Golden Spike 150th Anniversary

ANNIVERS A RY OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE

TIED TO THE RAILROAD How the transcontinental railroad forever changed Ogden, the world • p6

CHUGGING ALONG 150 years later, what will drive future economic development in Northern Utah? • p50 Events to attend surrounding the Golden Spike anniversary • p34

SUNDAY, M AY 5, 2019

THE TRANSCONTINENTAL

RAILROAD

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Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 1st, 1862, and completed in 1869, the approval and building of a “ Transcontinental” railroad dramatically changed the future of our nation and brought us together through “two thin ribbons of steel”.

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150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

Y D A Y ER EV ES IK SP IN G IN RI V D

www.peterseninc.com Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

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FROM THE EDITOR

Trains, trains, trains

I

t’s the the Year of the Train.

And, it’s been on our brains here at the Standard-Examiner far before this month. It’s quite possible the Standard-Examiner has not been this engulfed in trains since 1969. In honor of the sesquicentennial of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, we have produced this special magazine to highlight part of its past, present celebrations and what the future may hold.

As Utah celebrates and marks the 150th anniversary of the wedding of the rails there is so much history to look back on and note its impact that influences us til this day: from the immigrant workers diversifying Ogden’s population to our area’s role in World War II. So much of Northern Utah, and Ogden, is what it is today in 2019 because of the railroad’s influence over the decades.

We have a spectacular treat for Standard-Examiner readers, as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike, we also have uncovered the 100th anniversary newspaper issue published in 1969 amassing more than 70 pages. Not

only are the stories fascinating (like what writers in 1969 thought future transportation would look like in 2069? Hint: lots of space travel, buildings on stilts, tube trains in the 2000s and more) but the old-time advertisements from local businesses are just as entertaining. A digitized version of this 100th anniversary issue, with some sneak peaks on pages 29-31, will be available online to subscribers in addition to this 150th special edition magazine.

It seems like there are nearly 150 different ways Utahns, and others traveling here for the occasion, can celebrate now and throughout the rest of the year. We’ve compiled a list of events locals and visitors can sift through from train conferences and model train competitions to festivals with food, interactive displays and history intertwined — specifically the Ogden Heritage Festival and festivities at the Golden Spike National Historical Park.

Today, we cherish history, but we, too, look to the future and driving economic development. One article in this special edition maga-

zine, on page 50, likely only scratches the surface at how transportation and technology will continue to mold and shift our lives even 25 years Jordan Carroll from now. How will trains continue to influence Ogden’s economy and beyond?

As Utah’s population continues to rapidly grow, part of that future must include greater implementation of mass transit. Today, we have FrontRunner, running strictly from Ogden south to Provo six days a week. What will future commuter rails look like?

While the future, pinned with our hopes and dreams, is still largely unknown, it is certain that the legacy of the transcontinental railroad will continue to influence and impact Northern Utah.

Jordan Carroll Executive Editor

STAFF Publisher Rhett Long Executive Editor Jordan Carroll City Editor Jessica Kokesh

Reporters Mitch Shaw Tim Vandenack Mark Shenefelt Mark Saal Megan Olsen Anna Burleson

Visuals Ben Dorger Samantha Madar Design Seth Pace

A product of the

ANNIVERS A RY OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE 4

332 Standard Way • Ogden, UT 84404 P.O. Box 12790 • Ogden, UT 84412 801-625-4400

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

ANNIVERS A RY OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE

Index 6 11 14 17 18 29

A MONUMENTAL MOMENT The wedding of the rails in Utah was a significant historical achievement in 1869 not only for the west, but also for the United States and world

FOREVER TIED Weber State Special Collections curator Sarah Singh writes about how Ogden is the city it is because of the railroad and its history

BIRTH AND EVOLUTION OF 25TH STREET The railroad ushered in diversity in Ogden, but it also brought transients looking for trouble or a good time

BY THE NUMBERS Fun figures about the transcontinental railroad

FROM THE ARCHIVES Take a look at archived clippings of the Standard-Examiner reporting on the railroad from as early as 1903

100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION See what Ogdenites celebrated in 1969 with a peak of the digitized 100th anniversary edition of the Standard-Examiner newspaper

32

150TH ANNIVERSARY A BIG DRAW

34

WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO SEE

40

FROM HISTORIC SITE TO HISTORICAL PARK

44 47 50

‘YEAR OF THE TRAIN’

Committees across the state and Northern Utah have planned grand festivities to mark the sesquicentennial

A listing of events celebrating the anniversary in May

The Golden Spike National Historical Park has its sight set on drawing more tourists

In early 2019, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared the year in favor of the railroad to mark the significant anniversary

WONDERFUL WORLD OF TRAINS Ogden man shares his passion for trains

THE FUTURE AND EXPANSION OF TRAINS What is at the epicenter of economic development?

COVER IMAGE/Weber State University Special Collections A.J. Russell’s photograph of the Promontory crowd, after the spikes had been driven, shows the dignitaries assembled in front of U.P. No. 119. An Army solider, part of the 21st Infantry Regiment, is at parade rest between the tracks. At teh right is the cart that brought the ties and last rails into place. This picture formed the basis for the ‘Golden Spike’ painting now [in 1969] in the California Capitol at Sacramento.

CURRENT PAGE/BEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner The Jupiter locomotive steam engine at the Golden Spike National Historical Park, the site where the last spike was driven on the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

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150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

on Stati bign o i Un the e d as h city’s The lly serve etween t st. a a b o u r t d C e n n il a eve ail cent he West the a r n r o gest est and t all over he city. by ir e t ited w m h n t d i u n M lly rs fro through World to a e c ” r l . a s s e e t p a e v i d l ti Tra ition orld asse uring d’s im den and rld p oldiers d tion’s pos d woo e railroa and the w lbeit o s d w o o en Th Sta id s —a tes oth g So d I. Union the west ed the d Sta mirrored el — by e t t of b i I n t n n e v a r d U em Wa ntered — spaw rrio le t ha le is nted mov le. o who ore micr fluence i cally u wa to San a o y — ce h Street ich the c nd the p fi f n i a m rical i ec rk her go peo 1868, i t a s h p o n 5 t s s Y 2 o w n , u f e r o h o fo ev “In ist rn Uta mo onomic New uld eit n l y h a t a f i i e m n v c i h o i c t e e co fr or act ecame ed in e iversity orth ccur al sp to go isco you d Cape H South on N n. Sever ns will o the c dor b ad usher ethnic d y. f n n , o u Fra ip, aro d nd months o gde ebratio part of sary. e O n r railr erity an den toda t cel May as nniver by sh e southe couple onths d p g r s n e O a jus a is la niv pro een in was ed our s re th entennia State U ard (at th ica), for ake six m agon,” i s e h l t h l i g , r h r w st 1869 d it chan said Ame u could t orse or Senior squic 17, Webe ssor Ric n I e “ s ” n , e h a e tory In 20 ory prof tandard- ed or yo ravel by ailroad Nathan tling n of tim rsity his r a t y R t t s S a o s r e l i e of niv cific Directo the and epti sity h r told th ailroad p Ogden n Pa perc r State U Director r e l g e d Unio c Affairs ntly told n May n e h i a r S i e Web ssor and ner t shap le fo Publ rson rec uncil. “O week. e xami r role in sponsib ughE a prof o e o ajo gely re long r And n City C ip took If I’m m a r r ‘ des is la Ogde 69, that t e to say, going and ity’s deca entity.

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Andrew J. Russell Officers of the Union Pacific Railroad lay the last rail at a ceremony at Promontory Summit in 1869. The photo is part of the exhibit “The Spike at 150: Myths and Realities” at the Brigham City Museum of Art & History.

an re th o m d ache on re i t a l ht opu roug ,” said b t s the p . u ral dj ,000 e railroa n in gene al Collec DSH 6 U e i h e h t c d s T , c e g r “ uted t U Sp to O mbe nstru attrib 1870 co cted ople ingh, WS large nu It brough e e p b y d e n .

