Utah and Northern Railway

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Utah and Northern Railway
logo
Locale Ogden, Utah to Butte, Montana
Dates of operation 18711889
Track gauge ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)/3 ft (914.4 mm)
Headquarters Ogden, Utah

The Utah and Northern Railway is a defunct railroad that was operated in the Utah Territory in the western United States during the late 1860s and early 1870s. It was a narrow gauge line built by the Mormons as a spur of the Union Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad. The line went northward from the Union Pacific line, but construction halted in 1874 at the present Utah-Idaho border.

Roadside marker noting route of Utah and Northern Railway through Franklin County, Idaho.
Roadside marker noting route of Utah and Northern Railway through Franklin County, Idaho.

The discovery of gold in the Idaho Territory resulted in an increasing demand for movement of people and goods into the territory. In 1877, Jay Gould acquired the line and extended it northward into Idaho along the canyon of the Portneuf River into the Snake River Plain. The line was extended northward into Montana in 1880.

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[edit] References

  • Ferrel, Hauck, Myers (1981). Colorado Rail Annual No. 15. the Colorado Railroad Museum. US 0-918654-15-7.