The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-12-24

db 0llCIllldu lld0 Ot6I SOCCSSS-
IuIly crossed, iron rails were laid over the
Laramie plains, the Uintah range IN Wy
omlng had been combatted, the canyon
or the Weber river had been entered, the
raise at Promontory reached.
From the west an iron band had been
reaching eastward. The Golden Gate was
the beginning, the Sierras were reached,
obstacles at that time almost superhuman
were overcome in scaling that range of
mountains, the dry alEali plains OF Ne
Vada were crossed and the day above men
! toned the two rerched Promontory, the
bands OF iron were united, the line was
! completed, the acme was reached.
That was less than a generation ago.
| What a wonderful change since then.
Railroads have multiplied and now many
/ lines extend across the United States.
1 What seemed insurmountable difficulties
generation ago have been overcome.
! The great Rocky range is crossed and re-
crossed at wonderful heights. Railroad
engineering has become a science. Not
only that, but motive power and ma
chinery has been so improved and per-
fected that railway machinery is now al
most human IL it's methods OF work.
! Nothing seems impossible for it to accom-
plish, and on one OF the western railroads
are locomotives that can virtually climb
tree.
Railroad building in Utah was agitated
early in 1852. On March 3rd of that year
a memorial from the governor and legis-
lature was presented to Congress praying
that provisions be made ''for the estab
lishment of a national railroad from some
eligible point on the Mississippi or Mis-
souri, river to San Diego, San Francisco,
Sacramento or Astoria, or such other
point on or near the Pacific coast as the
wisdom OF your honorable body may die
tate
In December, 1858, in his message to
the Legislature Brigham Young, then
governor OF the territory, again called at
tention to the matter of railroad con-
struction. and in pursuance of the sug-
gestion made mass meeting was held in
Salt Lake city and Congress was again
memorialized to build road from the
Missouri river via South Pass and the
Salt Lake valley to the coast.
Three years prior Captain Howard
Stanesbury, of the Typographical en-
gineers, and Lieutenant Gunnison and
party were ordered from Fort Leaven-
worth to make a survey OF Salt Lake val
ley with view 10 constructing q trans
continental railroad.
Bancroft in his history OF Utah thus re- |
fers to this survey: After exploring a
route to Fort Hall, and making a recon (
noissance of Cache valley and the western
shore of the lake, Stansbury and his men
returned to Salt Lake CITY. and there
!
Early in the spring the captain and his
staff again took the field, and on the 10Th
of April were engaged in surveying both !
sides of Bear River bay.
ION the 12gh OF August, 1850, STAINS /
bury had completed his survey, which |
included Great Salt lake, with its islands, |
Lake Utah the Jordan and several OF it's I
TT butarie5, his observations extending
over an area OF more than i've thousand
square miles. p" In 1853 Lieutenant Gun
nison made another survey for trans
continental route by way of Huerfano
river, the pass Of COochetopa, the valleys
of the Grand and Green rivers and north +
ward on q return route 10 Lake Utah.
The Union and Central Pacific lines, as
stated above, were completed in 1869 /
This was followed by the construction of .
the Utah Central road, built at the eX-
pense of the people OF the territory, which (
was begun and completed in 1870. 1t ex- +
tended from Ogden to Salt Lake, a dis
lance of thirty seven miles.
On Feb. 5, 1871, the Utah Southern Rail- I
road company was inCo ,porate0 and the I
construction OF a line southwark was COM
menced. twelve miles being built that
year, Sandy being the southern terminus.
The next year it was extended to Lehi and +
later on to Provo, Nephi, J uab and finally to
Frisco. its present southern terminus 275
miles from Salt Lake city. This line was
and both We're huildt standard guage.
In March, 1872, the first rail on that pi-
oneer narrow gauge line of the inter
mountain country, the Utah & Northern,
was Laid, and early ia 1873 the line reached
Logan. The line was extended rapidly,
and finally iron bands extended from Og-
den to Butte, Mont. All the above lines
are now controlled by the Union Pacific,
the Utah & Northern having been con-
Verted into a standard gauge road several
years ago.
The American Fork railroad, a line
twelve miles in length up American Fork
canyon TO Deer Creek, was completed in
November, 1872. It was intended Tor
Transporting ores from the upper canyon
to the Utah Southern line, but it was not
a paying investment, and in 1878 the rails
were torn up and the OLD rOadDed is now
used for a wagon road
The Wasatch & Jordan Valley railroad,
now part of the Rio Grande Western
system, was opened to Granite. in Little
Cottonwood canyon, May 3. 1873. After
wards it was extended TO Alta. Between
Wasatch and Alta the grade is a remark
ably heavy one, hence in going up the
canyon horse power IS used to move the
cars, while in returning the cars are
brought down by gravity.
Then came the Bingham Canyon &
Camp Floyd narrow gauge, which on Dec
l, 1873, commenced running its cars to
Bingham, a distance Of eighteen miles.
This line and the Wasatch & Jordan were
absorbed by the Rio Grande
Western.
In June, 1874, the Utah Western rail-
road was chartered and the following
year it was completed to the Hallway
house, distance OF twenty-five miles,
This is the Garfield Beach line now under
control of the Union Pacific.
The Utah & Pleasant Valley road from
Springville to the coal fields in Pleasant
Valley, Sanpete county, was begun in
1876
The Rio Grande Western reached Salt
Lake in 1881. 1t was narrow gauge line
at that time ana formed a new connecting
link in the trans continental line between
the east and the west. With its cOnnec-
In.