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150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

97. in 19 e d o o th or go sed f is home t gden, o l c t O depo y the site s Depot an 125 , s h a s e t d d n e i o r s T a ore or ocky ore er Bu tures m ploys m t y s o e B h l of m 2 h fea d em ugh t whic esses an ple. thro for a hau bout $1. e te m n g e ra ca busi 6,000 peo memora ingh untin illion, o llars. Th s t o c c m a c S n o a tha help co ennial, rd l imp $87 m y’s d loyed nt “All Aboa for d stil nding To than n in toda any emp e a c i o r u l u d ro rai U’s esq ich billio ing comp eople an uit and , the e sur the s ized WS our,” wh has r p n f later n and th f n d f n T a o a s n o n c org tle Stop al week tory ers i r II a reds lions Ogde .” d Wa l Air hund uced mil for farm nd the l r s Whis ast sever g the his line o a ns d arou are until W of Hil s od a n r a c p w e l the p examini tinental round Up rgence ailroad tab unty an e n g n e o g v o in em er me bee transc es held a rawl , ber C the e Base, th ’s largest MacKay p e e s h u t W t e c r n h e of last gh le nty. aid t stallatio st.

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Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

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railroad’s impact on the American West and students have taken field trips to historic railroad locations, including riding the California Zephyr from Sacramento to Salt Lake City.

Both historians say the sesquicentennial anniversary should be a time of reflection and introspection for Northern Utah residents.

“These occasions allows us to reassess,” MacKay said.

“So many of us lack a historical perspective. History asks us to look long-term and look at consequences and speculate about what might have been. Without the railroad, a lot of us (in Ogden) probably wouldn’t be here today.”

10

A photo of Ogden in the late 1800s.

Photo courtesy of Weber State University Special Collections

OGDEN WOULD HAVE LOOKED VERY DIFFERENT IF NOT FOR THE RAILROAD

By MITCH SHAW

Standard-Examiner

O

GDEN — The transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869, but it wasn’t until the late 1870s that Union Pacific officially established Ogden as their “Junction City.”

With UP’s choice, Ogden eventually became one of the west’s major passenger railroad junctions — serving as a main stop along other large east–west and north–south routes. The city’s Union Station eventually served as the biggest rail center between the Midwest and the West Coast, with travelers from all over the world passing through the city, as well as hordes of soldiers during World War II. Local historians say the “Junction City” designation brought Ogden economic success, ethnic diversity and infrastructure still standing today. But what would Weber County’s seat have looked like had the junction never been established?

“I always tell people, had the junction stayed in

Corrine, Ogden would have probably ended up looking a lot like Corrine and Corrine would have looked like Ogden,” said Sarah Singh, Weber State University Special Collections curator.

In the years before Ogden was tabbed, Corrine — the tiny Box Elder town that has a population of less then 1,000 today — served as the shipping center for the railroad.

According to a history profile of the city on Box Elder County’s website, early settlers in the town had big plans for Corrine.

Shortly after the final spike of the transcontinental line was driven, activity began spawning in the city. There were blacksmith shops, hotels, an opera house, a newspaper, banks, factories and even gambling halls. But the building of the Utah-Northern Railroad and the Lucin CutOff across the Great Salt Lake drove activity away from Corrine and the town faded.

WSU history professor and Director of Public History Kathryn MacKay mentioned another Box

Elder County city when pondering Ogden without the railroad, and said the impact of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here would have been much greater sans Union Pacific’s presence.

“I think Ogden would have looked much more like Brigham City had the railroad not had this tremendous impact,” she said.

“And LDS leaders would have been able to hold on to more of what the city looked like.”

MacKay said early 20th century Ogden economic engines like the American Can Company and the Ogden Union Livestock yards also would have never been established in the city.

Same goes for the former military installation Defense Depot Ogden, which today operates as Ogden’s largest business park.

“Ogden just would have been a completely different place without the railroad,” MacKay said. “The two are forever tied.”

You can reach reporter Mitch Shaw at mishaw@standard.net.

Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

COLUMN

Ogden would not be Ogden without the railroad

By SARAH SINGH

W

hen the first train rolled into Ogden March 8, 1869, citizens of the small town had just a small glimpse into how the world around them was about to change.

When interviewed 50 years later in 1919, many adults remembered how scared they had been as children to see the massive engines and to hear the loud train whistles. The joining of the transcontinental railroad connected the East and West and united the country in a way not seen since.

Ogden became known as “Junction City” and experienced an incredible influx of people, goods and services. The population of the city jumped from 1,464 in 1860 to 3,127 by 1870 and continued to double each decade following.

The influx in population brought people from various cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds, all looking to call Ogden home. The Chinese stayed in Ogden and worked on the railroad as it provided a good wage, so men could continue to send money home to their families, at least until the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Japanese immigrants began to arrive in 1884, and many of them replaced Chinese workers to maintain the tracks and equipment as well as serve as section foremen. Immigrants from Greece came to Ogden and worked in the ice

houses connected to the railway. For many Italians, the railroad provided safer and better paying jobs than the mining companies.

With the increase in passenger travel, George Pullman created Pullman sleeping cars and hired African Americans to work as porters and waiters on the trains. The cars accommodated 26 million people a year during its peak in the early 20th century. The porters and waiters provided service to the travelers, including meals and bed turndowns.

As Sarah McClellan, wife of a Pullman Porter, explained during the Whistle Stop tour lecture on the Pullman Porters, “A lot of blacks from the South came to Utah during the second migration for two reasons: one was to work for the railroad, the other for Hill Air Force Base. The railroad provided pretty decent employment.”

With the influx of African Americans into Ogden, women like AnnaBelle Weakley and Leager Davis provided housing for the workers in the Porters and Waiters Club at 127 25th Street and the Royal Hotel at 2522 Wall Ave. Ogden was segregated at the time, and there were only a few places where they could stay.

Traqueros were Mexican and Mexican American workers who were employed by the Denver and Rio Grande and Southern

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

Weber State University Special Collections

Pacific railroads. Traqueros were section hands who reached peak employment with the railroads in the 1910s. Many of the men and their families lived in old boxcars west of Union Station as their jobs included maintaining the lines of the railroad.

As railroad labor historian Jeffrey Marcos Garcilazo noted, “Boxcar housing appeared in two basic forms: The first type provided temporary housing for grading and construction gangs, and the second type … permanent housing for section and extra gangs.”

Even local women found positions with the

railroad. The women started in jobs like clerks and telegraph operators but also worked as laborers, car cleaners and engine wipers during the war years. Frances McCarty Lyon was the telephone operator working on the night the train station in Ogden burned down, Feb. 13, 1923. She received word the station was on fire and put in emergency calls to the local fire departments and the Union Pacific agents.

She stayed working her station, but water from the firefighters shorted out her switchboard. She was steadfast in her 11

Photos supplied by Weber State University Special Collections

job and returned the next day and found a telephone and a desk and to go back to work. Miriam Spackman Bowles worked for the railroad for 20 years as an engine wiper, turntable operator and janitor.

Edwarda Briseno Sanchez worked for nine months during World War II as a laborer and engine wiper.

Often the stories of the women working on the railroad have been lost to history with many stories remaining untold.

Studying the transcontinental railroad and its impact on the local area over the last 150 years, it has become clear that Ogden would not be Ogden without the railroad. The industry brought in people of various ethnicities, jobs and goods that all helped shape the local community and economy. Just as Ogden 12

celebrated the railroad for its 50th anniversary in 1919, 100th in 1969, the 150th will be a celebration to remember.

There will be exhibits of historic images and artifacts, lectures about the railroad and workshops to attend. Dick Kreck will discuss his book “Hell on Wheels� at 7 p.m. May 10 at the Union Grill Restaurant located at 315 24th Street. This is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Stewart Library, Union Grill and Ogden Union Station.

Tickets are available through the Weber State University Stewart Library Special Collections Facebook page.

Join us at the Heritage Festival May 9-11, downtown at the Union Station Museums 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

Photos supplied by Weber State University Special Collections

and 25th Street. Share your stories about the railroad in Ogden, and bring your photographs to be scanned and added to the historic archives of the area. Together we can make sure the stories of all those who were impacted by the railroad are included in the history for generations to come.

Sarah Singh is curator of Special Collections at Weber State University and helped organize the Whistle Stop Tour, a series of lectures and exhibits dedicated to sharing the 150-year history of the railroad coming through Ogden.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

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REAL OGDEN

Ogden’s rough and tumble identity can be traced to rollicking 25th Street

Photo courtesy of Union Station

This undated photo shows the view of 25th Street from Union Station.

By MITCH SHAW Standard-Examiner

O

GDEN — There was a time in Ogden’s history when newcomers and the naive were warned never to stray west of Washington Boulevard, especially if 14

you found yourself on 25th Street.

