"Operation Fill" Southern Pacific's New Crossing of the Great Salt Lake Photograph Album, Jun. 1955 - Apr. 1960

Summary

Title:

"Operation Fill" Southern Pacific's new crossing of the Great Salt Lake photograph album

Dates:

Jun. 1955 - Apr. 1960

Abstract:

This album chronicles the building of a new fill across the Great Salt Lake to replace the then existing trestle.

Extent:

1 Linear Feet 1 photo album

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], "Operation Fill" Southern Pacific's New Crossing of the Great Salt Lake Photograph Album, MS 776, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This album chronicles the building of a new fill across the Great Salt Lake to replace the then existing trestle. All phases of the construction is shown. This photo album was prepared for the Southern Pacific's Board of Directors' meeting on August 15, 1957. The original opened in 1904. A major fire broke out on the trestle in May 1956. Actual construction was started in June 1955. Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. was awarded a $45 million contract for construction. The target completion was April 1960.

Biographical / historical:

Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904, the cutoff bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit where the golden spike was driven in 1869. By going west across the lake from Ogden to Lucin, it cut 44 miles off the original route and also significantly decreased curvature and grades. Under the direction of Southern Pacific chief engineer William Hood, a team of 3,000 Southern Pacific workers worked seven days a week to build the line. When opened, the line included short causeways extending from the western shore of the lake and the edge of Promontory Point, connected with a nearly twelve-mile-long wooden trestle. The cutoff also included a causeway which spanned Bear River Bay from the eastern shore of the lake to Promontory Point. This section included a 600-foot-long trestle to allow Bear River water to flow into the lake.

By 1908, five passenger trains and seven freight trains were using the Lucin Cutoff in each direction daily. Thirty-five years later, the Southern Pacific Railroad completed the Lucin Cutoff. The Cutoff traversed a route east from Lucin, located about 8 miles east of the Nevada/Utah state line, then across the lake, and on to Ogden. The original Central Pacific Railroad traversed a more difficult route, about 42 miles longer, from Lucin, around the north end of the lake to Brigham City, and then southward to Ogden. The portion of the Cutoff crossing the main body of Great Salt Lake consisted of two earth- and rock-fill embankments, one extending eastward into the lake from Lakeside and the other extending westward from Promontory Point, with a 12-mile open, wooden trestle in between. A shorter section of rock-fill embankment extended eastward from Promontory Point to the mainland. The open trestle offered little resistance to the movement and circulation of brine throughout the lake.

By the 1940s the old trestle was functionally obsolete, and had deteriorated to the point where much more money was spent on it than was acceptable. By the mid-1950s, Southern Pacific personnel decided the trestle needed major repairs or replacement. In 1956 construction began and was completed in 1959 at a cost of $53 million. Engineering studies led to a decision to construct a 13-mile rock-fill causeway parallel to and 1,500 feet north of the trestle. It was built under contract by Morrison-Knudsen of Boise, Idaho. The new construction was opened to use by freight by late 1959.

Arrangement:

Single album

Physical location:

Big Four Building

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Construction
Bridges

Places:

Lucin Cutoff (Utah)

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Library Archives staff

Date Encoded:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-04-01 22:21:12 +0000 .

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], "Operation Fill" Southern Pacific's New Crossing of the Great Salt Lake Photograph Album, MS 776, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.

Location of this collection:

California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

111 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95814, US

Contact:

(916) 323-8073

Library.CSRM@parks.ca.gov

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