Railroads and the Livingstons
From LFAwiki
Contents |
Transcontinental Railroad
On May 10, 1869, after six years of work by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad, the first transcontinental railroad between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean was completed and celebrated by the driving of the golden spike.
Clearly, the railroad would play an important role in the expansion of the west, including further settling of Utah. A number of Livingstons were involved in building this important link from east to west.
Pay was between $1 and $3 per day. [1]
The following Livingstons are known to have worked on the Union Pacific Railroad:
From James Campbell Livingston's Autobiography[1].
- In the year 1868, I went with about one hundred men and started grading for the Union Pacific Railroad at Devil's Gate in Weber Canyon. Under the direction of Bishop Sharp I organized four camps between Strawberry ford and the mouth of Weber Canyon. After getting them started I was again called to go to Lost Creek and start work on the two tunnels near that point. We finished up the work to the mouth of Weber Canyon in February 1869. I again took about three hundred men to the Promontory on a heavy rock contract for Bishop Sharp, and was very successful at that place in our labors. I used about eight tons of nitroglycerine, handled and exploded it myself, individually. Also at this place I had the misfortune to have my right hand and arm badly shattered by a blast, and one year later had it amputated. In the year 1870 I was again called by President Young to take a few men and start getting rock for the Temple, and from that time until the capstone was quarried I was in full control of the Salt Lake Temple Quarry. While quarrying rock for the Temple we had a beautiful camp, made so by the workmen at the quarry. A great many of the leading brethren of the Church had summer quarters built and their families occupied them in the hot season. Thus I had the privilege of becoming intimately acquainted with these brethren and their families, and enjoying their society, which I appreciated very much.
The Salt Lake City Deseret Evening News of March 25, 1869, reported that
- Sharp and Young's blasters are jarring the earth every few minutes with their glycerine and powder, lifting whole ledges of limestone rock from their long resting places, hurling them hundreds of feet in the air and scattering them around for a half mile in every direction. Mr. T. E. Ticks showed me a boulder of three or four hundred pounds weight that was thrown over a half mile and completely buried itself in the ground within twenty yards of his cook room. I ate a hearty breakfast and left that spot sine dine. At Carlisle's works a few days ago, four men were preparing a blast by filling a large crevice in a ledge with powder. After pouring in the powder they undertook to work it down with iron bars, the bars striking the rocks caused an explosion; one of the men was blown two or three hundred feet in the air, breaking every bone in his body, the other three were terribly burnt and wounded with flying stones ....
- From what I can observe and hear from others, there is considerable opposition between the two railroad companies, both lines run near each other, so near that in one place the UP are taking a four feet cut out of the CP fill to finish their grade, leaving the CP to fill the cut thus made in the formation of their grade.
- The two companies' blasters work very near each other and when Sharp & Young's men first began work, the CP would give them no warning when they fired their fuse. Jim Livingston, Sharp's able foreman, said nothing but went to work and loaded a point of rock with nitro-glycerine, and without saying anything to the CP "let her rip." The explosion was terrific. The report was heard on the Dry Tortugas, and the foreman of the CP came down to confer with Mr. Livingston about the necessity of each party notifying the other when ready for a blast. The matter was speedily arranged to the satisfaction of both parties.
Salt Lake Valley Rail Spurs
The construction of a connecting railroad line south to Salt Lake City, and later into almost all parts of the state, had a much larger impact on the local populace than did the joining of the rails at Promontory. In early 1869, prior to the completion of the transcontinental railroad, Mormon Church leaders began working on the organization of a connecting railroad between Ogden and Salt Lake City. In January 1870 that line was completed, connecting Salt Lake City to the national rail system. One of the benefits that the Mormon Church received from the coming of the railroad was the availability of low-cost transportation that would help to bring large numbers of its members to the new Zion. From places as distant as Europe, new members came by way of the ports of call along the East and Gulf coasts.[2]
To do:
- Rethink the title of this section
- Add links to news stories about prominent people taking the train to visit the quarry
- Include a map, if possible, of the various lines
Sanpete Creeper
The Sanpete Creeper was a narrow-gauge (3') railroad build in about 1880[3]. Originally, the Creeper ran from Nephi to Wales (then known as Coalbed), and passed right past Birch Creek. As such, the Creeper played an important role in the lives of the Livingston family living in the area. Not only did the train provide entertainment for the children, who loved to play along the tracks, and watch the train pass, but the train served to connect the locals to the outside world.
The story is told of when William D. Livingston (which one?) raced the Creeper in his automobile:
- William (Will) D. Livingston was traveling to Salt Lake City in 1911 by way of auto, when he ventured a race with "the Creeper" going north. His "machine" was successful to the summit at the head of the Salt Creek (Nephi) canyon. As the train started on the down-grade it began to tax the automobile to a "pretty lively clip." The train engineer, Frank Parry, saw one of the auto's tires go bounding across the canyon. Livingston made Nephi on the "rim" and caught another train to his destination.[4]
References
- ↑ (1980) Archibald Livingston - Descendants and Ancestors. Livingston Family Association, Page ???.
- ↑ http://www.onlineutah.com/railroadhistory.shtml
- ↑ Scow, Ruth D.. "The Sanpete Valley Creeper". Saga of the Sanpitch 10.
- ↑ Ibid