But some people broke the rules. Maybe they were thrill-seekers, there to see a fight, watch drunks stumble around or witness a john pay off a prostitute.

The area wasn’t totally off limits, but it was once

common practice that if civilized, law-abiding Ogdenites dared venture to 25th Street, they only did so in their cars.

Doors locked, windows up and the engine running.

“You had a sense that it was just another world,” said longtime Ogden

resident and Weber State University history professor Gene Sessions.

Sessions and other experts say that reputation is the root of an idea that prevails among many locals in current times — that Ogden is a dangerous, low-class town.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

“

FOR A LONG TIME, 25TH STREET WAS KNOWN AS A PLACE WHERE YOU COULD GET OFF THE TRAIN AND FIND ANYTHING A MAN DESIRED. of WSU’s Stewart Library Sarah Singh, curator Special Collections

In a 2017 poll, the Standard-Examiner gathered more than 600 people’s general perceptions of Ogden.

One of the survey questions asked respondents to list the first word that came to mind when someone mentioned Ogden. While some chose favorable words like “home,” “beautiful, “eclectic” and “mountains,” a

”

large number tossed out phrases like “ghetto,” “crime,” “dangerous” or “armpit.”

“Those (negative) opinions still persist,” Sessions said. “And I think the heart of the legend is 25th Street.

I really believe that.”

THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD, THE BIRTH OF THE TWO-BIT STREET

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

Though Ogden was settled by Latter-day Saint pioneers, the railroad played a huge role in shaping the city, particularly 25th Street.

Richard Sadler, another history professor at WSU who spent much of his career researching, writing and publishing works about Ogden, said the city has had a rough reputation since the railroad came to town in 1869.

Union Station eventually served as the biggest rail center between the Midwest and the West Coast.

Travelers from all over the world passed through the city. So did soldiers during World War II. Union Station’s position — centered at the west end of 25th Street — spawned the activity for which the corridor became infamous.

The railroad ushered in ethnic diversity still seen in Ogden, but it also brought transients, many of whom were looking for a quick good time or for trouble on 25th Street.

Sadler said as 25th Street’s rough reputation grew, Ogden’s did too, by association.

“Many people felt Ogden was perhaps even off limits, especially for their children,” Sadler said.

“That reputation carried over in the 50 years following World War II.” Throughout its evolution, 25th Street has been known for brothels, bar fights, biker gangs, gambling, opium dens, vagrancy and vacancy. The vices and problems found on the street changed with the era, but until the early 1990s, 25th Street deserved its notorious reputation.

“25th Street catered to that kind of thing,” said Sarah Singh, curator of WSU’s Stewart Library

Special Collections. “For a long time, 25th Street was known as a place where you could get off the train and find anything a man desired.”

Sessions’ earliest memories of 25th Street are from the 1950s, though his father and grandfather were also from Ogden and passed along tales of notoriety. The historian said while the street was raucous, to say the least, the rest of Ogden typically has not been.

“Were there stabbings and muggings going on every day? I don’t know.

Probably not. But there’s no reason to doubt that 25th Street was a real rough-and-tumble kind of place,” Sessions said. “But the rest of the city, once you got out of that core, Ogden was a really nice place.”

Sessions pointed to the many wealthy families that lived in and around Ogden, the mansions on the city’s East Bench and a thriving shopping district.

THE END OF THE RAILROAD’S HEYDAY, 25TH STREET AS SKID ROW In the years following World War II, activity on 25th Street mirrored the decline in passenger and freight rail traffic.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, 25th Street become more desolate, but no less scandalous.

Charles Trentelman, a former Standard-Examiner reporter and columnist who wrote about Ogden until 2013, arrived in the city in 1978.

“When I got there, in the late ‘70s, 25th Street was probably best described as Ogden’s skid row,” Trentelman said.

“There was a lot of vagrancy, street prostitution, 15

Courtesy photo

During World War II, Italian and German prisoners of war worked in Defense Depot Ogden, a military warehousing and distribution facility. The military closed the base in 1997 and the area was eventually converted to Business Depot Ogden.

a few bars. That was pretty much it.”

Doug Lucero, a former Ogden Police sergeant who began patrolling 25th Street in 1984, said the street was a constant problem for police. One bar in particular, the El Borracho (which means ‘the drunk’ in Spanish) seemed to be the epicenter.

“This wasn’t a place people would go to have a drink or two with dinner,” Lucero said. “They went to get sloppy-ass drunk. We had a general rule that you were not allowed to go into El Borracho by yourself. If you went in there to arrest one individual, you had to fight the whole bar.”

Trentelman said it wasn’t uncommon to see employees hose blood off of the pavement in front of El Borracho. Lucero said anytime he was dispatched to 25th Street during the 1980s, he knew there would be big trouble.

16

“Because back then, that’s all there was down there,” he said.

The skid row days of 25th Street continued to plague Ogden’s reputation.

THE PERCEPTION LIVES ON, DESPITE CHANGE While 25th Street has been a major factor in crafting Ogden’s perceived character, it’s not the only contributor.

Lucero thinks more recent phenomena like gang and drug activity also plays a major role.

Sessions said the city’s ethnic diversity, which was brought on by the railroad, also plays a part.

“Utah is a pretty lillywhite place, but Ogden has a pretty diverse racial makeup,” he said. “There’s no doubt that ethnic diversity led people to think of Ogden as a rough or lower-class place. It’s all related to good, old-fash-

ioned racism and classism.”

Despite major changes in the downtown corridor, the experts all seem to agree, people still think of Ogden in negative terms.

“You hear it all the time,” Lucero said. “People from Salt Lake, people from Utah County, they think Ogden sucks. It did —particularly 25th Street — but it doesn’t anymore.”

Trentelman said he’s recently spoken with Ogden residents who avoid 25th Street still today, mainly because of its tawdry reputation.

But in the mid-90s, Ogden’s Two-Bit Street began to turn away from its violent, rowdy roots toward security and commerce.

Today, you’ll find 25th lined with numerous art houses, restaurants, bakeries, yoga studios, coffee shops and boutiques. It hosts a thriving farmers

market all summer and festivals all year.

That kind of activity has expanded beyond 25th Street, to other areas of the city like Washington Boulevard and The Junction.

City reinvestment, an increased police presence and local businesses like Roosters Brewing and the Thomas Hardy Hair Salon are often credited for the revitalization.

Sessions, Singh, Trentelman and Lucero all say Ogden still has its problems — gangs, poverty, drugs — but those aren’t exclusive to Ogden.

“Once you get a reputation like Ogden has, it’s hard to get away from that,” Lucero said. “It still has its issues, but I went from seeing dead bodies on 25th Street to seeing actual tourists. I never, ever thought I’d see that.

It’s kind of a miracle.”

This story originally published on April 6, 2017.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

BY THE NUMBERS

Transcontinental Railroad

By MEGAN OLSEN • Standard-Examiner

JULY 1,

1862

Lincoln signs bill into law beginning the Transcontinental Railroad project

1,086 MILES

690 MILES

Railroad line built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California from Sacramento to Promontory Point

18631869

Railroad line built by Union Pacific from the Missouri River to Promontory Point

Time the railroad’s construction overlapped with the Civil War

Time to build the Transcontinental Railroad

5003,000 Utah time on May 10, 1869 — a telegram was sent to AP saying that the last rail was laid

83 HOURS 34 MINUTES (3.5 DAYS)

Standard-Examiner — Sunday, May 5, 2019

Transcontinental Railroad line, from Omaha, Nebraska, to the San Francisco Bay

4 YEARS

2 YEARS 3 MONTHS

6 YEARS 4 MONTHS

1,776 MILES

People attended the Golden Spike Ceremony in 1869

Time elapsed after the death of Abraham Lincoln, a champion of the project, that the Transcontinental Railroad was completed

The cost in 1870 of a third-class ticket from Omaha to San Francisco, the equivalent of $1261 today, according to the Buraeau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator

Time it took to travel from New York to San Francisco in 1876

17

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Downloaded on Mar

Cour tesy of Newspapers.com

(Lef t) Originally published in The Ogden Standard on June 13, 1906.

(Right) Originally published in The Ogden Standard-Examiner on March 30, 1941.

18

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

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Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

19

Do

FROM THE ARCHIVES

In May 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Ogden via train. “Under a sk y as azureous as that famed to spread above the Grecian seas President Roosevelt was greeted in Ogden today by thousands of people gathered from all sections of Nor thern Utah.�

Originally published in The Ogden Standard on May 29, 1903.

