Why Salt Lake's Trestle Bridge Was Abandoned

Utah's Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere a famous tourist destination and home to a wide variety of exciting Wildlife yet from the turn of the century to 1950 a massive wooden 12m railroad Trestle ran through its Center this was the loosen cut off one of the early 20th Century's most significant Mega structures it brought unprecedented economic impact to the West not to mention a sense of wonder to those who experienced riding a train across the Great Salt Lake although the original structure is now demolished approximately 20 Freighters pass nearby on a new Causeway daily and according to some submerged in that salty water are the Eerie remnants of a century old structure that's since been abandoned and many people wonder just what happened to all that Timber from the old Trestle Bridge stay tuned to find out as today we discover the story of the loose and cut off America's forgotten Mega structure I'm your host Ryan soash and you're watching its [Music] history although the Great Salt lak's Origins can be traced back nearly 177,000 years it didn't appear on the maps of European explorers until around 1575 and when it did the landscape would change from the 1600s the area around the Great Salt Lake was remote and largely Uncharted before European exploration it was inhabited by indigenous people who lived a nomadic lifestyle relying on the Region's diverse ecosystem for Hunting Fishing and gathering in the 18th century European explorers and fur Traders began to venture into the area Spanish explorers were among the first Europeans to encounter the Great Basin but their expeditions were limited due to the challenging elements the 19th century saw increased exploration by Trappers and Traders from as far away as the Hudson Bay Company as well as other fur trading Enterprises the Great Salt Lake itself was largely seen as a mysterious for boating body of water it's high salinity unique ecology and harsh surrounding environment made it a difficult and uninviting place for extended settlement however it captured the imagination of explorers and cryptographers contributing to the broader understanding of the American West the mid 19th century brought significant change with the arrival of the Mormon pioneers famously led by briam Young in fact in 1847 the Mormons established Salt Lake City near the Lake's Eastern Shore this settlement marked the beginning of permanent habitation and development in the area the Mormons undertook extensive irrigation projects to make the Arid land productive laying the groundwork for agriculture and Community Building as the cental progressed the discovery of valuable minerals in the surrounding mountains such as gold and silver attracted Miners and Prospectors further increasing the population and economic activity by the time that the Transcontinental Railroad linked the East and the West Coast in 1869 the Great Salt Lake Area had become a critical Waypoint and hub for westward expansion Commerce and transportation to reflect this the number of train movements increased Ed significantly but there was a problem between the massive Lake and the Hazardous terrain locomotives took a long time to pass through the region in fact the original route built by the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads curved around the northern edge of the Great Salt Lake climbed over 1,500 ft of steep grades and passed horrific switchbacks according to the Salt Lake Tribune the passage had so many curves in the creek that it could quote turn a train around 11 times hence the loosen cut off was conceived as a solution to these problems by driving directly across the lake the route could be shortened by Miles work on the loosen cut off commenced in February of 1902 the project involved building a 102m rail line from Ogden to loose and Utah which included constructing a 12m long wooden Trestle Bridge Across the lakes's Western expanse newspapers like the San Francisco call and the post held the project proclaiming quote the Lucen cut off is 102 mi in length 72 Mi on land and 30 Mi on a combination of trestle work and fill-ins over the Waters of the Great Lake it will affect half a million in yearly savings however the construction faced significant challenges including the unstable salty mud flats and harsh environmental conditions of the Great Salt Lake to address these challenges Engineers used Innovative techniques such as drilling pilings deep into the lake bed to support the bridge as well as creot treated wood to withstand corrosive saltwater a large labor force comprised of thousands including many Chinese laborers were mobilized for the project they worked under arduous conditions and some of them would lose their lives as they often faced extreme weather and rugged terrain materials and supplies were transported to the construction site by Rail and temporary construction camps were established along the route to support the workforce construction was completed in November of 1903 and the first trains ran on the new route shortly thereafter the locen cut off officially opened on Thanksgiving Day to what journalists proclaimed was a marvelous event prominent railroad men from across the the country ate turkey together in honor of the successful completion of what was considered at the time the greatest railroad engineering feat of the century officials arrived on a special train consisting of nine private cars of the Herman lines on board was also miss Adela Wagner of Ventura the first woman to cross the new cut off as a result of these efforts the cut off immediately reduced the Southern Pacific railroad's travel time and operational costs becoming a vital component of the Transcontinental rail network facilitating more efficient movement of goods and passengers between the East and the West Coast when the line opened it included short causeways extending from the western shore of the lake and the edge of Promontory Point connecting with a nearby 12m long Trestle Bridge the cut off also included a Causeway that spanned be River Bay from the lakes's Eastern Shore to Promontory Point this section included a 600t Trestle allowing bar river water to flow into the lake the line included a railway station called Mid Lake in the middle of the Great Salt Lake by 1908 five passenger and seven freight trains used the cut off in each Direction daily and by 1909 the media showcased the project as quote a good example of the American method of doing things on a large scale in 1910 a massive story storm ravaged the structure halting trains and requiring enormous repairs a decade later the cut off was already a critical piece of American infrastructure and prioritized as such in its maintenance efforts by all measures the loosen cuto off was a very successful accomplishment The Trestle Bridge operated uneventfully for nearly half a century well uneventfully that is until 1944 when one of the worst train disasters in the state of Utah would unfold on New Year's Eve December the 31st 1944 two Southern Pacific trains traveled along the loosen cff the first train known as the Pacific limited was in route from Aon Utah to Oakland California it carried many military personnel returning home after World War II as well as civilians traveling for the holidays due to mechanical