Blue Creek, Utah

Blue Creek
—  Ghost town  —
Blue Creek
Location of Blue Creek in Utah
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Utah
County Box Elder
Founded 1869
Abandoned 1900s
Elevation[1] 4,701 ft (1,433 m)
GNIS feature ID 1437505[1]

Blue Creek is a ghost town in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. It was a railroad settlement that started as a Union Pacific camp during the final stages of construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

Located on the eastern slope of the Promontory Mountains, 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Snowville and 20 miles (32 km) west of Tremonton on what is now I-84, Blue Creek existed from the late 1860s[2] until it was abandoned in the 1900s.[3][4]

The settlement was named for the Blue Creek Spring, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the south. Initially a railroad camp, Blue Creek later became a farming community with a few scattered homes and a post office.[5]

In his autobiography, 19th century pioneer Alexander Toponce wrote, "In April and May of 1869, Corinne and Blue Creek were pretty lively places. At the latter place was a big construction camp generally known as Dead Fall and spoken of by some as Hell’s Half Acre."[2]

References

  1. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Blue Creek
  2. ^ a b Toponce, Alexander (2004). Reminiscences of Alexander Toponce. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. pp. 147. ISBN 0766193497. 
  3. ^ Van Cott, John W. (1990). Utah Place Names. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press. pp. 173. ISBN 0-87480-345-4. 
  4. ^ National Park Service research article
  5. ^ Federal Writers’ Project (1954). Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah: US History Publishers. pp. 365. ISBN 1603540431. 

External links