Cour tesy of Newspapers.com

20

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

The Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) · 19 Feb 1950, Sun · Pag

FROM THE ARCHIVES

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(Above) Originally published in The Ogden Standard-Examiner on Februar y 19, 1950.

(Lef t) Originally published in The Ogden Standard-Examiner on Februar y 10, 1935.

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Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

21

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Originally published in The Ogden StandardExaminer on Januar y 1, 1945.

Cour tesy of Newspapers.com

22

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

FROM THE ARCHIVES

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Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

23

FROM THE ARCHIVES

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Early blueprint of the Ogden Railyard 24

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

25

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

Cour tesy of Newspapers.com

(Lef t) Originally published in The Ogden Standard on October 31, 194 3.

(Right) Originally published in The Ogden Standard-Examiner on November 6, 1940.

26

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

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Originally published in The Ogden Standard on Februar y 2, 1921.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

27

FROM THE The ARCHIVES Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) ·

31 Jan

Do

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Originally published in The Ogden Standard on Januar y 31, 1932.

d -Examiner, "Utah 's Rail road and Ind u s tr , 1932 28

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

100TH ANNIVERSARY

In May 1969, the Standard-Examiner marked the 100th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike with a special edition of seven sections recording and resharing the history, as well as the future in 2069. The digitized edition is available at standard.net for subsribers. The issue includes sections on Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Corinne Museum, Wedding of the rails, Promontory in 1969, the last spike driven, and future of transportation.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

29

100TH ANNIVERSARY

30 

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

100TH ANNIVERSARY

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

31

OGDEN HAPPENINGS

BEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner

Locomotives on display outside Union Station in downtown Ogden on March 6, 2019.

Ogden will be packed with people for Spike 150 celebration

By MITCH SHAW Standard-Examiner

O

GDEN — The 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad will be celebrated during the second weekend in May and Ogden city officials are bracing for throngs of visitors.

Union Pacific will host a celebration marking the sesquicentennial at 10:30 a.m. May 9, at the Ogden Union Station, 32

2501 Wall Ave. The Ogden event will be held a day ahead of Utah’s celebration at Promontory Summit where the last Golden Spike was originally driven into place.

According to a UP press release, the Ogden ceremony will feature the company’s iconic steam locomotives: Living Legend No. 844 and Big Boy No. 4014. The two will meet, recreating the historic image taken at Promontory

Summit on May 10, 1869 when the transcontinental line was finished.

After the steam meet, UP Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert will be joined by Margaret Yee and Sandy Dodge to drive a ceremonial spike. Yee’s ancestors were among thousands of Chinese immigrants who built the railroad for Central Pacific.

Dodge is a descendent of Gen. Grenville Dodge, Civil

War veteran and UP’s chief engineer during construction.

“This celebration is Union Pacific’s way of reflecting on our ancestors’ remarkable achievements that connected the nation while reminding us of the enormous responsibility we have for our nation’s future,” UP senior vice president of Corporate Relations and Chief Administrative Officer Scott Moore said in the release.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

Photos by BEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner

Locomotives on display outside Union Station in downtown Ogden on March 6, 2019. Union Pacific representatives are making plans for the sesquicentennial of the Golden Spike.

Ogden will hold a Heritage Festival from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on May 9, 10 and 11. The event is free to the public and will be held at the Union Station and on Historic 25th Street between Wall and Grant

Union Station. A full schedule of events and ticketing information for Ogden and around the state can be found at www.spike150. org or at www.goldenspike2019.com.

Ogden Arts, Culture and Events manager Christy McBride said a local organizing group, which includes Ogden City, Visit Ogden and the Ogden Downtown Alliance, has been working to prepare for the sesquicentennial for nearly a year now.

She said organizers we are preparing for between avenues. The event will fea- 200,000 and 250,000 people ture historic presentations, to converge on Ogden durlive music, performances, ing the three-day celebravendors, community activi- tion. ties and more.

“This is the biggest thing During the three-day that has happened to our celebration, Wall Avenue town since the 2002 Olymwill be closed around the pics,” McBride said.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

UP, the state’s Spike 150 committee, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Utah Transit Authority, the Union Station Foundation, Weber State University and others have all been involved in planning with the local organizing group.

McBride said there are more than 1,000 volunteer positions available and organizers are counting on Ogden locals to fill them.

Volunteers will receive reserved parking passes, volunteer credentials and a t-shirt and ball cap. More information can be found at www.goldenspike2019. com.

You can reach reporter Mitch Shaw at mishaw@standard.net.

Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23.

33

EVENTS

Things to do for the Golden Spike Sesquicentennial Celebration

By ANNA BURLESON • Special to the Standard-Examiner

As the date of the sesquicentennial of the driving of the Golden Spike approaches, communities across Utah are honoring its history with the railroad and its impacts with a variety of events.

MONDAY, MAY 6

TUESDAY, MAY 7

10 a.m. to close — Spike 150 Open House

10 a.m. to close — Spike 150 Open House

A train display, slideshow and information about railroading from the Golden Spike to present day.

Location: West Millard’s Great Basin Museum, Delta Tickets: Free

A train display, slideshow and information about railroading from the Golden Spike to present day.

Location: West Millard’s Great Basin Museum, Delta Tickets: Free

4 to 8 p.m. — Mark Hopkins Railroad Display

6 p.m. — Chinese Migrants and the Transcontinental Railroad

The Double C-Spring Buggy owned by Mark Hopkins, a merchant and railroad developer, will be on display.

Hopkins was one of the four investors who funded the building of a transcontinental railway.

Location: Wagon Land Adventure, Tremonton Tickets: Free

This presentation by Stanford University’s Shelley Fishkin looks at the Chinese railroad workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Union Station, Ogden Tickets: Free

7 p.m. — The Dance and the Railroad The Salt Lake Acting Company presents a reading of David Henry Hwang’s historic play about the Chinese railroad worker strike of 1867.

Location: Salt Lake Acting Company Chapel Theatre, Salt Lake City Tickets: $20 in person at Salt Lake Acting Company. $21 if purchased online at the company’s website, https://bit.ly/2P6VVJx

7 p.m. — The Dance and the Railroad The Salt Lake Acting Company presents a reading of David Henry Hwang’s historic play about the Chinese railroad worker strike of 1867.

Location: Salt Lake Acting Company Chapel Theatre, Salt Lake City Tickets: $20 in person at Salt Lake Acting Company. $21 if purchased online at the company’s website, https://bit.ly/2P6VVJx

7 p.m. — The Crossing: Box Elder’s Golden Treasure Watch vignette performances of what it was like during the Bear River Crossing to Brigham City with highlights about the history of the railroad.

Location: Old Barn Community Theater, Garland Tickets: Free, but a reservation is required and can be made at 435-452-1674 Standard-Examiner file photo

People watch the Golden Spike reenactment ceremony on May 10, 2014 at the Golden Spike National Site.

34

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

EVENTS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 8 a.m. — 9 p.m. Golden Spike Conference This conference features speakers and events highlighting the importance of the Chinese workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown at City Creek Tickets: Prices vary with registration online at https://bit.ly/2v0pRhi

10 a.m. to close — Spike 150 Open House A train display, slideshow and information about railroading from the Golden Spike to present day.

Location: West Millard’s Great Basin Museum, Delta Tickets: Free

Noon — America’s Railroad: A Choral Concert A 100-voice children’s choir from Waterford School will be singing railroad-related songs.

Location: Utah State Capitol Building Tickets: Free

7 p.m. — Working on the Railroad: Chinese Workers and America’s First Transcontinental Line Stanford University professor Gordon H. Chang will give a talk about the role of Chinese workers in the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 10 Campus Center Drive, Salt Lake City Tickets: Free

7 p.m. — The Crossing: Box Elder’s Golden Treasure Watch vignette performances of what it was like during the Bear River Crossing to Brigham City with highlights about the history of the railroad.

Location: Old Barn Community Theater, Garland Tickets: Free, but a reservation is required and can be made at 435-452-1674

All day — 12th Annual Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association Conference This four-day conference explores key points Utah’s history with wagon trail tours.

