Caliente Subdivision
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The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in
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,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, and
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 ...
in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
, Utah, and
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, California), via
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
. Incorporated in Utah in 1901 as the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, the line was largely the brainchild of
William Andrews Clark William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads, as well as a politician. Biography Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to ...
, a
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
mining baron and United States Senator. Clark enlisted the help of Utah's U.S. Senator
Thomas Kearns Thomas Kearns (April 11, 1862 – October 18, 1918) was an American mining, banking, railroad, and newspaper magnate. He was a US Senator from Utah from 1901 to 1905. Unlike the predominantly Mormon constituents of his state, Senator Kearns was ...
, mining magnate and newspaper man, to ensure the success of the line through Utah. Construction of the railroad's main line was completed in 1905. Company shareholders adopted the LA&SL name in 1916. The railway was also known by its official nickname, "The Salt Lake Route", and was sometimes informally referred to as "The Clark Road". The tracks are still in use by the modern
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 ...
, as the
Cima Cima may refer to: Acronyms *The Center for International Media Assistance, a media development organization in Washington, DC * Center for Italian Modern Art * Centre International de la Mécanique d'Art (International centre for Art Mechanics), ...
, Caliente,
Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 199 ...
, and
Lynndyl Subdivision The Lynndyl Subdivision is a rail line owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in the U.S. state of Utah, running from Salt Lake City southwest to Milford, where the Caliente Subdivision continues towards Los Angeles. Effective F ...
s.


History

The development of the railway line that became the LA&SL began in 1871 when the
Utah Southern Railroad 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 ...
began laying track southward from Salt Lake City. The Utah Southern, controlled by the larger
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 ...
(UP), built a line to a station known as Juab, Utah, in 1879. From there a second UP subsidiary known as the
Utah Southern Railroad Extension The Lynndyl Subdivision is a rail line owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in the U.S. state of Utah, running from Salt Lake City southwest to Milford, where the Caliente Subdivision continues towards Los Angeles. Effective Fe ...
took up the work, completing trackage as far as
Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...
, Utah, in 1880. By the end of the century, these and other lines had been absorbed into the
Oregon Short Line Railroad The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the United States. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific int ...
, a far larger UP subsidiary. Work on extending the Milford line southward began by 1889, but no tracks were actually laid due to financial issues. Construction resumed in 1899 when the route was completed as far as the Utah–Nevada border. Grading work extended into Nevada, and the UP's stated intent was to continue the line all the way to southern California. Another player entered the scene in 1900, when
William Andrews Clark William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads, as well as a politician. Biography Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to ...
acquired the struggling
Los Angeles Terminal Railway The Los Angeles Terminal Railway, earlier known as the Pasadena Railway, and unofficially as the Altadena Railway, was a small terminal railroad line that was constructed between Altadena, California, Altadena and Pasadena, California in the late ...
with an eye to extending the line northeast to Salt Lake. The railroad was reincorporated in 1901 as the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, and Clark announced plans to construct a line between Salt Lake and southern California. Clark assembled political and financial supporters to assist in the project, both in California and Utah. The competing Union Pacific Railroad and its formidable leader
E. H. Harriman Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive. Early life Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergy ...
stood in opposition to Clark's plan. Clark's forces began construction work in Nevada, along the existing UP grade, and a brief "railroad war" ensued before Clark and the UP called a truce in 1903. Their agreement called for Clark's railroad to acquire the existing UP trackage south of Salt Lake City. In turn, the UP received a 50% interest in Clark's railroad. Construction of the remaining line proceeded rapidly to Daggett, California, where it connected to the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...
(ATSF), and the complete Salt Lake–Los Angeles line was opened on May 1, 1905. In California, Clark negotiated a
trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...
agreement from Daggett to
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, allowing his new line to use the existing ATSF route over
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, in lieu of constructing its own tracks across the pass. On April 16, 1916, the railroad’s stockholders voted to remove "San Pedro" from the corporation's name. The former town of San Pedro had been consolidated within Los Angeles in 1909. The LA&SL operated independently until April 27, 1921, when the UP agreed to acquire Clark's half-interest in the railroad. After 1921 the LA&SL lines were operated as part of the UP system, although the LA&SL corporation continued to exist on paper until January 1, 1988. The former LA&SL main line remains part of the UP network today as the Caliente and Lynndyl subdivisions. In 1925, LA&SL reported 1,158 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 192 million passenger-miles. At the end of that year it operated of road and of track. Originally, the LA&SL tracks through Utah were the approximate boundary between the
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and the
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. However, in April 1969, the time zone boundary was moved such that all of Utah was in the Mountain Time Zone.


Route and stations

Following standard railroad practice, the LA&SL designated a series of locations along its route as "division points"—bases for the railroad's operational and maintenance activities. Traveling southwestward from Salt Lake, the railroad's division point towns were Lynndyl and Milford in Utah; Caliente and Las Vegas in Nevada; and Yermo and
San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...
in California. The railway also maintained a substantial presence in the remote town of
Kelso, California Kelso is a ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a gh ...
. Nearly the entire route of the railroad traversed rugged and largely unpopulated desert terrain. There were no major population centers between the railroad's endpoints until the city of Las Vegas began its rapid growth in the mid-twentieth century. The LA&SL was known for its
depot Depot may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Glacier (disambiguation) * Depot Island (disambiguation) * Depot Nunatak * Depot Peak Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in Chicago, United States * Of ...
buildings, many of which were imposing structures in the
Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...
architectural style.. The largest such depot, at Milford, was razed in 1981 and replaced with a smaller rail office, which remains in use today. The landmark LA&SL stations in Caliente and Kelso survive today. Several smaller Mission Revival depots erected by the railroad still exist in southern California. At least two of the railroad's smaller stations, at
Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and
) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...
and Black Rock in Utah, were designed by the noted architect
Gilbert Stanley Underwood Gilbert Stanley Underwood (June 5, 1890 – August 3, 1961) was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Biography Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After openi ...
. The Salt Lake City depot was built in the French Renaissance style and is a landmark in that city.


See also

* Railroad Cottage Historic District — ''Las Vegas'' *
Salt Lake Station Salt Lake Station was a railway station in Los Angeles, California. It was located on the east side of the Los Angeles River at 1st Street. It was built by the Los Angeles Terminal Railway and began service in 1891, becoming a part of the Los ...
— Los Angeles


References


Additional reading

* *


External links


UtahRails.net: Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad chronology and historical data
* {{Authority control Defunct California railroads Defunct Nevada railroads Defunct Utah railroads Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1916 American companies established in 1916 Railway companies disestablished in 1987 American companies disestablished in 1987