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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

rail, exercise, niche media, writing, Tooele Valley Railroad

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Department

Communications

Abstract

Beginning in 1908, the Tooele Valley Railroad played a key role in bringing this dusty desert community up to speed with the Industrial Revolution. A collection of mining companies in the Bingham area, known then as Utah Consolidated, incorporated the railroad company and funded the construction of its six-mile-long line to connect the International Smelter to larger railroad lines including, among others, the Union Pacific. Vine Street happened to be the shortest route between the two points, so Utah Consolidated built its railway down the middle of the town’s main east-to-west thoroughfare. Before long, the railroad became a local icon. Images of steam trains proceeding up Vine Street caboose-first remain ingrained in the local memory. However, in recent years Tooele has become one of the fastest-growing communities in Utah1, and newcomers, as well as the rising generation, often have no idea that Tooele ever had its own railroad.

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