Location: Holiday Inn Express, Brigham City Tickets: $45 to join the group plus a $100 registration fee online at https://bit.ly/2KpbmOu

THURSDAY, MAY 9 8 a.m. — 9 p.m. Golden Spike Conference This conference features speakers and events highlighting the importance of the Chinese workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown at City Creek Tickets: Prices vary with registration online at https://bit.ly/2v0pRhi

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. — John M. Browning Historic Home Tour See the inside of the the Browning family home in central Ogden with a guided tour from Weber County Heritage Foundation volunteers.

Location: 505 27th St., Ogden Tickets: $8 for adults and $6 for children in advance at https://bit.ly/2X43SBT or $10 at the door

10 a.m. — The Crossing: Box Elder’s Golden Treasure Watch vignette performances of what it was like during the Bear River Crossing to Brigham City with highlights about the history of the railroad.

Location: Old Barn Community Theater, Garland Tickets: Free, but a reservation is required and can be made at 435-452-1674 Standard-Examiner file photo

People tour a steam locomotive at Promontory Point in 2013.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

35

EVENTS 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. — Heritage Festival 150th Anniversary This three-day festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad with live music, vendors, a beer garden, artisan booths, historic presentations and more on Ogden’s 25th Street.

Location: Historic 25th Street, Ogden Tickets: Free

10 a.m. to close — Spike 150 Open House A train display, slideshow and information about railroading from the Golden Spike to present day.

Location: West Millard’s Great Basin Museum, Delta Tickets: Free

1 to 6 p.m. — Chinese Genealogy Workshop Genealogy company FamilySearch is hosting a Chinese genealogy workshop with keynote speaker Ava Chin, a New York Times columnist.

Location: FamilySearch Center, Salt Lake City Tickets: Free, but registration is required online at https://bit.ly/2VDyJFj

7 to 10 p.m. — Come See What the Railroad Built concert The Bar D Wranglers will be performing songs about the era of the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Delta High School, Delta Tickets: $5

6 to 8 p.m. — Children’s Golden Spike Celebration and Family Locomotive Party Author and illustrator Brian Floca of the award-winning “Locomotive” will talk about his book at 6 p.m.

Location: Treehouse Children’s Museum, Ogden Tickets: Sold out

6 to 10 p.m. — The Corinne Pageant A funny outdoor reenactment of how the town of Corinne came to be including cowboys, gunslingers and more. Concessions and booths open at 6 p.m. and the performance starts at 8 p.m.

Location: Downtown Corinne Tickets: $4 with your own chair, $7 without

All day — 12th Annual Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association Conference This four-day conference explores key points Utah’s history with wagon trail tours.

Location: Holiday Inn Express, Brigham City Tickets: $45 to join the group plus a $100 registration fee online at https://bit.ly/2KpbmOu

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2019 8 a.m. — Golden Spike National Historic Site Opens to the Public Location: Promontory Summit Tickets: Available online with some sold out at https://bit.ly/2Kildpm

8 a.m. — 9 p.m. Golden Spike Conference This conference features speakers and events highlighting the importance of the Chinese workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown at City Creek Tickets: Prices vary with registration online at https://bit.ly/2v0pRhi

Standard-Examiner file photo

Marie and Will Larence pose for a photo, before the Golden Spike reenactment ceremony May 10, 2014 at the Golden Spike National Site.

36

8:15 a.m. — Jupiter and #119 Replica Steam Engines Arrive Location: Promontory Summit Tickets: Available online with some sold out at https:// bit.ly/2Kildpm 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

EVENTS 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. — John M. Browning Historic Home Tour

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Stadler US Inc. open house

See the inside of the the Browning family home in central Ogden with a guided tour from Weber County Heritage Foundation volunteers.

Location: 505 27th St., Ogden Tickets: $8 for adults and $6 for children in advance at https://bit.ly/2X43SBT or $10 at the door

Stadler is a rail car manufacturer with roots in Switzerland that is opening its first United States facility near the Salt Lake City airport.

Location: Stadler US Inc., 5880 West 150 South, Salt Lake City Tickets: Free with registration via email at events@ stadlerrail.com

10 a.m. to 9 p.m. — Heritage Festival 150th Anniversary This three-day festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad with live music, vendors, a beer garden, artisan booths, historic presentations and more on Ogden’s 25th Street.

Location: Historic 25th Street, Ogden Tickets: Free

10 a.m. to close — Spike 150 Open House A train display, slideshow and information about railroading from the Golden Spike to present day.

Location: West Millard’s Great Basin Museum, Delta Tickets: Free

11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. — Sesquicentennial Celebration Ceremony, Keynote Address and As One Performance Location: Promontory Summit Tickets: Available online with some sold out at https://bit.ly/2Kildpm

1:30 to 7 p.m. — Spike 150 Festival Features music, performances, historical reenactments, train demonstrations, a frontier village and more.

Location: Promontory Summit Tickets: Available online with some sold out at https://bit.ly/2Kildpm

5:30 p.m. onward -1869 Golden Spike Celebration Attendees are encouraged to wear period clothing and take photos with historical trains 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. then watch the Old Glory Vintage Dancers and an old west gunfight reenactment. Tickets are required the board the train at 7 p.m. for a two-hour round trip. Back at the depot a fireworks show will start at 9:30 p.m., followed by a dance.

Location: Heber Valley Railroad, Heber City Tickets: $10 at 435-654-5601

6 p.m. Hooper City Spike 150 Hooper City is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad with an evening of educational booths, train rides, live entertainment, food trucks, games and more. There will be a fireworks show at sundown.

Location: Hooper Civic Center Tickets: Free

6 to 7:30 p.m. — Bike the Spike and Artist Reception

Standard-Examiner file photo

Brad Williams walks with his son Crosby, 1, around the No. 119 steam locomotive during the Winter Steam Festival at the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory on Dec. 29, 2012.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

A bike tour along the S-Line through Sugar House and South Salt Lake starting at 6 p.m.. If biking isn’t your thing, a celebration and artist reception is happening at Beehive Distilling 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Location: Start at The Draw at Sugar House Park and end at Beehive Distilling.

Tickets: Free, but registration is required online at https://bit.ly/2uk1evt

37

EVENTS 6 to 10 p.m. — The Corinne Pageant

8 p.m. — O. C. Tanner Gift of Music concert

A funny outdoor reenactment of how the town of Corinne came to be including cowboys, gunslingers and more. Concessions and booths open at 6 p.m. and the performance starts at 8 p.m.

Location: Downtown Corinne Tickets: $4 with your own chair, $7 without

The Tabernacle Choir will perform with Broadway stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Megan Hilty.

Location: Conference Center at Temple Square Tickets: Free but required

7:30 p.m. — “Gold Mountain” musical An original musical set during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. Performances in Salt Lake City are sold out.

Location: Peery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden Tickets: Starting at $15, available online at https://bit.ly/2VBIoMs

7 to 9 p.m. — Rails and Ales: Hell on Wheels Retired Denver Post reporter Dick Kreck will talk about his book “Hell on Wheels: Wicket Towns along the Union Pacific Railroad.”

Location: Union Grill, Ogden Tickets: Free with reservation online through the event’s Facebook page at https://bit.ly/2Ih2710

All day — 12th Annual Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association Conference This four-day conference explores key points Utah’s history with wagon trail tours.

Location: Holiday Inn Express, Brigham City Tickets: $45 to join the group plus a $100 registration fee online at https://bit.ly/2KpbmOu

SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019 8 a.m. — 9 p.m. Golden Spike Conference This conference features speakers and events highlighting the importance of the Chinese workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad.

Location: Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown at City Creek Tickets: Prices vary with registration online at https://bit.ly/2v0pRhi

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. — John M. Browning Historic Home Tour See the inside of the the Browning family home in central Ogden with a guided tour from Weber County Heritage Foundation volunteers.

Location: 505 27th St., Ogden Tickets: $8 for adults and $6 for children in advance at https://bit.ly/2X43SBT or $10 at the door

9 a.m. to 7 pm. — Spike 150 Festival Features music, performances, historical reenactments, train demonstrations, a frontier village and more.

Location: Promontory Summit Tickets: Available online with some sold out at https:// bit.ly/2Kildpm Standard-Examiner file photo

President Donald Trump inked legislation on March 12, 2019, redesignating the U.S. National Park Service facility at Promontory Summit the Golden Spike National Historical Park. It had been a historic site. This Dec. 28, 2017, photo shows the Jupiter steam locomotive during the Winter Steam Festival at the Box Elder County facility.

