Kelton had its share of wild west excitement and even reports of daring stagecoach robberies near town can be found in area newspapers. Goods and passengers also moved from the rich north country onto trains here and all the activity made for prosperous businesses and lively times for residents and visitors alike. In the 1870s some six million pounds of goods were transferred at Kelton from trains to wagons each year. Trains met freighters and stage lines here that pushed into the intermountain north of Idaho, Montana and even Oregon. This is what is left of the cemetery at once-thriving Kelton. IN 1942, THE RAILS WERE REMOVED SO THE STEEL COULD BE USED IN THE WAR EFFORT.ġ3. Made 10/18/97 in Kelton, UT, at Kelton Cemetery W of Promontory Summit, UT. Kelton, UT, is also about 55 miles east of Lucin, UT. Photograph by Steve Berlin. IT CROSSES THE LAKE BY TRESTLE AND BUILT UP GRADE, SHORTENING THE ORIGINAL ROUTE BY 40 MILES AND ELIMINATING THE DIFFICULT GRADES.įOLLOWING COMPLETION OF THE CUTOFF, TRAFFIC DWINDLED ON THE PROMONTORY BRANCH, CONSISTING PRIMARILY OF LOCAL RESIDENTS AND LIVESTOCK. THE LUCIN CUTOFF, CURRENTLY IN USE, WAS COMPLETED IN 1904. IT HAD A NUMBER OF DIFFICULT GRADES WHICH REQUIRED EXTRA ENGINES TO PULL HEAVILY LOADED TRAINS. THIS 90 MILES WAS THE LAST STRETCH OF ALMOST 800 MILES OF CONSTRUCTION FROM SAN FRANCISCO. THE TASK OF CONSTRUCTING THE RAILROAD WAS ENORMOUS REQUIRING SEVERAL YEARS AND UNTOLD HARDSHIPS. IT LINKED EAST AND WEST, OPENED UP VAST AREAS TO SETTLEMENT, AND PROVIDED EASY ACCESS TO NEW MARKETS. THE COMPLETION OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD AT PROMONTORY SUMMIT MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WESTWARD EXPANSION OF OUR COUNTRY. THE ORIGINAL GRADE OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD (THE PROMONTORY BRANCH) MAY BE FOLLOWED FROM HERE TO THE EAST, AROUND THE GREAT SALT LAKE TO GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, AND TO THE WEST ABOUT A MILE TO WHERE IT JOINS THE LUCIN CUTOFF AND THE REST OF THE ORIGINAL LINE TO CALIFORNIA. The sign at the western terminus of the driveable section, made mostly obsolete for railroad use in the early part of the century says: The major purpose of our Fall outing was to drive more than 90 miles of roadbed from the original Transcontinental Railroad, visiting historic sites along the way. Transcontinental RR Grade. Photograph by Steve Berlin. Made 10/18/97, just east of Lucin, UT. BLM Sign The BLM Salt Lake District can be reached at: (801) 977-4300.ħ. 8, Bureau of Land Management, Utah, Special reprint, 1994. The photographs and captions tell the story.Īn excellent source of information on the section of roadbed that we visited, and the one consulted in the preparation of the picture captions is: Anan S.Raymond and Richard E.Fike, Rails East to Promontory, The Utah Stations, Cultural Resource Series No. The railroad grade began at Lucin, Utah not far from the Nevada border, and we drove it east to Promontory Summit and the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Our approximate route on the off-highway portion of the trip is shown in blue in the NW corner of the Utah map at right. Though the completion of the railroad officially ended the pioneer era and the necessity of travelling the old emigrant roads to the West, the historic and well-preserved railbed is a must-see for trail buffs. The highlight of the field trip was driving over 90 miles of the original 1869 Transcontinental Railroad grade and visiting historic sites along the way. The field trip began with visits to traces along the Utah-Nevada border of a route pioneered by the Bidwell-Bartelson party of 1841 and later traveled by both famous and forgotten users of the Hastings Cutoff west of the great salt desert. Wagons were abandoned and animals lost on the treacherous flats. Emigrants and argonauts on what became known as the Hastings Road typically spent two or more days of forced march often travelling day and night to cross this waterless landscape. We gathered not far from Grantsville, Utah (sometimes known at the beginning of the trails era and before Mormon settlement as Twenty Wells or Hastings Wells), about 25 miles west of Salt Lake City and crossed the great salt desert to the west on Interstate 80 in a little over an hour.
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