Rails East to Promontory The Utah Stations

Railroad use: June 1873 - October 12, 1901
743.0 miles from San Francisco
T. 12 N., R. 10 W., Sec. 26 NE1/4, SLM

The Seco townsite was established in June 1873 as a section station to accommodate the moving of facilities from Ten-Mile which is 3.6 miles east. Research did not reveal why a siding (Fig. 67) was built 1.5 miles west of the Seco townsite. The siding, unpretentious and apparently lacking any ancillary features or structures, was completed in September 1872.

Figure 67: The Seco siding occurs on the right side of the photograph, north of the main railroad grade. (BLM photo)

The work crews and inhabitants of Seco were Chinese. Although no population figures are available, statistics comparable to Ombey or Bovine are probable, about 25 inhabitants maximum at any one time.

Vandalized Chinese dugouts (Fig. 68), a well, foundations, and fragments of Chinese ceramics and glass (Fig. 69) are evident today.

Figure 68: The Seco townsite today. A vandalized dugout occurs in the foreground (BLM photo).

Figure 69: Artifacts from Seco include a rice bowl with the Chinese happiness pattern and tiger whiskey bottle fragments. Digging for artifacts and collecting surface artifacts like these is illegal. (BLM photo)

Railroad use: 1902 - 1906, 1916 -?
743.9 miles from San Francisco
T. 12 N., R. 10 W., Sec. 25 SE1/4, SLM

Nella was an uninhabited siding built in 1902 for service to local ranchers (Fig. 70). The siding was removed by the railroad in 1906, and relaid again in 1916. In 1917, a train car body and freight platform were present. Investigations located no cultural features or materials.

Figure 70: The siding at Nella today can be seen on the left (north) of the main railroad grade. (BLM photo)

Railroad use: 1869 - 1873
746.6 miles from San Francisco
T. 12 N., R. 9 W., Sec. 33 SW1/4, SLM

Ten-Mile was a section station established in 1869 (Fig. 15). The name is derived from the distance west from the original Lake section buildings. The closest siding was two miles east at Monument. Railroad profiles locate a section house, train car body, and water tank at Ten-Mile. Railroad documents indicate that the section facilities at Ten-Mile were moved to the Seco townsite in 1873.

After 1900, with Seco and Ten-Mile abandoned, locals and newspapers often referred to both areas and possibly Nella as Ten-Mile.

Small amounts of disturbed soil and glass are evident today (Fig. 71).

Figure 71: The section facilities known as Ten-Mile were built here in 1869. In 1873 they were moved to Seco (BLM photo).

Railroad use: 1869-1942
748.6 miles from San Francisco
T. 11 N., R. 9 W., Sec. 3 SE1/4, SLM

Contrary to Shearer (1885:185), who describes Monument as "a mere side track and Y for convenience of the (rail) road," existence here depended upon the Desert Salt Works. The rail spur to the plant, illustrated on the 1872 cadastral plat (Fig. 72), fails to show the wye. Noted by Shearer in 1885, the wye probably was installed ca. 1880. Rand McNally (1956) accounted for at least 25 people in Monument in 1876.

Figure 72: 1872 Cadastral Plat showing Monument T. 11 N., 9 W. (click on image for a PDF version)

Monument Rock (from which the town was named), was submerged in the waters of the Great Salt Lake during the 19th century (Fig. 73). An account from the Pacific Tourist Guide attempts to console the weary desert passenger.

"When the strong south wind blows, the waves, dashing against the rocks on shore, and the rolling white caps in the distance, form a beautiful view, which the tourist after passing the dreary waste, will appreciate,"

(Shearer, 1885:185)

Figure 73: The locomotive "Jupiter" at Monument Point in May, 1869 (Southern Pacific, Alfred A. Hart Photograph)

It is uncertain when the plant closed, but in later years Monument served as a freight siding for regional ranchers.

Palace-care life on the Pacific Railroad (Overleaf from Shearer 1886)

Today, a stone foundation of four rooms (Fig. 74), piles of lumber, and a remnant pattern of canals (Fig. 75) mark the site of the Salt Works. The area today is disturbed by recreational vehicle use and illegal artifact collecting. Discrete remains of the railroad era are difficult to identify.

Figure 74: The largest structure remaining from the Desert Salt Works plant near Monument (BLM photo)

Figure 75: Looking west over remnants of the Desert Salt Works toward Monument Rock. (BLM photo)