Thousand Mile Tree is a pine tree located in Weber Canyon near the community of Henefer,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

along the Overland Route of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

. In January 1869, graders of the railroad found a similar tree standing next to the line they were constructing, which by coincidence marked the western progress of exactly one thousand miles of road from

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 62,799 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, te ...

, the eastern terminusCooper, Bruce C.
''"Riding the Transcontinental Rails: Overland Travel on the Pacific Railroad 1865–1881"''
(2005), Polyglot Press, Philadelphia . p. 11 of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

. The original Thousand Mile Tree was found standing along the

Weber River The Weber River ( ) (Shoshone: Ho-o-pah) is a long river of northern Utah, United States. It begins in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains and empties into the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River was named for American fur trapper John Henr ...

, adjacent to the under-construction grade of the westbound Union Pacific section of the transcontinental line in what is known as Wilhelmina's Pass, at an elevation of above sea level. According to Utah rail historian and writer Don Strack, in his article ''Eastbound To Wahsatch—Union Pacific's Route Through Weber and Echo Canyons'', about one week following 15 January 1869, the “tracks reached the site of a large tree, tall, that happened to be exactly 1,000 miles from Omaha, and soon a sign was hung from the tree clearly stating that fact. "The tree was in the middle of a gorge between Henefer in the Upper Weber Valley and Devil’s Slide, a unique geological formation of twin limestone ridges running vertically from the canyon floor. Along with the Thousand Mile Tree, Devil's Slide immediately became a sight to be seen by all passing trains. The gorge just east of Devil’s Slide was named Wilhelmina's Pass and was the subject of several views by Union Pacific’s official photographer A. J. Russell for his stereographic tour of the new line. Although the gorge was changed significantly to accommodate today’s Interstate 84, most early trains stopped to allow passengers to appreciate the landmark, and several excursion trains from Ogden were arranged to see Wilhelmina's Pass, the Thousand Mile Tree, and Devil’s Slide.” By 1900, the original Thousand Mile Tree had died and it was removed in September of that year. Later modifications to the line reduced the mileage at that point from 1000 miles to , but in 1982, Union Pacific planted a new tree to commemorate the site. This particular tree stands today within a special fenced enclosure along the original transcontinental line, where it has grown to over tall. In 2016 a drawing of the "Thousand Mile Tree" by Jim Stitt was featured on the label artwork of the 42nd annual "Our Special Ale" brewed by Anchor Brewing.

References

External links

Union Pacific Railroad History

The Transcontinental Railroad

Youtube-Video of a train passing the tree
{{authority control Individual pine trees Individual trees in Utah Landmarks in Utah First transcontinental railroad History of rail transportation in the United States History of the American West 1869 in the United States Union Pacific Railroad Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah) American frontier