issues in delays the Pacific limited stopped on the main tracks near baggley to check for hot boxes which are overheated wheel bearings the second train the Pacific limited number 21 followed the same route and ran on the same track the engineer of the second train unaware of the stalled train ahead continued at full speed the Pacific limited suspected that this could be the case and so they tried to alert the approaching train using flares and other emergency measures but due to poor visibility the signals went unnoticed then at approximately 5:14 a.m. the second train collided with the rear of the stalled Pacific Limited at a high speed the impact was catastrophic causing the rear cars of the first train to telescope into each other and Catch Fire the wooden coaches were particularly vulnerable leading to an intense Blaze that engulfed several cars trapping passengers inside rescue efforts were immediate but hindered by the remote location and intensity of the fire residents military person personel from nearby installations and railroad workers rushed to the scene to help yet despite their efforts by the time the fire was extinguished 48 people had lost their lives and 79 others were injured many of them severely the investigation into the baggley train wreck revealed that several factors contributed to the disaster including poor visibility and adquate signaling and the crew of the second Train's failure to heed emergency warnings the accident led to significant changes in Railway safety regulations particularly concerning signal systems and communication protocols between trains on the same track news of the horror spread across the country passengers showed hesitation to travel across the lake and the railroads they used this moment of Crisis to justify a significant change the truth was that the Bridgeway itself was beginning to fall apart you see over time the once celebrated wooden structure Ure faced numerous challenges the harsh environmental conditions of the Great Salt Lake including the corrosive effects of the saltwater and the shifting lake bed damaged the structural Integrity regular maintenance and repair efforts were required to keep the bridge operational but these became increasingly costly and timec consuming what's more engineering and Material Science advancements rendered the wooden Trestle obsolete so not long after the disastrous train wreck the Sou Pacific Railroad decided to replace the deteriorating structure with a more durable Rock and earn Causeway The Trestle was functionally replaced in the late 1950s with a parallel dirt and rock Causeway built under the contract of Morrison kuten of Bose Idaho the Ogden Standard Examiner estimated that laying the Rockville alone cost over $35 million the investment was further symbolically justified in 19 56 when a fire on the wooden Trestle ignited a passing train burning down a part of the structure as the high winds whipped it along then in 1957 the structure was further destroyed when a barge plowed straight through it even so the original Trestle remained in limited use alongside the causeway until roughly 1975 and was even added to the National register of historic landmarks the new Causeway had major environmental drawbacks as it prevented Lake water from flowing freely as the open Trestle once did another issue occurred in the early 1980s when Utah experienced heavy flooding and much of the extra water along the wasach front flowed into the Great Salt Lake resulting in historically high water levels and the flooding of nearby landlords in response the state of Utah constructed a 300t long bridge at the Western end of the causeway to Aid the two trenches in the channeling of water to the northern arm from there the state breached the causeway under the new bridge on August the 1st 1984 allowing pent up water from the southern arm to flow into the nearby Northern arm moreover the causeway was continually sinking and had occasionally required more and more material to rise its height above the Lake's level during the flooding of the 1980s this buildup included placing 1,430 Surplus rail cars along the northern edge of the causeway and filling them in with rock to act as a so-called Box Car seaw wall all the while the wooden Trestle was decaying beside the new Causeway from the handrails to the decks strong winds broke the structure apart piece by piece until it became impassible altogether at this point the railroad sold Salvage rights to The Trestle and Cannon Structures Incorporated who in turn began dismantling the structure in the early 199 '90s the process took over 7 years to complete and the lumber was repurposed to provide manufacturers over 30 million board feet of wood the stockpile took decades to effectively market and sell but it has garnered a unique fan base and has been found in products ranging from flooring to furniture and decking in March of 2011 the Union Pacific Railroad requested permission to close the two 1950 era culverts because of age Dam damage and the causeways sinking into the lake bed the two trenches were closed in 2012 and 2013 respectively to mitigate the effects the railroad was required to build a bridge and breach the causeway under that bridge so the water could flow construction of a 180t long bridge was completed in the fall of 2016 although the railroad did agree to delay the opening of the branch for a few months due to environmental and water level concerns and as the years passed those concerns only grew during the so-called American Mega drought the amount of freshwater flowing into the lak's southern arm had dropped significantly enough that during the summer of 2022 a 4ot high burm was constructed in the breach beneath the 2016 bridge this burm slows the flow of the salty or water from the lakes's northern arm into the southern as the increased salinity was beginning to affect the Eon ology of the southern part of the lake and this isn't exactly intuitive even though the Lake's elevation in the southern part remains slightly higher than the northern the saltier water in the northern arm pushed along the bottom of the breach into the southern arm and this is where the contamination happened otherwise it's business as usual on the Great Salt Lake with over 20 trains passing it daily what was once Unthinkable has now become an ordinary fixture of the local Heritage and that that's the story of the loose and cut off I really hope that you guys enjoyed the episode and if you've got your own story idea that you'd like us to cover feel free to shoot me an email include a quick overview as well as any helpful images otherwise you can also help our mission by clicking both subscribe and join until next time this is Ryan soash signing off

Channel: IT'S HISTORY

Views: 350,751

Keywords: lucin cutoff trestle, trestle, lucin cutoff, train trestle, the lucin cutoff, lucin, largest trestle in the world, bridges, train crashes through trestle, ghost trestle, wooden trestle, trestle repair, cutoff, bridge, goat canyon train trestle, railroad trestle, salt creek trestle, railroad bridge, tresle, story of trestlewood, trestlewood, trestlewood ii, refrigerator, megastructures, civil engineering, forest, forests, forrest, touring, historic, heritage

Id: 5uRSxUzHQOc

Length: 15min 50sec (950 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2024