38

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

EVENTS 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. — Heritage Festival 150th Anniversary This three-day festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad with live music, vendors, a beer garden, artisan booths, historic presentations and more on Ogden’s 25th Street.

Location: Historic 25th Street, Ogden Tickets: Free

10 a.m. to close — Spike 150 Open House

2 p.m. — “Gold Mountain” musical An original musical set during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. Performances in Salt Lake City are sold out.

Location: Peery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden Tickets: Starting at $15, available online at https://bit.ly/2VBIoMs

6 to 10 p.m. — The Corinne Pageant

A train display, slideshow and information about railroading from the Golden Spike to present day.

Location: West Millard’s Great Basin Museum, Delta Tickets: Free

A funny outdoor reenactment of how the town of Corinne came to be including cowboys, gunslingers and more. Concessions and booths open at 6 p.m. and the performance starts at 8 p.m.

Location: Downtown Corinne Tickets: $4 with your own chair, $7 without

1 to 5 p.m. — We Want the Railroad: Brigham Young’s Role in Bringing the Railroad to Utah

7 p.m. — Echoes of Hammers and Spikes

Speakers from the Sons of Utah Pioneers including Rom Alexander and Wayne Hinton, author Ron Watt, and railroad and freight planner Dan Kuhn will speak about Brigham Young’s role in bringing the railroad to Utah.

Location: Canyon Rim Stake Center, Salt Lake City Tickets: $15, pre-registration only at https://bit. ly/2uWCv0I

A musical tribute to the Golden Spike. There will also be free screenings of the movie “Promontory” playing at 12, 1:13 and 3 p.m.

Location: Casino Star Theatre, Gunnison Tickets: $5 for children and seniors, $7 for adults

All day — 12th Annual Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association Conference This four-day conference explores key points Utah’s history with wagon trail tours.

Location: Holiday Inn Express, Brigham City Tickets: $45 to join the group plus a $100 registration fee online at https://bit.ly/2KpbmOu Sunday, May 12, 2019

9 a.m. to 3 pm. — Spike 150 Festival Features music, performances, historical reenactments, train demonstrations, a frontier village and more Location: Promontory Summit Tickets: Available online with some sold out at https://bit.ly/2Kildpm

“The Spike at 150: Myths and Realities” opens Saturday, March 23, 2019, at the Brigham City Museum of Art & History.

This work of art by Zhi Lin is part of the exhibit.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

39

HISTORICAL PARK

Golden Spike park designation spurs hopes of luring more tourists to area U.S. officials earlier this year elevated the status of the Box Elder County transcontinental railroad museum to the Golden Spike National Historical Park Story by TIM VANDENACK • Standard-Examiner Photography by BEN DORGER• Standard-Examiner

P

Cole Chisam, locomotive engineer, polishes a lower crosshead bulb pump for Locomotive 119 behind him on April 9, 2019, in the engine house at the Golden Spike National Historical Park. The site will host the sesquicentennial celebration this May. 40

ROMONTORY SUMMIT — As a boy many years ago, Doug Foxley recalls many springtime visits with his family to the dusty, remote area where the spike completing the transcontinental railroad was pounded into the ground in 1869.

“It was always a rite of passage at Easter time to go to the site,” said Foxley, who grew up in Tremonton.

The family would picnic and breathe in the fresh desert air, and his parents would hide eggs for him and his siblings.

This was the 1950s and early 1960s, and at that time there wasn’t much in the area, just a lonely marker noting the place called Promontory Summit where the last spike had been pounded on May 10, 1869.

“There was nothing there aside from sagebrush

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

and this white monument. ... You had to already know of it, know what your were looking for,” he said.

A visitors center took shape at the spot in 1969, four years after the U.S. Congress designated the location the Golden Spike National Historic Site, thanks notably to the efforts of boosters like Bernice Gibbs Anderson.

Fast forward 50 more years and it’s received a new, elevated designation — the Golden Spike National Historical Park. Now, as the 150th anniversary of transcontinental railroad completion looms, Foxley and others are optimistic the new designation and the many activities planned to mark the sesquicentennial will help bolster the profile of the area and the museum.

Foxley, who heads up the Spike 150 Commission, the entity formed to promote the anniversary and the many activities statewide organized around it, hopes for more tourists. A

The Jupiter locomotive steam engine at the Golden Spike National Historical Park, the site where the last spike was driven on the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The site changed its designation from a historic site to historical park and will be unveiled as part of the sesquicentennial celebration this May.

busy schedule of activities is planned for May 10, 11 and 12 at Golden Spike to mark the anniversary, aside from a dizzying array of events already occurring around the state.

Completion of the railroad connected the eastern and western portions of the United States, making transcontinental travel much quicker. “It was the equivalent of the moon-

The Golden Spike National Historical Park is the site where the last spike was driven on the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

shot,” Foxley said, referencing for comparison the first moon landing by U.S. astronauts in 1969.

Officials at the Utah Office of Tourism have committed $150,000 to promote Spike 150 activities this year and encourage tourism at the Golden Spike facility in Box Elder County and other Northern Utah landmarks. Jay Kinghorn, associate managing director at the agency, pointed to other draws like Union Station and 25th Street in Ogden, Bear Lake and the Spiral Jetty, saying they could be marketed in conjunction with the transcontinental railroad museum to draw visitors.

Given the number of Chinese workers who helped complete the railroad, Foxley thinks the museum could also be marketed to Chinese 41

Leslie Crossland, superintendent at The Golden Spike National Historical Park, poses for a portrait on April 9, 2019. The site is where the last spike was driven on the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

tourists passing through the region.

“We’re optimistic this celebration will be a breakout event for the Golden Spike region and attract a lot of lasting attention to the area,” Kinghorn said. He would like to see increased promotion to get travelers heading north to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Teton National Park to make pitstops at Golden Spike and other Northern Utah attractions.

TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD NETWORK?

The Golden Spike National Historical Park is the site where the last spike was driven on the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

42

The new designation of the Golden Spike facility, from historic site to historical park, doesn’t by itself confer new resources on the U.S. National Park Ser-

vice facility, located some 40 miles west of Tremonton. President Donald Trump inked legislation in March upgrading the status of the Golden Spike facility, and signage reflecting the new name is to be unveiled as part of the sesquicentennial celebrations.

But Leslie Crossland, the Golden Spike superintendent, echoed the optimism of the other boosters. Officials, she said, “are excited about the possibility that having a different name might encourage more visitors to the park itself (and) also other locations in Box Elder County and Northern Utah in general.”

Compared to historic sites, usually focused on a single historic feature, historical parks typi-

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

The Golden Spike National Historical Park is the site where the last spike was driven on the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

cally encompass a broader geographic area, maybe multiple buildings or natural features. Golden Spike, measuring 2,735 acres, encompasses the site where the transcontinental railroad was completed as

well as adjacent sections of original railroad bed, long ago abandoned with relocation of the rail line.

Crossland also noted another provision of the federal measure upgrading the designation of the

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

park that calls for a study into possible creation of a Transcontinental Railroad network. The idea is to create a program within the National Park Service, depending on the outcome of the study, “to commemorate and interpret” the broader railroad network linking the eastern and western United States, the legislation reads.

“If the network is created, Golden Spike would likely be a part of it, along with many other locations significant to the building of the transcontinental rail-

road,” Crossland said.

The 1,912-mile segment completing the rail network across the country went from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Francisco, California, by way of Promontory Summit and was built between 1863 and 1869, when that last spike was hammered into the ground.

Contact reporter Tim Vandenack at tvandenack@standard.net, follow him on Twitter at @timvandenack or like him on Facebook at Facebook. com/timvandenackreporter.

43

YEAR OF THE TRAIN

BEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner

Governor Gary R. Herbert declares it the Year of the Train at the Union Pacific Depot at The Gateway in Salt Lake City on Feb. 1, 2019. Spike 150 is a state initiative to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and ceremonially driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah.

2019 is officially the ‘Year of the Train’

By MITCH SHAW Standard-Examiner

S

ALT LAKE CITY — 2019 is officially train time in Utah.

With a flurry of activity and celebrations associated with Spike 150 approaching, Gov. Gary Herbert declared 2019 the “Year of the Train” during a Friday press conference at the Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City.

Spike 150 is state initiative aimed at commemorating the completion of first transcontinental railroad across the United States, which was finished in Northern Utah on May 10, 1869.

