

(The Grass Creek Branch was removed because the church-owned coal mine that it served was closed after being confiscated by the federal government, in the government's anti-polygamy moves against the LDS church under provisions of the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887.)

January 1, 1887
"Chronological summary of 1886" "October 25th - The new passenger and freight depot of the Echo & Park City railway opened to the public." (Park Record, Park City, January 1, 1887)

February 19, 1887
"This afternoon the big rotary snow plow pulled up to the depot. The snow is cut and thrown several feet from either side of the track by the new apparatus which works like a charm." (Park Record, Park City, February 19, 1887)

May 18, 1887
Echo & Park City purchased the property of the abandoned Utah Eastern, from the trustee Edward Dickinson. Dickinson purchased the Utah Eastern under foreclosure on April 30, 1887. (UP corporate history)

(The Park Record of February 26 said that on February 21, 1887 the Utah Eastern was sold to P. L. Williams, Union Pacific's Western Division attorney.)

June 14, 1887
Depot at Wasatch, in Echo Canyon, burned Tuesday, 14th. (Park Record, Park City, June 18, 1887)

July 9, 1887
The depot building at Wanship has been removed to Wasatch, at which latter point the agent is a chap named Brigham Bowman. (Park Record, Park City, July 9, 1887)

July 30, 1887
There is a new combine car on the E&PC freight run. (Park Record, Park City, July 30, 1887)

November 17, 1887
The Union Pacific is laying a standard gauge track to the Home Coal Company's mines, east of Coalville. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, November 17, 1887)

December 3, 1887
"Local Railway Notes." "Third Rail at Coalville." "The Union Pacific is laying a third rail at Coalville, from the yards to the Home Coal Mines, a distance of two and one-fourth miles. In the past two or three years, narrow gauge cars have been used to bring coal down to the yards, from which it had to be shoveled into broad-gauge cars to send away. With the third rail down, a heavy narrow-gauge engine will take the broad gauge cars up over the steep grade and heavy curves, and save the expense and loss in shoveling coal as in the past." Item continues, talks about the coal situation, not the third rail. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 3, 1887)

December 3, 1887
"The wide gauge track from Coalville up to the Home Coal Company's mines will be completed by New Year's and transferring will then be a thing of the past." (Park Record, Park City, December 3, 1887)

September 22, 1888
"The rumor that the Grass Creek coal mines are to be re-opened to supply the Central Pacific demand is now confirmed, and soon the branch track will be relaid and active work pushed at the mines." (Park Record, Park City, September 22, 1888)

April 12, 1890
On Friday, 11th, baggage car on the E. & P. C. burned to the floor, at Park City; "the old combination-smoker-baggage and express car." (Park Record, Park City, April 12, 1890)

September 20, 1890
A passenger coach and an express car both burned at Park City at about 1 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, 17 September. Both cars were a total loss, with the fire likely having been a lamp that was left burning in the coach. The cars were parked in E. & P. C.'s switch yard about a mile below town, near the wye and near the Mackintosh sampler, T. Schenck's house and Rasband's slaughter house. "A box car had to be used to make up the train Wednesday morning." (Park Record, Park City, September 20, 1890)

October 11, 1890
No. 1011 is regular U. P. engine on Park City run. (Park Record, Park City, October 11, 1890)

February 21, 1891
"The crossing of the Utah Central and the Union Pacific railroads below town has been taken up by the latter company. It was considered . unsafe and as it was not being used by the U. C. it was thought best to remove it until spring. As soon as active construction begins on the little road in the spring the crossing will again be replaced." (Park Record, Park City, February 21, 1891)

October 4, 1891
The report of the Territorial Statistician, for 1890, shows there to be a branch line of railroad, from Coalville to Coal Mines, 2.51 miles long, with .96 mile of side tracks. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 4, 1891)

October 13, 1893
Echo & Park City Railway entered receivership at the same time as Union Pacific Railway. (Union Pacific ICC Corporate History)

September 19, 1894
The Grass Creek Terminal Railway was incorporated to construct a branch from the Echo & Park City line, about three miles north of Coalville, to the Grass Creek coal mine located in Grass Creek canyon. The company built 2.87 miles of line on the grade and alignment of Echo & Park City's original Grass Creek branch, along with an additional 2.7 miles of new construction. The entire 5.59-mile line was owned by private individuals who were also leaders of the LDS church, which owned the coal mine. The line was constructed in 1895-96 by Union Pacific forces and upon completion it was operated by the E&PC, and later by the Union Pacific, as the Grass Creek Branch. (UP corporate history)

October 26, 1895
"A railroad is being built from Coalville to the Grass Creek coal mines. It will be standard gauge and six miles long and connect with the Union Pacific." (Park Record, Park City, October 26, 1895)

April 15, 1898
Echo & Park City Railway entered its own receivership, separate from Union Pacific's receivership. (Union Pacific ICC Corporate History)

October 28, 1899
Union Pacific engine 1273 is in the shops for repairs, and 955 takes her place on the Park City run. (Park Record, Park City, October 28, 1899)

December 30, 1899
Echo & Park City Railway was sold to the newly organized Union Pacific Railroad. The sale took effect on December 31, 1899. (Union Pacific ICC Corporate History)

January 27, 1900
Deed filed at Coalville last Saturday, by the U. P.'s attorney. It bears the date of December 30, 1899 and conveys the entire property of the Echo & Park City Railway Company to the Union Pacific, in consideration of the canceling of $480,000 in E&PC mortgage bonds. (Park Record, Park City, January 27, 1900)

November 23, 1901
"The Union Pacific depot and freight house has been treated to a coat of red, red paint, and looks like a new building. Real passenger service may be one of the possibilities over this branch." (Park Record, Park City, November 23, 1901)

Locomotives

Echo & Park City is not known to have operated with its own locomotives.

More Information

Corporate Information -- Information about the corporate organization.

UP's Park City Branch -- Information that was included in the article "From Echo To Park City."

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