Trains and Railroads

The West Auto Tour is approximately seven miles and follows the original Transcontinental railroad grade and allows visitors to experience what passengers would have encountered on their travels through Utah Territory. A glimpse of the Great Salt Lake, wide open spaces and the iconic "10 Miles in a Day" sign await the visitor. The tour begins seven miles west of the Visitor Center via Golden Spike Drive. The West Tour is closed seasonally from late November to early June.

#8 Marker for Gravel for Ballast

Natural Memorial The limestone formation on your left, known as the Chinese Arch, has become a memorial to the thousands of Chinese who helped build the transcontinental railroad. Labor was scarce in California. The Central Pacific first employed Chinese experimentally in 1865. They proved themselves to be excellent workers and soon the company recruited directly from China. By 1868, over 11,000 Chinese laborers were employed on the railroad. Many of the Chinese remained wi

Trestles and Fills Union Pacific crews began construction work in the Promontory Range much later than Central Pacific. Their belated start and the difficult job required shortcuts wherever possible.

Blasting Deep rock cuts like this one required specialized labor, tools, and huge quantities of explosives. Cuts were started by two-man drilling teams called double-jackers. One worker rotated a steel, chisel-like star drill, while the other struck it with a sledgehammer. A good double-jack team could drill a thirty-inch-deep hole in an hour. Look carefully; many of these drill holes are still visible.

Choosing a Route The Great Salt Lake created a sizeable barrier to the railroad. The Union Pacific entered the valley from the east through Weber Canyon into Ogden. The choice then was to go around the lake either to the north or the south. Residents of Salt Lake City pressed the railroads for a southerly route, which would bring it right through town.

East Auto Tour Marker 11-Union Pacific's Last Cut. Ironically, some of the most difficult work for the Union Pacific on their line from Nebraska to Utah was here in these mountains, only a few miles from the completion site. A tortuous ten miles of track, with an average climb of eighty feet per mile, was laid from the valley floor to the summit of the four long fills, four major trestles, five sizable rock cuts, and numerous culverts.

The stop is at where the tracks meet the road. This is the beginning of the East Auto Tour.

#7 Marker for Ten Miles in a Day Sign