44

Built between 1863 and 1869, the line connected the Pacific Coast at San Francisco Bay with the existing Eastern U.S. railway. The railroad revolutionized the American West with a dependable transportation system that brought Western states economic prosperity through the relatively inexpensive and speedy movement of both goods and people.

The railroad played a major role in the history of Northern Utah, specifically Ogden. The ceremonial last Golden Spike was driven at Promon-

tory Summit in Box Elder County 150 years ago.

“We are the crossroads of the west,” Herbert said on Twitter. “And here’s to another 150 years of bringing the country together.”

Several exhibits are on display around the state and sporadic events will be held up until a formal three-day celebration across the state, set to take place May 10-12.

For more information on events, go to spike150. org/events.

At the press conference, officials also announced musical performances that will be part

of the celebration. Those include: The O.C. Tanner Gift of Music Concert, featuring The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and Utah Symphony; two musicals, which include an original musical production and ceremonial reenactment the driving of the Golden Spike; and presentations from the Utah Symphony and Opera.

Details on the musical performances can be found on the website.

You can reach reporter Mitch Shaw at mishaw@ standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

100TH ANNIVERSARY

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

45

100TH ANNIVERSARY

46 

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

A LOVE OF TRAINS

Ogden train buff looking forward to Transcontinental Railroad sesquicentennial

SAMANTHA MADAR, Standard-Examiner

Dale Spaulding poses for a portrait in front of his model train scenery and backdrop based Northern Utah on March 29, 2019, at Wonderful World of Trains in Ogden.

By MARK SAAL

Standard-Examiner

O

GDEN — Think Dale Spaulding is excited about the upcoming 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad?

“Beyond my toenails,” he gushes.

So pumped is Spaulding about the sesquicentennial celebration that he plans to close up his shop (a train-related business, by the way) and take rail-loving friends and family on a road trip to see one of the most famous steam engines of the West.

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

“A steam locomotive is almost like a living, breathing animal,” Spaulding said in explaining the appeal. “You can hear them breathing, and the steam makes them seem alive.”

According to the Union Pacific website, the massive Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive — the

world’s only operating Big Boy — will be participating in “The Great Race to Ogden,” traveling from the UP Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Ogden from May 4-8.

On the morning of Wednesday, May 8, the locomotive will leave Evanston, Wyoming, 47

Boy” in chalk on the side of the cylinder because he’d never seen one that big. And the name stuck, and the ‘Wasatch’ got lost.”

844 AND 4014, NOSETO-NOSE

SAMANTHA MADAR, Standard-Examiner

Dale Spaulding talks about his model train scenery and backdrop based Northern Utah on March 29, 2019, at Wonderful World of Trains in Ogden.

arriving a few hours later in Ogden.

“So me and my motley crew are going to go up to Evanston early on that day and follow it down to Ogden,” Spaulding said.

“We’ll just drive alongside it.”

Well, them and every other train enthusiast in the country. Spaulding says the route will likely be crowded with rail fans that day as Big Boy makes its run to Ogden.

“We’re going to be driving the Utah Highway Patrol nuts,” he said. “We will not be alone in this process, I guarantee. It’ll be like that cattle drive from Morgan on I-84 — only it’ll be a bunch of cars and vans. It’s going to be sheer craziness for awhile.”

BIG BOY? TRY ‘WASATCH’ According to Union Pacific promotional materials, 25 Big Boy locomo48

tives were built exclusively for the railroad, with the first delivered in 1941.

Their massive size was legendary — 132 feet long and weighing 1.2 million pounds — and they primarily operated between Ogden and Cheyenne.

Spaulding says the Big Boy locomotive has a special significance to Ogden. He said Union Pacific wanted a single engine that could haul a 150-car train out of Ogden and get it through the Wasatch Mountains to Green River, Wyoming.

“So they went back to the drawing board and came up with a massive locomotive, created for Ogden,” Spaulding said.

“Union Pacific was going to call it a ‘Wasatch’ class, but what happened was a workman there in Schenectady, New York — where the ALCO (American Locomotive Company) plant was — scribbled “Big

Also working its way to Junction City in “The Great Race to Ogden” will be the Living Legend No. 844, the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific.

The two engines will be featured in a celebratory event in Ogden, with the festivities streamed live at 10:30 a.m. May 9 on the Union Pacific Facebook page.

Spaulding says he’d love to see the 844 and 4014 nose-to nose, but he’s not sure he wants to brave the expected crowds in downtown Ogden.

“I understand there’s not a hotel room from Brigham City to Provo that weekend,” he said.

After the two locomotives are on display in Ogden through the May 10 sesquicentennial celebration, they’ll then participate in “The Great Race from Ogden,” doubleheading (defined as using two locomotives at the front of a train, each operated individually by its own crew) back to Evanston and eventually the steam shop in Cheyenne.

So on May 12, Spaulding and his “motley crew” plan to repeat the process, again closing up shop and following the two engines on their eastbound trip back home.

“My wife is not a train person, so she probably won’t go,” Spaulding said.

“But the grandkids and my boy and the helpers here

at the store, we’ll all be heading out.”

A WONDERFUL WORLD Ah, the store. Spaulding is the longtime owner of Wonderful World of Trains, a model train shop at 3061 Washington Blvd., in Ogden. In honor of the sesquicentennial, Spaulding has been hard at work building a model train museum in a small shed behind the shop. He’s calling it the Toots Toy Train Museum; as of press time the grand opening was scheduled for Saturday, May 4.

“At this museum, everybody gets to run the trains,” he said. “I’m hoping to introduce as many kids as I can to the fun that can be had — to let them know there’s life beyond the iPad.” Spaulding said the museum pieces come from his own personal model train collection, but it represents only about 10 percent of all that he owns. He hopes to raise money for an even bigger museum in the future.

Describing himself as “an old farm boy from Hooper,” Spaulding has had a lifelong love affair with trains.

“I always liked to see the big trains as a kid,” he recalls.

In those days, when you lived out west in Hooper, there were only two ways to get to the big city of Ogden, according to Spaulding — either over 33rd Street, which was a level crossing (“You had to cross 14 tracks, as I remember,” he says), or over 24th Street.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

“Either way was gangbusters for those of us who loved trains,” he said.

Although the 24th Street crossing gave you a bird’seye view, and there were always plenty of trains to look at, 33rd Street was the route Spaulding loved the best.

“It was up close and personal with the trains,” he said.

Catching train fever When his cousins got older and got their first electric trains, Spaulding said his uncle gave him their old wind-up trains.

“I got to play with those wind-up trains, and that was my first introduction to model trains,” he said.

Even from the beginning, Spaulding played with the trains a little differently than most kids.

“I’d be at my grandma’s house and set up the trains,” he said, “but instead of making a loop, I’d set the tracks side-by-side, the way I saw them on 33rd Street.”

Spaulding says his grandmother would often take old oil cans, cut the ends out of them, and make tunnels for his toy trains.

Spaulding played with those wind-up trains until he was 6 years old. That year — it was 1955, as he recalls — his father showed him a mail-order catalog.

“It was Sears or Montgomery Ward or something like that,” Spaulding said, “and my dad said, ‘Do you like these trains here?

Which one do you like?’”

Sure enough, come Christmas time Spaulding got his first Lionel electric train.

“On Christmas we had a nice, pretty, stained plywood table in the front room, with a stack of track, a stack of train boxes, and a transformer,” he said. “My deal for Christmas was that I had to figure out how to put it all together.”

Spaulding has been putting them together ever since.

Sometime that following year, Spaulding’s mother took him to the George A. Lowe Hardware Co., which featured a large working Lionel Train display.

“It was great fun to watch, and mind-boggling for a kids,” he remembers.

“My mom used to drag me from one dress store or shoe store to another, and that would get old quick for a 6-year-old. But once we found out about the model train display at George A. Lowe’s, she could just park me there and go and do her shopping.”

A store is born A 1967 Roy High School graduate, Spaulding served a mission in Australia for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He came home, got engaged at Easter and was married by August.

Spaulding had a little model railroad store in the basement of his house when he got married. But then, when the oil embargo hit in 1973, he decided it would be easier to move the store to Ogden rather than having people come all the way out to Hooper just to buy a train.

Spaulding’s model train store started out in downtown Ogden, but it was

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

SAMANTHA MADAR, Standard-Examiner

Dale Spaulding talks about his model train scenery and backdrop based Northern Utah on March 29, 2019, at Wonderful World of Trains in Ogden.

eventually displaced when the Ogden City Mall was built. In 1981, Spaulding purchased an old house at 3061 Washington Blvd. His Wonderful World of Trains store has been there ever since.

