DEEP CREEK RAILROAD COMPANY
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Historical Note: Deep Creek Railroad On October 11, 1916, the Western Pacific Railroad Company incorporated a wholey owned subsidiary, the Deep Creek Railroad Company, to build a 46 mile line from its interchange point at Wendover to Gold Hill, Utah. The company listed having two locomotives and four undefined cars. Rail was 56 and 60 pound. The line included 1.15 miles of spurs, sidings and yard track. The Railroad was put down along the, north-to-South, Deep Creek Mountains which were near the Nevada/Utah state boundry. In many places they rose to an elevation of over 12,000 feet. While at least 24 different minerals have been found in the area, including hundreds of thousands of dollars of Gold, it was the discovery of large deposits of Tungsten which produced the need for the railroad. From 1917 to 1925 the railroad took out many hundreds of tons of the mineral. During that time the town of Gold Hill swelled to over 1,500 new residents. That increase in populatio, of course, caused the need for all the local services, stores and businesses. For a short time the railroad saw much additional freight in inbound lumber and other construction materials, and dry goods, supplies and machinery. Though the railroad held on for some time anticipating other mineral finds nothing really developed. August, 1937: Company motive power - one locomotive; equipment - one combine coach/baggage, one box car, one tank car, and one miscellaneous. All of the cars were in a service catagory. The Deep Creek Railroad Company ceased operations on August 3, 1939, and the road was sold for scrap. Ironically, the Federal Government from 1943 to 1945 had need for arsenic which were discovered locally. Altogether, 100,000 tons of such material was shipped from the Gold Hill area, but not by train.
DC 2-8-0 Loco #2 Image, Deep Creek R.R. (W.P.) 2-8-0 Loco #2, 1938 Order No. DC02I The Deep Creek Railroad Company's only remaining locomotive #2 is at the platform with combine, Wendover, Utah, July 20, 1938. the 2-8-0 locomotive #2 was originally built by Baldwin, #11251, as Denver & Rio Grande #597 in 1890. --------------------
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