Ogden & Syracuse Railway (1887-1889)

This page was last updated on December 20, 2024.

Overview

The major source of traffic was salt for the Montana mines. Salt was being hauled by wagon from Great Salt Lake, east about seven miles to rail cars of the Utah Central. The salt was transferred to the Utah & Northern at Ogden for shipment to Montana. This researcher's wife's great grandfather was involved in Utah's early salt industry and the wagon traffic. Syracuse, Utah, was named after Syracuse, New York, due to the salt business at both locations.

Salt and railroads in Utah are closely tied together. The earliest reference comes from the mid 1880s. The town of Syracuse, west of today's Clearfield, was so-named because of the salt that was being harvested and shipped by wagon to the Utah Central line. The name was taken from Syracuse, New York, a large center for salt shipments at the time. The salt from Syracuse, Utah, was then transloaded from wagons to the cars of Utah Central and shipped north to the Montana mines. The salt shipments were growing rapidly, so UP and local interests organized the Ogden & Syracuse Railway in 1887 to build a spur from a new station called Syracuse Junction, west to the salt plants on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake. Syracuse was also the site of one of the earliest lake side resorts. Syracuse Junction was renamed as Clearfield in July 1907. Oregon Short Line's Syracuse Branch to what was by then the Syracuse plant of Inland Salt Co. remained in place until 1906, by which time the Syracuse plant had closed.

Timeline

March 2, 1887
Ogden & Syracuse Railway was incorporated to build from Ogden, southwest to Syracuse, a distance of 15 miles. Construction actually began in January (prior to incorporation) at a connection with the Utah Central Railway at Syracuse Junction (name later changed to Clearfield) and was completed to Syracuse, 5.85 miles from Syracuse Junction, in July 1887. (OSL corporate history)

(Syracuse Junction was originally known briefly as "Salt Switch," derived from it being the loading point of salt from wagons traveling from the salt works at what later became Syracuse, named for the salt producing town of the same name in New York state.)

March 5, 1887
"There was filed with Auditor Clayton yesterday copies of the articles of association of the "Ogden and Syracuse Railroad Company" - a corporation formed under the laws of Massachusetts for the purpose of building a railroad from Ogden to Lakeside - or rather as it will be hereafter known - Syracuse. The road will be some fifteen miles in length." (Salt Lake Herald, March 5, 1887)

April 4, 1887
"It is expected that the Ogden & Syracuse Railroad will be completed by the 15th instant. The U. P. is reported as determined to spend as much as $75,000 for a pleasure resort, bathing place, etc., at that so favorable situated lakeside sanitarium." (Salt Lake Evening Democrat, April 4, 1887)

May 23, 1887
"Syracuse, as almost everybody knows by this time, is the place where Adams & Kiesel's Salt works are located on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. A spur from the Utah Central has been built down to the works. The road passes along by the salt vats and everything is conveniently arranged for the manufacture and shipment of the saline product. Two steam engines are employed in pumping water from the lake for evaporation and it is calculated that 26,000 tons of salt will be manufactured at this point this season. The firm now has $10,000 of salt on the dump from which shipments are being made every day. The kind of salt manufactured is that used for milling purposes and for which a ready market is found." (Ogden Standard Examiner, May 23, 1887)

July 22, 1887
During the hearings of the Pacific Railroad Commission, taking testimony at Ogden, Fred J. Kiesel was called upon to provide testimony concerning Union Pacific's share of the salt traffic, including the following excerpts.

At first F. J. Kiesel Co. bought salt and res-sold it. For this $2 per ton was paid for 10,000 tons, and $1.50 for all salt after that. After this the Adams & Kiesel Salt Company was formed and salt was to be taken from Syracuse on the condition that a bathing resort wthat would compare favorably with the other resorts on the lake should be built by the salt company.

There were no other conditions. The railroad company was to stand in and make a success of the resort. They were to pay part of the expenses of advertising, to run trains, etc. The profits of the company would accrue in hauling passengers.

The pay was always in cash.

When the salt reaches Ogden it is worth $3. The Syracuse railroad gets $1 per ton for handling it to Ogden. At Ogden salt for the north has to be transferred to narrow gauge cars. Probably seven or eight thousand tons of salt have been delivered under the present contract.

August 10, 1887
"For a mile and a half on either aide of the Syracuse bathing resort are vast salt vats, the proprietors of which are Adams & Kiesel, of Ogden, and to which tracks have been run from the main line. Into these vats the water is pumped from the lake, where it is left to evaporate, leaving a thick coating of salt in each one. This is gathered regularly, and so systematically and successfully is the enterprise carried on that five and six carloads of salt are shipped daily to Ogden, and from that point distributed east, west, north and south." (Salt Lake Herald, August 10, 1887)

August 28, 1888
"Syracuse. - A limited number of experienced salt gatherers can find two or three months' work lifting salt for the Adams & Kiesel Salt Company, Syracuse, by the day, month or contract. Salt is from two and a half to five inches thick." (Salt Lake Herald, August 28, 1888)

July 27, 1889
Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway is organized by merging the Utah & Northern Railway, the Utah Central Railway, the Utah & Nevada Railway, the Salt Lake & Western Railway, and the Ogden & Syracuse Railway (all in Utah), the Oregon Short Line Railway and Idaho Central Railway (both in Idaho), and the unbuilt Nevada Pacific Railway in Nevada. (OSL corporate history)

In 1889, the Ogden & Syracuse Railway became OSL&UN's Syracuse Spur, then after 1897, OSL's Syracuse Branch, then after 1936, Union Pacific's Syracuse Branch.

Locomotives

Ogden & Syracuse Railway is not known to have either owned or operated its own locomotives.

Map

Syracuse Branches -- A Google Map of the UP and D&RGW branches serving North Davis County, including Syracuse, West Point, and Hooper in Weber County.

More Information

Corporate Information -- Information about the corporate organization of Ogden & Syracuse Railway

Syracuse Information -- Information about the railroads and canneries in Syracuse, Utah; includes brief remarks about the Syracuse bathing resort.

Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway -- Successor to Ogden & Syracuse Railway.

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