“We’ve been through everything there,” he said. “We’ve been held up, broke in to — run down the list, it’s probably happened to us.”

They even had a fire in 1992 that took the store out of play for about a year.

But business has been good, Spaulding says, and every year it picks up just a little bit more.

Something about a train Even in today’s hightech world, Spaulding said trains — both the real and toy ones — still hold a fascination for people.

“There’s still something very intriguing about putting a train set together, the challenge in doing it and making it work,” he said. “It’s quite an accomplishment. And the real-estate negotiations with the rest of the family — the wife — that’s the toughest part of the deal.”

Spaulding said one of the attractions of toy

trains is that it gives you something extremely big and powerful that you can control in a much smaller size, at home.

“You may be working for somebody else all your life, and you might enjoy that work, or you might not,” he said. “But there’s something about being able to be your own boss and realize, ‘Hey, it’s my railroad. I can run it any way I want.’”

As the celebration for the transcontinental railroad sesquicentennial nears, Spaulding said Ogden just wouldn’t be Ogden as we know it today if not for the railroad. He calls the transcontinental railroad a boom for the nation, and a boom for the city.

“Because it was a hub out West, Ogden was as important as Chicago was as a hub back East,” he said. “The old saying was true, ‘You couldn’t get anywhere without coming through Ogden, Utah.’”

Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman.

Friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/MarkSaal.

49

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

BENJAMIN ZACK, Standard-Examiner

John Barrett works on Engine 223 in a garage behind Union Station as the FrontRunner commuter train passes by outside on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016.

Ogden’s Union Station is the epicenter of a major economic development drive

By MARK SHENEFELT Standard-Examiner

O

GDEN — Union Station and the surrounding railyards area may be reborn as the epicenter of economic and transportation vibrancy in the Ogden region, according to business, community and technology planners.

50

The impending 150th anniversary of the joining of the transcontinental railroad has drawn attention to what might be possible for economic development and expansion of freight rail and passenger transit.

“Our economy really does ride on the rails,” said Val Hale, executive

director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Officials list several areas where the Ogden railyards sector may blossom in the decades ahead.

UNION STATION In some ways, the vision starts and ends with Union Station. The

160,000-square-foot depot at Historic 25th Street and Wall Avenue was built in 1924. It anchored Ogden when the city was one of the nation’s major rail hubs.

“There’s a reason that for a few decades Ogden had the highest number of per capita millionaires in America,” Hale said.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

“We can’t presume to know what their needs are,” Christopulos said.

“We are trying to get them to be a partner, and we want to be their partner.

We are not anywhere close to defining what it means yet.”

Absent significant action with Union Pacific, “We will start were we can, which is around the Union Station.”

Ogden officials gave Hale a tour of the proposed project area.

“If they’re able to secure that land and do the projBEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner ect they’re thinking of, it The view north from the 24th Street bridge over looking the railroad along the Weber River would be a huge deal for on Monday, April 8, 2019. This area near Union Station is under study for an economic Ogden,” Hale said. development.

The rail area is in a fed“Ogden was a railroad area. It is bordered by area, it won’t be “back to erally designated opportutown, with all the railroad Lincoln Avenue on the east, a strictly transit-oriented nity zone, where investors industries and banks. A 20th and about 26th streets strategy,” he said. So hous- can put capital gains to lot of wealth went through to the north and south, ing, office and recreation earn tax breaks. there.” and west to the 20th Street projects all “are on the “If those people keep By planning to fully Pond and the old landfill in table.” their money in for 10 years, restore the 95-year-old West Ogden.

Christopulos said it’s a they don’t have to pay capidepot, Ogden City hopes at “That area in our outconcept only at this point, tal gains taxes,” Hale said. the same time to galvanize look is underdeveloped as but officials plan to engage “If Ogden comes up for a development in the neighfar as its potential for more the community over the really great plan for that boring area. intentional development, next two years to refine area they can entice some “It’s very important that much the same as we have initial ideas and commence of these investors.” we preserve Union Station done in the central city,” work on phases.

A Union Pacific execufor the community benefit Christopulos said.

If results are as envitive declined to comment in the long term,” said Tom Planners are drafting a sioned, not only will the about the company’s plans Christopulos, the city’s 20-year plan that in phases area grow, but the city may for its operations in the economic development may see housing, office have more resources to Ogden area. director. space, other business renovate the centerpiece, Kristen South, senior “As a sole project, it will developments, and recreUnion Station. director of corporate be very, very expensive, if ationally involved “greenscommunications, said she UNION PACIFIC it is done in the right way,” pace” projects around the could not answer questions AND THE RAILROAD he said. “We have been Weber River, much as has prior to publication beINDUSTRY slapping on patches for been done along the Ogden cause the company was in decades. We need to get it River.

Union Pacific, corporate a securities “quiet period.” back up and fully restored, With Business Depot star of the 150th anniverAccording to the U.S. but we haven’t quite figOgden approaching masary celebration to come Securities and Exchange ured out how yet.” turity in its development, May 9-11, may hold the key Commission, federal Christopulos said it is vital to how far the city’s plans securities laws limit what UNION STATION that the city create another can go. But the industrial information a company can PROJECT AREA job anchor area “to try to juggernaut isn’t showing its release to the public during A large sector of undermake sure we have another cards. the time an earnings statedeveloped Ogden is seen place to generate more tax The railroad owns the ment is under review. as the canvas for what in its revenue.” land beneath Union Station Hale said Ogden evenearly stages is being called As planners focus on re- and a lot of the land in the tually could see greater the Union Station project building the Union Station envisioned project area. rail business via the Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

51

Rendering supplied/Federal Railroad Administration

An artist’s rendering of a hyperloop transit pod. The cars would carry people at 700 mph through an underground tube system powered by electromagnetic energy and vacuum pressure.

Utah Inland Port Authority, under which a massive development is planned in the Salt Lake airport area.

The Legislature this year passed a bill to permit port “spokes” to be established in other communities. Hale said an Ogden port element would allow more goods to clear customs faster, leading to more rail shipments and traffic.

Seven railroads operate in Utah on 1,300 miles of track, Hale said.

Large freight railroads support 1.1 million jobs that generate $219.5 billion in economic output, $71.3 billion in wages and $25.9 billion in tax revenues, ac52

cording to a 2017 Towson University study commissioned by the Association of American Railroads.

TRANSIT FUTURE Commuter rail’s future is bright in Northern Utah, Hale said.

“We need to double the tracks on our FrontRunner system,” he said.

That would mean quicker intervals available at stations every half hour during peak times, he said.

Plus, with two tracks the trains could go a lot faster; they’re now limited to 80 mph.

“That would cut commute times a lot and make

it more attractive for Ogdenites,” he said.

Hale lives in Orem and sometimes rides FrontRunner to work in Salt Lake City, “but it’s twice as long as the drive.”

Adding a track is “very feasible, but the cost will be significant,” Hale said.

“At some point it may be worth investing in that.”

Speaking of faster commute times, consider hyperloop technology.

Utah is not in the hyperloop picture, but transit people and economic developers are intrigued by the concept of 16-passenger pods shooting through a tube at 700 mph

via magnetic energy and vacuum pressure.

In the Nevada desert north of Las Vegas, the Hyperloop One company has built a working prototype.

Space and electric car entrepreneur Elon Musk also is working on hyperloop dreams with his Boring Co., envisioning a half-hour commute from New York to Washington in an underground tube.

An intercontinental loop train probably would be next.

You can reach reporter Mark Shenefelt at mshenefelt@standard.net or 801 6254224. Follow him on Twitter at @mshenefelt.

150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

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53

MOUNTAIN to METRO to MAKING DREAMS HAPPEN

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150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

Wheelwright Lumber is happy to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of the Golden Spike with our community.

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Phone: 801-627-0850

https://www.wheelwrightlumberco.com/

Standard-Examiner | Sunday, May 5, 2019

55

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Now in its 152nd year, Lindquist Mortuaries/Cemeteries is one of Utah’s oldest, continuously operating businesses tracing its beginnings to 1867, two years before the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. Since then, Lindquist’s has grown to six funeral homes, three cemeteries, and two crematoriums. When your family is in need, call on Lindquist’s for personalized, professional care you’ve come to trust for generations.

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